Phoenix

The charmingly tussled members of Phoenix have had quite a run in the past couple of years, and they deserve it. The band’s album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, stands as one of 2009’s (and maybe the decade’s) most universally beloved albums, helping easily danceable pop float off from a crotch-thrusting stalemate into flexible, bubbly warmth. Phoenix's spirit onstage—somewhere between a dreamboat rock band and a bunch of teenage friends getting high and fantasizing in their parents’ ’70s rec-room—keeps getting warmer the bigger it gets. It’s a band that’s put in the time, going back to its 2000 debut, United, and it seems likely to stick around for a good time to come.

Updated 10/04/2010