Mirah

Somewhat incongruous with her home on the fiercely anti-corporate and independent K Records, Mira's music is quintessentially poppy and vaguely commercial. Not that the Portland, Ore., singer is likely to be found performing in front of choreographed dancers, but her bouncy, twee songs wouldn’t sound out of place playing in the background of House or any other prime-time drama that needs affecting music as a shorthand for onscreen catharsis. (Although her jazzy “The Garden” was featured in an episode of So You Think You Can Dance.) Her 2009 full-length, (A)spera, blends fragility and sureness, eclipsing the kind of precious, vacuous pop peddled by the likes of Colbie Caillat and Ingrid Michaelson.