Keane w/ Patrick Watson

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, <I>Hopes & Fears</i>, 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, <i>Under the Iron Sea</i>, 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 <i>Perfect Symmetry</i>, dropping the adult-contemporary balladry in favor of brisk, '80s synth-pop.