Phoenix

I saw these guys on Saturday Night Live the other night.  The first and last time I heard them before that was on the soundtrack to Lost in Translation, but I never listened to any more than that.  I don't know if they've changed their sound much since then, but I listened to their new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (which I think is a pretty sweet title) a few times and I really like it.  On SNL I thought the lead singer sounded a little like Ben Kweller.  The band is much dancier than Kweller's, in fact they sometimes verge on groove/lounge music, but they can still rock, and I prefer those songs in which they do.  Oh yeah, did I mention they're French?  You wouldn't have even noticed.  Maybe they should sing a few songs in French.  (Maybe they have, like I said I'm not familiar with their earlier work).  Anyway, here's their performance on SNL:

K'Naan

Aaron just hipped me to this dude.  I dig his stuff, it's honest.  It's got kind of a Will I Am or Wyclef Jean vibe to it, but it's a little different because of his Somalian background.  His full album is available streaming on his myspace.