Liars

As New York became a hotbed of skinny-jeaned, new wave bands in the early Noughties, Liars originally took a stance as arty punk hipsters alongside the likes of The Strokes and The Rapture. Meeting at art school in Los Angeles, Angus Andrew (vocals) and Aaron Hemphill (guitar) moved to the Big Apple and started the group with Pat Noecker (bass) and Ron Albertson (drums), releasing debut They Threw Us All In A Trench and Stuck A Monument On Top (2001) to a wave of critical hype. As Australian front man Angus became famed for his relationship with Yeah Yeah Yeahs star Karen O, Noecker and Albertson departed in 2002, replaced by Julian Gross (drums). Retreating to a cabin in the woods with producer Dave Sitek, the band developed a stark, desolate sound full of fevered rhythms and eerie harmonies on They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (2004) and Drum's Not Dead (2006), drawing comparisons with Public Image Ltd. By now fully fledged experimental outsiders, fourth album Liars (2007) added another layer crunching distortion and rumbling bass before Sisterworld (2010) offered primal howls, ethereal atmospherics and thundering crescendos of angst. Sisterworld also came with a remix album by contemporaries and fans of the band including Thom Yorke, The Melvins and Devendra Banhart.