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From their beginnings giving singing telegrams, The Bobs' founders (Gunnar Madsen and Matthew Stull) recruited bass singer Richard Greene and Janie Scott in the higher register to complete the a cappella quartet. Hear The Bobs perform a display of vocal acrobatics and irreverent lyrics on World Cafe.

Famous in its native Ireland, the pop-rock band saw its U.S. fan base multiply when its music was used on The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy. Bell X1 recently crossed the Atlantic for a tour stop at West Virginia's Mountain Stage.

The music Wilkes composed for Drop It diverges from the trumpeter's avant-garde roots, with a title track that sounds beautifully in the pocket. Listen for Robert Irving III's unobtrusive electric piano, a woozy frontline melody that peps up to evoke old-school hard-bop, and rhythmically savvy solos that take few harmonic chances, to satisfying effect.

Once the frontwoman for a punk trio, the singer-songwriter taps into the vein of fellow Canadians Bruce Cockburn and Joni Mitchell. Hear Miller perform a set of lush tunes inspired by her Prince Edward Island upbringing.

Singer-songwriter Teitur Lassen originates from the Faroe Islands (which translates to Sheep Islands), a remote spot of land between Iceland and Norway. On his third album, The Singer, Teitur's arrangements are quiet and sparse, but he sings with such confidence and fervor that the effect is, at times, gripping. "Guilt By Association," for example, tells a story about an accidental murder, with thrilling lines like, "Run away, they are coming to get us now." These minor-key dirges are clearly his signature, but some of the more immediately accessible and uplifting moments come when he loosens up.

The Movie, the debut album from New York-based band Clare & the Reasons, is quirky, to say the least. The record is an 11-track foray into theatrical, space-themed chamber pop that falls somewhere between the score of a Broadway musical and a collection of sweet and playful nursery rhymes.

Fela Kuti fathered the musical movement Afrobeat and its crown prince, 25-year-old Seun Kuti. The Nigerian singer is leading his father's band, Egypt 80. On his self-titled debut album, he's added some American influences but kept his songs sharply pointed and political.

The debut, self-titled album from Oklahoma City-based band The Uglysuit is refreshingly bright and cheery, replete with huge spirit-raising piano and guitar anthems. With a blend of spacey dream pop and a few alt-country flavors (lead singer Israel Hindman's voice mimicks Jeff Tweedy one minute, Conor Oberst the next), the group's sound draws comparisons to the Flaming Lips and the Shins, but the grandiosity of the music is that of space rock proportions.

Fleet Foxes' members join host David Dye for the latest in World Cafe's Lillywhite Sessions series from Avatar Recording Studios in New York City. The quintet draws from the baroque psychedelic pop of the '60s, sacred harp singing, gospel and folk music.

For the first time in her 20-year career, singer-songwriter Sam Phillips goes it alone on the curiously titled Don't Do Anything. Phillips performs songs from her album with violinist and guitarist Erik Gorfain in a session on World Cafe.