Passion Pit: The Boston, MA-based Passion Pit began as a one-man project of singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos to produce a Valentine's Day gift for his girlfriend. The gift, an EP entitled Chunk of Change, soon wound up in the hands of friends and acquaintances, who were enthralled with the work. Eventually, Passion Pit became not only a vehicle for the romantic expressions of Angelakos' heart but a full-fledged band -- at least for live gigs -- and opened for a number of well-known artists including Death Cab for Cutie. This momentum led to label interest, and in 2008 the Frenchkiss label picked up Chunk of Change for re-release, even going so far as to tack on two bonus tracks. A full-length from Passion Pit was in the planning stages and a 2009 release date was said to be in the cards.

Walk the Moon: “It’s okay to play,” insists Nicholas Petricca, lead singer, songwriter, and keyboardist of Ohio quartet Walk the Moon. It’s a hard point to argue after a listen to the lead single off their album I Want! I Want!, dance-rock extravaganza “Anna Sun.” I Want! I Want! has you dancing quickly. Very quickly. So it is no surprise that the response to the band has been just as immediate. Surrounding a reactive SXSW appearance, the band has already been featured as Nylon Magazine’s Band Crush, as a Hot New Band by SPIN Magazine, as a New York Post band “You Must Know,” and in the Spotlight of Last Call with Carson Daly. Walk the Moon is poised for an explosive rise.

Walk the Moon shows are nothing short of electric. Petricca, with bassist Kevin Ray, guitarist Eli Maiman and drummer Sean Waugaman, (all Ohio natives) streak, dot and smear their faces in paint before every performance. Eager crowds predictably join in the fun and by the end, even the most staunch skeptics are in the colorful mix. Respected regulars in the Cincinnati and Columbus club scenes, the boys, all in their early twenties, have garnered notable respect from fans and bands alike in their first few ventures to major markets. Walk the Moon combine impressive musicianship with what the New York Post deems their “unrestrainable love for performing.” It is a truly contagious mix.

Matching what NME’s Jaimie Hodgson called “air strike choruses” with careful songwriting, Walk the Moon are dynamic - noticeably more than a “buzz band.” They cite Talking Heads, The Police and The Killers as inspiration, both in writing and performing, not to mention a tribute to Bowie with a thumping rendition of “Let’s Dance.” I Want! I Want! is thoughtful and youthful at once, a perfect reflection of the band. Walk the Moon may very soon grow out of the clubs they play now (they’ve already sold out in advance of their first headlining New York show), but they are a band you don’t want to grow up all the way. After all, they possess an enviable spirit, one devoted to just plain having fun. And who doesn’t like fun?

Major Lazer: One of the US's hottest DJs and one of the UKs hottest DJs have created one of the best Dancehall acts that is performing hit tour dates in 2011. Major Lazer consists of DJs Diplo and Switch and has been taking the world by storm with a top 10 album and concert dates that rival those of any DJ in the world. While there's no new album on the horizon, Major Lazer has upcoming tour dates in 2011 at some of the biggest music festivals in the US.

Diplo and Switch met while working with M.I.A. and decided to form an act based on a love of Dancehall. Their debut album, Guns Don't Kill People…Lazers Do, was released in 2009 to critical acclaim. Since that time, Major Lazer and their hype man Skerrit Bwoy have been promoting hit singles like "Pon de Floor" on international tour dates that have been praised by fans.

While Major Lazer might not have many tour dates in 2011, they are performing at some of the most high profile and widely attended music festivals in the US. Next up for Major Lazer is a tour date on the last day of the Outlands Festival in San Francisco on August 14, followed by an appearance at Live At Squamish Festival in Canada on August 20. Their final 2011 tour date is at The Voodoo Experience 2011 on the weekend of October 28. Although, there's no news on a new album, fans can gleam that, with so few tour dates in 2011, Major Lazer must be up to something big.

Santigold: This is better than good; this is gold— SANTIGOLD!

Santigold is a survivor of a half century worth of living along musical evolution’s most cutting edges. The only live act that can boast of having out-aged Barbara Bush, having outlived Mr. Miyagi and out styled Liberace, Santigold is here with future flavor.

Already receiving weighty club rotation and airplay in urban Afghanistan and downtown Beirut, Santigold is the first act of the century to boast a post-war following on the International Space Station Mir. Following a live performance broadcast from three thousand miles off the Cape of Good Hope last June, inmates at Leavenworth Penitentiary received Santigold with a celebratory confetti parade. Just another first for the modern super group that knows no bound.

