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"  New York City&amp;#039;s annual CMJ music festival, which took place last month, fills me with the kind of excitement that Halloween did as a child: There&amp;#039;s magic in the air. You hop from venue to venue throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, bingeing on as many shows as possible each night. The bands play bite-sized sets, enabling you to see multiple acts in a single evening (and into the early morning). You return home exhausted and crash as if from a massive sugar high, eager for your next fix. After five days of venue-hopping, I&amp;#039;ve been basking in all the new music I was lucky enough to come across. Here&amp;#039;s my list of ten new bands everybody should know about.  WarpaintHOMETOWN:  Los AngelesREMINDS ME OF:  Mazzy Star, Blonde RedheadWHY THEY ROCK:  With three effortlessly cool female leads and one male drummer, Warpaint&amp;#039;s dreamy sound is simultaneously hypnotic and energizing. At one point in the show, during &amp;quot;Billie Holiday,&amp;quot; all three girls sang together, and the harmonies were so transcendent I almost forgot I was in a crowded, sweaty club.  FanfarloHOMETOWN:  LondonREMINDS ME OF:  Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say YeahWHY THEY ROCK:  Lead singer Simon Balthazar&amp;#039;s voice channels the Talking Heads&amp;#039; David Byrne but lends a more calming effect. At CMJ, fans were a bit impatient at the time it took the band to set up, but those who stuck around were rewarded with a brilliant spectacle of sound that was robust and slightly reminiscent of a circus coming to town.  The AntlersHOMETOWN:  BrooklynREMINDS ME OF:  Grizzly Bear, The DodosWHY THEY ROCK:  The Antlers will break your heart, then hold you until you feel safe again. They played songs from their concept album Hospice, which tells the story of a man losing a loved one to cancer. It was a personal and haunting performance, the kind that makes you want to listen to the record on repeat.          CMJ    The PostellesHOMETOWN:  New York CityREMINDS ME OF:  The Strokes, The KooksWHY THEY ROCK:  I was prepared to hate the Postelles. Something about the catchy name and the fact that Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. produced several tracks for their upcoming album made me think they&amp;#039;d be a kitschy clich\u00E9. These young native New Yorkers proved me wrong. Their energizing &amp;#039;50s pop-meets-vintage-garage-rock sound had me head-bopping from the start. By the end the of the show, which included an amazing cover of The Ramones &amp;quot;Beat On The Brat,&amp;quot; I was dancing and whooping with the rest of the crowd.   Mumford And SonsHOMETOWN:  LondonREMINDS ME OF:  Cave Singers, The Avett BrothersWHY THEY ROCK:  The last time I saw this phenomenal London-based folk/bluegrass foursome, they lit up a small back room in a Brooklyn bar, enveloping the audience with their soul-gripping, foot-stomping performance. That was last March. Their return to NYC for this year&amp;#039;s CMJ blew that springtime show out of the water. The band was bolder, more confident, and simply flawless. Pretty impressive, considering their album has yet to be released in the US (it&amp;#039;s due out early next year). Mumford&amp;#039;s soaring harmonies and soulful anthems have garnered them a small but dedicated fan base here in the US. These guys will be big. The best part: they perform like they already are.  The Temper TrapHOMETOWN:  Melbourne, AustraliaREMINDS ME OF:  Bloc Party, RadioheadWHY THEY ROCK:  Lead singer Dougie Mandagi&amp;#039;s angelic falsetto is soft and soothing at first, but quickly explodes into a high-pitched blast of emotion. Their energy is contagious. While songs on their album sometimes blend together, the Temper Trap&amp;#039;s live performance actually made we want to play the record more, if only to sing along at the top of my lungs.   Drink Up ButtercupHOMETOWN:  Philadelphia, PAREMINDS ME OF:  The Beatles, Tom Waits, BeirutWHY THEY ROCK:  An interesting hybrid of operatic vocals and junkyard percussion. Singer James Harvey left a promising opera career to front the band, so vocals are definitely a strong suit for this Philly quartet. At one point during the show, Harvey broke a string, and the band&amp;#039;s solution was to play a song in and among the audience while the guitar was repaired onstage. The crowd ate this up, and amidst a flurry of camera flashes, I was left wondering if the incident was planned in advance. (It got them a write up in The New York Times the next morning, interestingly enough.) If it was a gimmick, it was one I thoroughly enjoyed.         CMJ    Sin Fang BousHOMETOWN:  Reykjavik, IcelandREMINDS ME OF:  Seabear, Animal CollectiveWHY THEY ROCK:  There is something intense and mesmerizing about the music that comes out of Iceland, and Sin Fang Bous is a prime example. Lead singer Sindri M\u00E1r Sigf\u00FAsson originally started the band Seabear, and Sin Fang Bous is his solo, more free-form project. On the album, he plays all the instruments himself, but at CMJ he toured with a full band (three other guys). Their sound is peaceful, intricate pop, but with abrupt movements that keep you intrigued.   The XXHOMETOWN:  LondonREMINDS ME OF:  The Knife, Au Revoir SimoneWHY THEY ROCK:  Their album is a slow, sexy, lights-out kind of atmospheric pop and has been hugely touted by the music-nerd community. The week following CMJ, keyboardist-guitarist Baria Qureshi had to take a break due to exhaustion, and the band has now canceled several of their upcoming European tour dates. I hope these guys get a chance to enjoy their fame before being run down by it.  Laura MarlingHOMETOWN:  LondonREMINDS ME OF:  Joanna Newsom, Kate NashWHY SHE ROCKS:  Catching Laura Marling&amp;#039;s performance at CMJ was one of the happiest accidents I&amp;#039;ve had in a long time. I arrived a bit early for a different band, so I snuck up to the front to see what the sweet little blonde girl with the acoustic guitar was all about. Her voice is strong and powerful, and her lyrics tell deep, soulful tales of love, lies, and religion. A personal favorite &amp;quot;My Manic and I&amp;quot; managed to cover all three topics eloquently and left me wondering what a few more years of experience will bring out of this already superlative young artist. Next time I catch her in concert, it won&amp;#039;t be an accident.         CMJ "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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