Sleeper Agent, 'Far and Wide' (Interface)

Bowling Green, Ky. band Sleeper Agent started out as a duo in 2008, but it wasn't until guitarist/singer Tony Smith and drummer Justin Wilson recruited 16-year-old Alex Kandel to play bass that the band really began to take off. Though Kandel didn't work out as a bass player -- her hands were too small -- her Karen O-inspired vocals turned out to be the perfect compliment to Smith's laid back drawl, imbuing the band with a sound equivalent to a punk rock version of the XX.

"In terms of excitement, I think [we'd like] just to gradually keep climbing and growing and becoming the best band you can be, because when we started out we were just ratty kids with really terrible equipment." -- Guitarist Tony Smith