Composed of absolutely no members, Santigold is also the first musical outfit capable of claiming the planet’s broiling collective consciousness as their front woman. Longtime collaborator, singer and songwriter Santi White says of her work with Santigold, “We began trying to write pop songs to sell, which made us depressed, so we started writing songs for ourselves instead.” The results of that self centered conceit is the songwriting work heard for the first time on the full length self-titled Santigold album, released in 2008 on Downtown/Lizard King (US) and Atlantic (UK).

As unmastered tracks leaked over the internet this past November, the request lines of radio stations from Miami to Hanoi began freezing with a flood of calls from listeners eager to hear the new Santigold sound over their frequencies. From his radio show in the United Arab Emirates capital city of Abu Dhabi, Michael Jackson (the King of Pop) played what Santigold snippets he had been able to pirate from a bootleg MySpace page dedicated to the group. Days later, BBC Radio One reported that the unreleased Santigold debut was heard blasting from the iPod shuffle of Libyan ruler Moammar Qaddafi as he entered an international summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Recognizing the urgent need to address the uproarious buzz, Santigold released the following statement through their label reps : “The response to our unmastered songs has been both premature and phenomenal! We were happy to hear that the children of Darfur have found hope in our melodic interpretation of life on the battlefield of love! We’re hoping that each and every 20-something from downtown San Francisco to central Mumbai will also learn something from our work! And to the people dropping no-knock fire on old ladies in Atlanta: shame on you! Santigold ain’t with that shit!”

The trajectory of such early successes leading to newfound political clout is nothing new for Santigold, whose debut album, though half a century in the making, is sure to rock glass pipes from the Lincoln Memorial to Buckingham palace. The flavor of the gold is guaranteed: Santigold!

Chromeo: Canadian electrofunk band Chromeo is bringing a little bit of 80s electronic music back to the mainstream, both on tour dates and hit albums like Fancy Footwork. Chromeo's music has been featured in numerous video games, movies, and clubs and the duo has played concert dates at some of the most popular music festivals in the world. The successful release of their third album, Business Casual, last year means that Chromeo is at it again with months worth of tour dates in 2011.

Chromeo members P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel) and Dave 1 (David Macklovitch) have been friends since high school and formed the group at the behest of DJ Tiga. While Chromeo's 2004, debut album She's in Control garnered them slight recognition and small tour dates, it was their second album, Fancy Footwork, that gained them widespread recognition. The success of the album took the duo on nearly two years worth of tour dates, including performances at Glastonbury, Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Fujirock. Chromeo's latest album, Business Casual, has also received great reviews for singles like "Hot Mess" and "Don't Turn the Lights On."

As is becoming a trend with Chromeo, the duo has 2011 tour dates that last well into winter, even though the album was released nearly a year ago. After playing a number of music festivals in Europe, the UK, and North America, Chromeo will begin their Night Falls Tour on September 14. Most concert dates will feature Mayer Hawthorne and Breakbot, and Chromeo's 2011 tour dates will end on November 2. For all the latest info on Chromeo tour dates in 2011, be sure to check Eventful often.

Atmosphere: Imagine how many cigarettes, beers, tour dates, international flights, all-night drives, backstage shenanigans, countless hours in a van, low-budget hotel rooms, notebooks filled with lyrics and endless hours of recording sessions have been consumed, experienced and sustained by Atmosphere over the course eight years?

Let’s count to eight.

Remember 1997, the year beginning the next phase of independent rap artists and a new era of imprint-based record labels with the major label exploitation; the dividing period of: Mos Def, Jay Z, Company Flow and 2 Pac. Our story begins at this time in Minneapolis, MN. Eight years ago, when Atmosphere released their debut album Overcast!, on the artist’s collectively owned Rhymesayers label. Slug, Ant, with then member Spawn, delivered the premier staple album defining Minnesota Hip Hop. It would introduce a small audience to Midwest rap, not music from New York or California, but Minneapolis, MN. Atmosphere, a group built on Hip Hop principles influenced from the pioneering years of rap music, but with their own personal, honest and original mid-western contribution.

A year had passed and Atmosphere’s song, Scapegoat, received national play on college radio and mix tape support in: Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Atmosphere was becoming discovered outside of the Twin Cities; the secret was out. During this time, both Slug and Ant were also involved in one of independent rap’s first underground super groups, The Dynospectrum (Slug, I Self Devine, Ant, Musab, Gene Poole), and had featured tracks on Industrial Warfare (volume six of the legendary Headshots four-track cassette series). For Atmosphere, 1998 was a year of collaborations (including recording Deep Puddle Dynamics) and a year well spent crafting their live performance at venues like First Avenue’s 7th Street Entry.



Duck Sauce: Duck Sauce is Armand Van Helden and A-Trak making house music and eating Chinese food. Who's hungry? Quack quack.

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/ducksaucenyc#ixzz11QiHOqnm