The Front Bottoms/A Great Big Pile of Leaves/The Big Sweet

For having just formed in 2006, the indie-rock duo The Front Bottoms have caught on with fans of folky acoustic music quickly. Their latest release, Talon of the Hawk, debuted on seven different Billboard charts and ranked third in the Top New Artist category. Lead singer Brian Sella’s voice isn’t conventionally great by any means, but the raw quality of his singing in songs like “Au Revoir” and “Twin Size Mattress” give the lyrics a neat conversational quality and help the band stand out in today’s popular music scene, which is often obsessed with pitch perfection. (Jacob DeSmit)