SPIN

For the third year running, the 40,000 available tickets for Virgin Mobile FreeFest, held at Maryland's charming Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 10, were given away for free. Even better, the event boasts loads of talent worth paying to see.

So even if you're not lucky enough to be going to FreeFest next weekend, check out these 10 performers who have wowed us with their work this year.

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Preview by Peter Gaston

Hometown: Akron, OH

Why They Matter: Hard-rocking, harder-working blues-rock duo busted into the mainstream with 2010's Brothers. But they're hardly resting on their success: They've already wrapped their next album, which might arrive later this year.

How They Wowed Us This Year: By uncorking a blistering main stage set at Coachella."[Dan] Auerbach cranked out enough note-bending solos to make B.B. King froth at the mouth. Playing as a four-piece, the Keys sounded tight after months supporting their Grammy-winning 2010 album, Brothers. But on their last track, 'I Got Mine,' Auerbach and [drummer Patrick] Carney played as if they'd just formed, as a duo, as brothers, ripping and rolling onstage," wrote SPIN's William Goodman.

WATCH: The Black Keys, "Next Girl"

Hometown: Detroit

Why He Matters: It's no surprise this easy-flowing MC's long-awaited debut album was called Finally Famous: He'd been signed by Kanye West nearly four years ago, and it just came out this summer.

How He Wowed Us This Year: By stepping up to the big-time with his debut album. "Finally Famous features the requisite cast of big names drafted in for help, but the crisp snap and easy flow of his voice in tracks like 'Do It' and 'My Last' (the latter featuring Chris Brown) suggest that his success will be fueled mostly by his own private fantasies of fame." -- Andy Battaglia, "24 Summer Albums That Matter Most"

WATCH: Big Sean, "I Do It"

Hometown: Brooklyn

Why They Matter: They're two-time SPIN Album of the Year honorees, and their latest effort, Nine Types of Light, is one of this year's best, a collection of future-leaning lovers' rock.

How They Wowed Us This Year: With a confident, emotional performance at SPIN's March bash in Austin. "If TV on the Radio wanted to reintroduce themselves to their audience ... they couldn't have done much better for themselves than their headlining set to a densely packed, sun-baked throng at SPIN's annual party at Stubb's BBQ... 'Dancing Choose,' 'Staring at the Sun,' and the set-closing 'Wolf Like Me,' had even the most jaded and weary dancing giddily near the stage," wrote SPIN's Steve Kandell.

LISTEN: TV on the Radio, "You"

Hometown: Brooklyn

Why He Matters: Just a year ago, Murphy was headlining at Virgin FreeFest as frontman of LCD Soundsystem, part of the band's farewell lap that culminated in an epic series of shows in NYC. He makes a return to Merriweather Post Pavilion this year, but as a DJ -- which is what he did before LCD took shape as a band.

How He Wowed Us This Year: While he'll only be DJing at Freefest, we are still reeling from LCD Soundsystem's spectacular farewell in April. "Decked out in a rumpled tux, clutching his trademark vintage mic, Murphy cut a bizarro-Sinatra figure, and by the time the drums kicked in for 'Dance Yrself Clean,' [Madison Square Garden] was throbbing in a way it hadn't since John Starks was in uniform." wrote SPIN's Steve Kandell

LISTEN: James Murphy DJ set on Beats in Space

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Why They Matter: With this year's excellent Zonoscope, the Aussie dance rock quartet delivered its most fully-formed, pop-savvy effort -- and subsequently have been embraced by larger audiences on their American tour dates.

How They Wowed Us This Year: By launching their U.S. tour with a decidedly "human," live-band touch at the DJ-heavy Ultra Music Fest in Miami. "'I want everyone to fucking jump!' [multi-instrumentalist Tim Hoey] commanded, after a personal Tiesto moment in which he assumed the mega-DJ's trademark god-like, arms-raised pose. And jump everyone did, and the ground shook," wrote our Arielle Castillo.

LISTEN: Cut Copy, "Blink and You'll Miss A Revolution"

Hometown: New York

Why She Matters: She's punk rock royalty, a true artist and activist, who is as adored for her groundbreaking 1975 debut Horses as she is today, whenever she sets foot upon a stage. Her new career-spanning retrospective CD Outside Society has just been released on Sony Legacy.

How She Wowed Us This Year: By delivering a heart-wrenching cover of Neil Young's "It's a Dream" at NYC's Carnegie Hall, accompanied by her daughter on piano. "Smith choked up, missing a verse. When she continued, the crowd carried her on their cheers. Now that's a tribute," we wrote.

Hometown: Bangor, Northern Ireland

Why They Matter: These young lads update the jangly, post-punk inspired Britpop of the early '00s with a slick sensibility, honed on their debut album, Tourist History, by French producer Philippe Zdar, who lent a similar touch to Phoenix's landmark Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

How They Wowed Us This Year: By turning Coachella's Mojave Tent into a college rock dance party. "Over the angular guitars and dance beats of anthemic rockers like 'I Can Talk,' from their 2010 album Tourist History, the throng welcomed the band with intense dancing, moshing, and beach balls. 'It's rare to come to a festival for the first time and get such a response,' said singer Alex Trimble. True that."

WATCH: Two Door Cinema Club, "What You Know"

Hometown: Perth/Sydney, Australia | London

Why They Matter: Luke Steele started humbly, as frontman for floppy-hatted rockers the Sleepy Jackson. But years later, he reinvented himself as an electro pop demigod, with slick-sounding songs like "Walking on a Dream" that appealed equally to music fans and ad execs, who licensed Steele's tunes left and right.

How They Wowed Us This Year: By delivering a Coachella performance that required no chemical accompaniments to be a head-trip. "The easiest way to blast off wasn't with MDMA, LSD, peyote, or any other mind-expanding drug. It was with sci-fi Australian dance outfit Empire of the Sun, whose set at the Outdoor Theatre was out of this world. Leader Luke Steele stood on a glowing podium, dressed like the ruler of a far off galaxy in a gold headdress and chest and shoulder plates," wrote SPIN's William Goodman.

WATCH: Empire of the Sun, "Walking on a Dream"

Hometown: Waitsfield, Vermont

Why They Matter: Frontwoman Grace Potter is the attraction here, a dynamic performer with the earnest sweetness of Jewel, the unbridled energy of Janis, and dresses shorter than Katy Perry's.

How She Wowed Us This Year: After christening Bonnaroo's main stage in June, Potter popped up on The Tonight Show with Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley to cover Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On."

WATCH: Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, "Goodbye Kiss" (Live from Bonnaroo)

Hometown: Brooklyn via Sacramento, CA

Why They Matter: For a decade, there have been few bands who rock a party harder than these post-punk dance dudes. Their squiggly basslines get booties moving, and frontman Nic Offer bounds around like a caffeinated college football mascot.

How They Wow-ed Us This Year: By playing "their version of the Talking Heads on a PCP bender" at Coachella. "Sporting a frizzy 'fro (a nerd natural?), !!! singer Nic Offer bore a striking resemblance to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, albeit reimagined as an uninhibited party animal. He vogued jerkily, strutted lankily, high-kicked in short shorts and flashed his untoned tummy, but did all with such aplomb that it was believable -- infectious even," wrote SPIN's Chris Martins.

WATCH: !!!, "Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass"