Brendon Thomas can lead a full rock band down some rough roads, or hold an audience spellbound during an intimate solo acoustic set. No matter how he's presenting his warm and inviting songs, his project is called Foreverinmotion, and he's winning fans all over America. The Vermont native has a knack for engaging melodies, a straightforward and heartfelt lyrical sensibility, and a refreshing candor and hope about thorny emotional matters.

Consider "Hot Air Balloon", the lead single from the highly-regarded The Beautiful Unknown. Thomas sings from genuine concern: it's the emotional state of his lover that troubles him. While this is, on one important level, a romantic song, it could easily be addressed to a close friend, or to anybody haunted by self-doubt, depression, or worry. Thomas promises the listener that an escape from a "troubled state of mind" is possible, and offers reassurance that positive action can have salutary effects. That's the hot air balloon he's singing about - a getaway car from a poisoned headspace. "You deserve so much more than what you've allowed yourself to be", he sings, "I wish you were strong enough to set yourself free; I know that you are."

Franz Ferdinand are an indie rock band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 2001. Named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the band comprises Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals), and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion and backing vocals). The band first experienced chart success when their second single "Take Me Out" reached #3 in the UK Charts,[4] followed by their debut album Franz Ferdinand which debuted on the UK album chart at #3.[5] The band went on to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and two BRIT Awards in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. NME named Franz Ferdinand as their Album of the Year. From the album, three top-ten singles were released, "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée", "This Fire". Also, "Michael" peaked at #17. The band's second album, You Could Have It So Much Better, charted at #1 in the UK,[6] selling 101,884 copies in its first week, yielding the top ten hit "Do You Want To" and other hits such as "Walk Away" and "The Fallen".

Alternative metal band Future Leaders of the World was led by singer/guitarist Phil Taylor, a Buffalo native who relocated to San Francisco after high school. At a Puddle of Mudd gig, he befriended Mike Flynn, who would later serve as the group's manager and financed Taylor's first three-song demo tape. Upon returning to Buffalo, Taylor formed the first incarnation of Future Leaders of the World with bassist Toby Cole and drummer Carl Messina. The fledgling trio drove cross-country to Los Angeles to record a demo session, but creative tensions soon forced Cole to exit from the lineup, and with the late 2003 additions of bassist Bill Hershey and lead guitarist Jake Stutevoss, Flynn negotiated a deal with Epic Records. Future Leaders of the World's debut album, LVL IV (aka "Level Four") appeared the following autumn, but in the midst of an extensive live schedule that included a series of dates on the Sno-Core Tour the band received word that Epic planned to terminate their contract and dissolved. After settling in Little Rock, AR, Taylor assembled a new Future Leaders of the World lineup in 2005 with former Evanescence members John LeCompt (guitar) and Rocky Gray (drums) as well as guitarist Jack Wiese and bassist Thad Ables. This revamped roster later adopted the name Machina. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

The young women of Girl In A Coma have named themselves after a Smiths song that needs no introduction here, and frontwoman and guitarist Nina Diaz has more than a little Morrissey in her powerful, elastic singing. But she may also remind you of Billie Holliday, Patsy Cline, Patti Smith, Karen O, and even Joey Ramone. Diaz's voice is classic: robust, immediate, capable of expressing great sorrow and anger while simultaneously conveying punk attitude. It's the sort of voice that announces the coming of a major band - a wail of emotional solidarity, and an arrow that penetrates a listener's heart.

We've included two Girl In A Coma clips on this reel - a video accompanying "Clumsy Sky", the lead single, and another for the aching "Road To Home". Both songs contain more musical moods and ideas than what can be found on most indie rock full-lengths, and Nina Diaz's singing performances are spectacular throughout. Jim Mendiola - best known as the director behind punk rock films Pretty Vacant and Ozzy Goes To The Alamo - is another proud San Antonio weirdo, and in the "Clumsy Sky" clip, he coaxes the desert-Texan strangeness and charm from Diaz's artful songwriting. Mendiola shoots the band in a dusty dive bar, and turns the room into a hangout for some of the freakiest characters in the Lone Star State (the three members on Girl In A Coma fit right in, of course.) These aren't hipsters: they're devoted music listeners, young and old, who casually express their personal styles under the smoky lights of the San Antonio nightclub. In other words, they're a Girl In A Coma crowd.

The young women of Girl In A Coma have named themselves after a Smiths song that needs no introduction here, and frontwoman and guitarist Nina Diaz has more than a little Morrissey in her powerful, elastic singing. But she may also remind you of Billie Holliday, Patsy Cline, Patti Smith, Karen O, and even Joey Ramone. Diaz's voice is classic: robust, immediate, capable of expressing great sorrow and anger while simultaneously conveying punk attitude. It's the sort of voice that announces the coming of a major band - a wail of emotional solidarity, and an arrow that penetrates a listener's heart.

We've included two Girl In A Coma clips on this reel - a video accompanying "Clumsy Sky", the lead single, and another for the aching "Road To Home". Both songs contain more musical moods and ideas than what can be found on most indie rock full-lengths, and Nina Diaz's singing performances are spectacular throughout. Jim Mendiola - best known as the director behind punk rock films Pretty Vacant and Ozzy Goes To The Alamo - is another proud San Antonio weirdo, and in the "Clumsy Sky" clip, he coaxes the desert-Texan strangeness and charm from Diaz's artful songwriting. Mendiola shoots the band in a dusty dive bar, and turns the room into a hangout for some of the freakiest characters in the Lone Star State (the three members on Girl In A Coma fit right in, of course.) These aren't hipsters: they're devoted music listeners, young and old, who casually express their personal styles under the smoky lights of the San Antonio nightclub. In other words, they're a Girl In A Coma crowd.

Santa Cruz, CA's seminal punk veterans Good Riddance are back with their 7th full-length album entitled My Republic. this latest and most fervent recording to date saw the band reuniting not only with punk producers extraordinaire Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, Anti-Flag, NOFX), but with former drummer Sean Sellers as well. the result will undoubtedly go down as the quintessential Good Riddance album and is sure to become a classic representation of the California punk sound. Driven by soulful passion and political savvy, My Republic is sure to satisfy Good Riddance fans everywhere with Luke Pabich's blazing guitars, Chuck Platt's pounding bass and Sean Seller's thundering drums, all of which are complemented by vocalist/songwriter Russ Rankin's biting social commentary and melodic personal refrains.

The stunning Paz de la Huerta (Cider House Rules, Riding In Cars With Boys) starred in that video and dominated every frame she graced. The Cousin clip left viewers wanting more Paz de la Huerta, and in the sexy an provocative video for "By The Time I Get Home There Won't Be Much Of A Place For Me," Michele Civetta and Grand National have given us just that. Here, she plays the subject of a video diary, and as she dances through the streets, fields, and nightclubs of Paris, every move she makes feels like an irresistible come-on. Named for a line in a Hall & Oates hit, A Drink And A Quick Decision is the latest release from London's favorite electro-pop duo. Kicking The National Habit, their last album, drew rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, and established Grand National as one of the leading lights of the international dance-rock movement. The popular acceptance of Kicking The National Habit helped open ears to similar bands like LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and Prinzhorn Dance School, and the sturdy songwriting and urbane cool of A Drink And A Quick Decision promises to open still more American ears to sophisticated transnational indie-funk. "By The Time I Get Home There Won't Be Much Of A Place For Me", the lead single, slinks along on an elastic, propulsive groove - but still manages to tell a moving, articulate story of dislocation and heartbreak. The Grand National sound is cinematic, artful and spellbinding, and Michele Civetta (Yoko Ono, Sparklehorse, Lou Reed) delivers a stylish video for "By The Time I Get Home..." that often feels like a three-minute trip to Cannes. Shot partially in Parisian hotspot Le Baron, it's the tale of a man and a woman and a vacation gone bad. We barely see the videomaker, but it's his hand-held footage we watch; Paz de la Huerta aims most of her beckoning gestures straight at the camera. The flirtation is near-constant - she makes her desire for her boyfriend manifest, the straps of her slinky dresses and bathrobes keep sliding down beneath her shoulders, and even when she's sleeping in the back of a taxi, her breathing seems to invite sexual reverie. But everything is far from perfect. At times, de la Huerta's character seems to be out of control: boozy, dream-addled, and frighteningly close to losing consciousness. During some of the Le Baron scenes, her eyes narrow to slits, and she gyrates provocatively beside the singers in the band (Grand National, of course). She expresses herself physically - she's got kisses for her boyfriend, but she'll shove him off, too. By the end of the clip, she's dancing with a strange mustachioed man; we watch her leave the club with him. The editing speeds up, and finally we realize what we've been seeing - the filmmaker, alone at home and pained, fast-forwarding through footage of a girl he lost long ago.