Artist Sound Tribe Sector 9

Sound Tribe Sector 9—STS9 for short—got its start down in Georgia, but the band picked up steam when it moved to California in the early 2000s. Thanks in part to its lengthy, energetic live shows and an endless tour schedule, the electro-jam hybrid has amassed an impressive fan base. Its members’ diverse interests are also responsible: 2009’s Ad Explorata took its inspiration from so-called “numbers stations”—the mysterious shortwave radio stations that also gave the title to Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot—while its members forsook their laptops and samplers for the performance that formed the largely acoustic 2010 release, Axe The Cables, before returning to the chilled out, jam-friendly electronica for last year’sWhen The Dust Settles EP.

Updated 01/04/2012