Sleeper Agent, 'Force a Smile' (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.

"I would say all of our families are more excited than us mostly. Where we're from this doesn't happen too often. Being from Kentucky, there's like, us and a couple other bands who've done something similar, and so everybody gets really pumped." -- Guitarist Tony Smith