Keane w/ Ingrid Michaelson and Fran Healy

It comes as no surprise that this English alt-rock outfit was discovered by Simon Williams, who also found Coldplaya band that Keane frontman Tim Rice-Oxley was once asked to join. After years in the London pub circuit, Keane’s 2004 debut, Hopes & Fears, proved to be their breakthrough, emerging as one of the best-selling British albums of the year. Though it was slower to catch on in America, their slightly distorted 2006 follow-up, Under the Iron Sea, quickly topped the U.K. album charts and won a Grammy nomination for lead single “Is It Any Wonder?” The formula seemed to be working so well that it was a bit of a shock when the group overhauled its sound for 2008’s Perfect Symmetry, dropping the adult-contemporary balladry in favor of brisk, ’80s synth-pop. The group’s new Night Train EP is even more daring, exploring funk and electronic pop and featuring a guest appearance from Somali rapper K’Naan.