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When the sneaker-pimpin', sleigh-bell-shakin' hit "Vans" blew up online last year, these kids were poised to be the first bona fide breakout act for the forever-bubblin' Bay Area hyphy scene (despite being performing- arts-school kids assisted by old-timer Too Short, one of the members' uncles).

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This New York indie-folk group, built around keyboardist Mira Billotte's keening, haunting voice, have never quite reached their full potential, issuing but one album, 2006's mixed-bag Dat Rosa Mel Apibus. With Dirty Three drummer Jim White again sitting in, White Magic opt for a second EP, featuring more of their well-worn but still spectral songcraft.

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California black-metal loner Xasthur, a.k.a. Scott Conner, emerged from relative obscurity with 2006's Subliminal Genocide, releasing an opus whose weird, shoegazey atmospheres impressed hipsters while its intensity earned the United States cred in a scene dominated by Europeans.

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Though they formed in the late '90s, this Glaswegian postgrunge band finally became Britain's next big thing when Puzzle, their fourth LP, debuted at No. 2 on the U.K. album charts in June. It's easy to see why: The trio has an effortless, if colorless, knack for penning solid, accessible guitar anthems à la Foo Fighters.

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"There's gonna be a revival tonight," intones Mark Lanegan, accompanied by members of the London Community Gospel Choir, to open the second Soulsavers album from British producers Rich Machin and Ian Glover. Enveloped by a lush organ and dusty, looped beat, Lanegan sounds, if not reborn, then hopeful, which is a fresh look for the grunge-scarred meth-blues crooner.

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Formerly the Bees (the Nashville quartet that prompted a U.K. group to change its name to A Band of Bees), the Silver Seas specialize in familiar '70s-style soft rock that combines the hazy harmonies of the Beach Boys with Jackson Browne's running-on- empty rhythmic momentum.