5 to watch out for

Beirut

Anyone doubting the speed of Internet buzz need only to take note of Beirut. The band of one—consisting of 20-year-old college dropout Zach Condon—played its first New York show in May, opening at Knitting Factory. A measly month later, it sold out Northsix on the strength of Gulag Orkestar (Ba Da Bing!), a blogged-about debut that melds synthesizer pop and Gypsy garnishment.

The Boggs

The Boggs made waves in the early ’00s trafficking in old-time folk and country music. In 2004, the band’s principal, Jason Friedman, fled New York for Berlin; he returned a reborn man. Now the hillbilly sounds of old have been supplanted with dark, urban postpunk and shades of PiL, the Mekons and the Birthday Party.

Ching Chong Song

An unconventional duo that plays regularly at Sidewalk Café, Ching Chong Song stars Julie LaMendola (who sings and plays the saw) and Dan Gower (who plays the piano and wears a piano tie). Their songs are spare, but the pair compensate with enough chutzpah to fill Carnegie Hall.

Christina Courtin’s Running Kicks

Christina Courtin recently graduated from Julliard, where she studied violin. Yet it’s as a singer that she has been selling out downtown spaces like Mo Pitkin’s and Joe’s Pub. Courtin’s bold, busy voice touches on both Janis Joplin and Antony, and her songs have an immediately classic feel—like Norah Jones, with more brawn.

Death Vessel

Death Vessel features the angelic falsetto of Joel Thibodeau—a Brooklyn man in his early thirties who happens to sing like a nine-year-old girl. The gothic folk songs on his debut album, Stay Close (North East Indie), are chilling and strangely beautiful, projecting a macabre wholesomeness that reflects the singer’s native Maine.