N.E.R.D.

As The Neptunes production team, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were among the most reliable hit-makers of the last decade, racking up hits for rappers, R&B singers and pop stars alike. They were never able to duplicate that same chart success for their rock- and funk-oriented side project, the live band N.E.R.D., a group that began as an outlet for some of the duo’s more esoteric influences. The band’s recent work has grown more conventionally commercial. Their last album, 2008’s Seeing Sounds, was their most club-minded yet, and judging from its teaser singlea feather-light dance song with Nelly Furtado called “Hot N Fun”their upcoming album Nothing looks to make a bid for the pop charts.