Indie

Circa Survive is an alternative rock band consisting of former Saosin vocalist Anthony Green and members of the now-defunct This Day Forward, including guitarists Brendan Ekstrom and Colin Frangicetto. Compared to the sound of Green's former group, the music of Circa Survive taps a different musical influence for Green, who cites Paul Simon, Dredg, and Björk among later artists who have more influence on his vocal stylings in Circa Survive which are comparatively less aggressive, as well as his songwriting.

The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock group formed in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Their sound is influenced by that of such power pop bands as The Cars and Cheap Trick, but they use much more sophisticated rhythms and chord changes. Although it was widely reported that the New Pornographers got their name from a pamphlet put out by televangelist Jimmy Swaggart condemning rock ‘n’ roll as “the new pornography,” Carl Newman has stated that he came up with the name after watching a Japanese film called The Pornographers.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich (Born September 4, 1989) is an English singer-songwriter from York. Leftwich began playing music at the age of ten and grew up listening to The Rolling Stones and Nina Simone before discovering such singer-songwriters as Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, and Elliott Smith. He decided to use his middle name as part of his stage moniker as he felt Ben Leftwich was "a bit too snappy." His debut album 'Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm' was released on July 3, 2011 in the United Kingdom.

On August 18, 2009, lead singer Shaant Hacikyan announced via his Twitter account he was going solo. Dave Melillo confirmed that he and guitarist Jeff Czum had left the band. Jeff, Dave, and Mike Lasaponara went on to create a new band, Nocturnal Me. In early 2010, it was announced that the band will continue with frontman Shaant Hacikyan as the only original member to continue, joining with former members of Mandy K.