Who: Baltimore duo Beach House, comprised of vocalist Victoria Legrand and keyboardist Alex Scally, who create atmospheric dream pop that serves as an auditory escape from the rough Baltimore streets portrayed in The Wire.

Sounds Like: A pastoral mix of Mazzy Star, Yo La Tango and Phil Spector-bred girl groups. On their sophomore album Devotion, the duo creates dreamlike songs using Scally's army of vintage keyboards and Legrand's atmospheric coo and stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. Legrand's uncle is the great French film composer Michel Legrand, who scored films by Jean-Luc Godard (A Woman is a Woman, Band of Outsiders) and was nominated for Academy Awards for scoring The Thomas Crown Affair and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

2. Avoiding the White Stripes route of band relations, the duo is admittedly not romantically-involved. Legrand has a boyfriend, while Scally dates a chef on the Food Network's Ace of Cakes.

3. The band is a product of Baltimore's exploding indie-rock movement. After the center of renaissance is the Wham City artist collective, which boasts CMJ favorite Dan Deacon as its poster child.

Hear It Now: Devotion hits shelves in CD stores and digital music services on February 28th. In the meantime, check out their video for "Master of None," off their self-titled debut album.

Who: Five twitchy post-punk (pink) flag-bearers from sleepy Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Sounds Like: The Shackeltons provide a stout combination of clean, straight-lined production and cacophonous bursts of sound on their self-titled debut. Their blasts of angst, which are equal parts danceable bliss and seering noise, are held together by the jittery, literate lyrical musings of frontman Mark Redding.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. The band is named after Earnest Shackleton, an explorer who most notably attempted to cross Antarctica on foot in the early 1900s.

2. The band has a few obvious influences (Pixies, Joy Division), but according to guitarist Dan Schuchman, the group also draws inspiration from soul crooner Otis Redding and gutteral rapper Busta Rhymes.

3. Redding’s stage presence can get quite manic — he will often collide with his bandmates onstage. In one early gig, he had a bit of his scalp and some of his hair taken off by a ceiling fan.

Get it: The band’s self-titled debut is available for download at iTunes. Check out the video for "The Breaks,” directed by Sam Jones (the same man responsible for Wilco’s I Am Trying To Break Your Heart film) above.

Who: Garage-rock trio White Denim, an Austin outfit whose frontman, James Petralli, nearly followed his family into a career in professional baseball, but turned to rock when he got busted for too much partying.

Sounds Like: On their loud and raw EP Let's Talk About It, which was written and recorded in a 1940s Spartan trailer, the band combines the Stooges' raw power, Hendrix's psychedelic flourishes and the White Stripes' stripped-down blues rock.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. Petralli and drummer Joshua Block once performed in a noise-rock group called Parque Touch, who became infamous among Austin crowds as the band that stole beers out of the hands of fans in the front row.

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Who: British singer-songwriter Kate Walsh, whose homemade album Tim's House rocketed to the top of the U.K. iTunes chart thanks to the success of her single "Talk of the Town." Now, she's conquering America the old fashioned way: by infiltrating the soundtrack of a Grey's Anatomy spin-off.

Sounds Like: The acoustic Tim's House finds Walsh strumming ideal-for-late-night-listening classics in the style of Joni Mitchell and the calmer side of Fleetwood Mac. The home-recorded, do-it-yourself feel of the album is being praised as quite charming.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. "Talk of the Town" was inspired by Walsh's youth, during which she was forced to change high schools four times because of small-town bullies that lambasted her for dreaming big and wanting to ditch her small fishing village. "I felt I'd never be satisfied there, and people misconstrued that as arrogance," Walsh says.

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Who: Vancouver quintet Black Mountain, a band of psychedelic hard rockers who have already garnered buzz on the strength of their 2005 eponymous debut and high-profile gigs like their stint opening for Coldplay.

