The Beets
If you're the type of person who goes to a lot of shows around New York City, it seems unlikely that you didn't see The Beets at least once in the past year: they've played everywhere from the Ace Hotel and the Brooklyn Museum to Bruar Falls and, like, their friends' houses. All those shows earned them tons of local press, too: from Vice, NY Press and The Tripwire, among others. They've also taken their show on the road, touring with the Vivian Girls, Christmas Island and Beach Fossils, and they aren't stopping either: they've got dates upcoming with German Measles and Cloud Nothings.

Anamanaguchi
Having been making music out of a hacked 1985 Nintendo system for a few years now, Anamanaguchi has become patriarchs of the rising 8-bit scene, which is sort of weird since they haven't even graduated from NYU (read: they're young). They have, however, traveled across the country on their first major tour to support their album Dawn Metropolis last summer, been named "Best of NYC" in Deli Magazine's 2009 year-end poll, and recently retuned home from the 8-Bit Alliance Tour, where news broke that they'll be soundtracking the video game adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comic series. According to their MySpace page, they remain "eternally psyched." Good thing, ‘cause they're playing with Fang Island at the Knitting Factory on April 4 and opening for Dan Deacon at Wesleyan on the 17th.

Emanuel & The Fear
These folks just released their debut full length on Paper Garden Records on March 9th. It's called Listen, and you'll want to: it's full of lovingly orchestrated, hugely catchy pop songs that have won the band the attention of NME, The Guardian, Flavorpill, RCRD LBL and pretty much everyone else, too. They're currently on a European tour that will include a stop at the London Calling Festival in Amsterdam (confusing, we know), with Holly Miranda and A Sunny Day in Glasgow.

Darlings
As we write this, one or more members of Darlings are currently watching MTV's Teen Cribs (again, Twitter), but in the past 12 months, their slouchy, hooky garage rock has found its way all over the city. First there was praise for their debut album, Yeah I Know, on every conceivable local music blog this summer, then the mothership of press -- The New York Times -- got on board with a few nice things to say. Next came Urban Outfitters, who included their song "Eviction Party" in an in-store store playlist/blog mix along the likes of Girls and The xx. Things got weirder when Vanity Fair used "Teenage Girl" to soundtrack a behind-the-scenes photo shoot teaser for their Hollywood issue. While the year concluded with Yeah I Know on more than a few "best of" lists (The L's included), Darlings kicked off 2010 with their first trip to SXSW where they played a load of shows at places like thrift stores and tattoo shops. Their band name is getting easier to Google, too. To keep it going, they'll be opening for the Smith Westerns at Market Hotel on April 3 and playing Brooklyn Bowl on the 15th, where they'll share the stage with '09 honorable mention, Sisters.

The Albertans
So, hmm. Ok, honestly? We don't know where The Albertans are. We think they're in Canada, maybe, but apparently not Alberta. And we think they might be spread out all over the place. What we do know: They released a very good record called Legends of Sam Marco in summer, they spent some time recording on a farm in Saskatchewan, they made a video, they toured, and they were written about in Blender, which is super weird.

Xylos
Things seem to be building up steam for folky indie-pop outfit Xylos, who just wrapped up recording their debut LP with Yeasayer/Chairlift producer Britt Myers for release in June. But it's not like they've been sitting around twiddling their thumbs. They've consistently popped up all over the place, from an in-studio session at KEXP to MTV.com to something called "Fresh Buzz," an online joint venture between MTV and Subway (as in $5 footlongs), spotlighting up-and-coming artists— not to mention headlining spots at Mercury Lounge, on tour with Lissy Trullie, and opening for Atlas Sound. They're about to set off on an East Coast tour with Chris Pureka which sees them playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 12 before opening for the Marco Benevento Trio at Bowery Ballroom on May 22.

Savoir Adore
In the time since we wrote about this Brooklyn-based dream-pop quintet, they've added two releases to their catalog: first, the excellent Machines EP, and then the crowning achievement of their young career--their debut full-length, In The Wooded Forest, which won them a healthy amount of attention from the press. They've also done a session for Daytrotter, played countless area shows, and they just got back from a trip to this year's SXSW. All that and they're currently working on the follow-up to Wooded Forest.

pow wow!
Sun-baked rock outfit pow wow! was in the midst of releasing a string of EPs and playing a relentless amount of shows when the "8 Bands You Need to Hear" issue hit the streets last year. It's no surprise that just weeks later, we have it on good word that they were approached by a couple record labels too cool to name here. After they played probably more shows than any other band at the Northside Festival, they found themselves at the mercy of scheduling conflicts and ended up parting ways (amicably) with their drummer. While he's now managing Dinosaur Feathers (honorable mention, what what), the rest of pow wow! has powered on, writing new songs with a female guitarist/vocalist and playing alongside the likes of Free Energy. Oh, and that MTV/Subway thing that Xylos was featured on -- "Fresh Buzz?" pow wow! was on that too. Jared must've read the issue last year.