Sounds Like: A high-voltage mix of Black Sabbath riffs, Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett-era psychedelic sensiblity and the Flaming Lips' eccentricity. On their sophomore album In the Future, the band embraces their lava lamp-worshipping side, balancing stoner-rock opuses with ambient harmonies. "It's heaviness mixed with fragility," says frontman Stephen McBean. Case in point: the eight-minute epic "Tyrants," which bounces from the softer moments of Black Sabbath's Masters of Reality to the crunching guitars of Black Flag's Damaged.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. During a show in Oklahoma City in 2005, the band realized the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne was in the crowd. Impressed by what he saw, Coyne invited the band to crash at his house. "In the morning, we looked outside, and Wayne had all these bubble machines going," says co-vocalist Amber Webber, "He gave us one, and we used it on tour."

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Many of our past Breaking artists are suddenly heading out on tour. To see if French dance duo Justice, Chicago rappers the Cool Kids, Portland folkers Blitzen Trapper or Baltimore raver Dan Deacon is coming to a small club near you, keep reading:

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Who: Bodies of Water, a Los Angeles quartet comprised of two men and two women who, after successful tours with The Go! Team and Breaking alum Holy Fuck, are looking to recruit you into their choir.

Sounds Like: The Arcade Fire as composed by Ennio Morricone. The band funnels roots rock, soaring gospel, the Mamas & the Papas-style harmonies and Spaghetti Western themes into an uplifting, California-baked package. Despite their foursome status, the band pack a Polyphonic Spree-sized wallop on their debut album Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink, as singer-songwriter David Metcalf (along with his wife, Meredith) lead a battalion of blaring horns and strings.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. "When we first started, we were called Unicorn of Death," David Metcalf says, "It was funny for a little while, but any kind of funny band name gets tired really fast." Just ask the Test Icicles. "It took me a while to get out of the funny-band-names thing. I was in a band in high school called Hitler's Gay Son," Metcalf says. The band ultimately got its name after a weather broadcast during a heat wave recommended people gather near "bodies of water."

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Who: U.K. ska-pop troubadour Jack Peñate, who, after conquering the harsh British club scene and the harsher British charts, is setting his sights on North America.

Sounds Like: Jeff Buckley with a pompadour and checkered Vans for dancing. Piñate's debut album Matinee finds the twenty-two-year-old Londonite singing songs of missing home and unrequited love while showcasing his mastery of both the neo-ska and pop genres.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. How harsh is the British club scene? The performers are often robbed — while onstage. "I took my guitar off, and a kid came up and stole it," Peñate reminisces about a recent show. "He knicked the guitar, put it under his arm and almost left before the bouncers stopped him." Instruments aren't the only things in danger of thievery. "I got this hat in Japan, and some kid I invited onto the stage to sing a song knicked it and got away." Thankfully, a desperate plea on Peñate's MySpace page helped usher the safe return of his favorite hat.

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Who: U.K. punks Gallows, a five piece from London led by frontman Frank Carter who rocked the stage raw at this year's Reading Festival and Warped Tour.

Sounds Like: Pure punk in the tradition of the Clash and Black Flag, but with subtle ska and pop influences. Their debut album, Orchestra of Wolves, blends brutal riffs with pop hooks and thoughtful lyrics.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. If you stand with your hands in your pockets when you go to a Gallows' show, Carter will yell at you. Gallows are infamous for verbally assaulting non-responsive crowds, and sometimes even dive into the crowd to physically assault audience members. It should come as no surprise that most Gallows shows end with Carter bloodied. "My favorite memories are of turning punk all-dayers into fucking riots — ruining these people's days," he says.

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Who: Dirty South rapper Radric "Gucci Mane" Davis, who after spending some time behind bars, has learned to translate a life of crime into lyrical street anthems.

Sounds Like: Gucci's new album Back to the Traphouse finds the Bessemer, Alabama native unleashing crime-thick lyrics with his patented Southern drawl over explosive synth beats and sing-song hooks. The album, a sequel of sorts to his debut Traphouse, features guest spots from Ludacris, Lil' Kim, Rich Boy, the Game and late UGK rapper Pimp C.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. Gucci killed a man — in self-defense. While visiting the home of a female friend in 2005, Gucci was forced to shooter down an intruder after the man (an associate of Young Jeezy, with whom Gucci has an ongoing beef) stormed into the room, guns blazing. While Gucci didn't serve time for that incident (again, self-defense), he did serve six months in the slammer for beating another man with a pool stick.

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