Teenagersintokyo

At first glance, it would be easy to write off the members of Teenagers in Tokyo as a group handpicked by marketing execs for their keen fashion sense. Instead, they're self-starters who put together a band because of their passion for left-of-center musical acts. They grew up in Sydney, Australia, and formed a band in a seventh-grade art course where they covered a cappella versions of songs, including Daft Punk's "Da Funk." Eight years later, they decided to pick up instruments while Linda Marigliano and Samantha Lim were working at FBI Radio (home of Fat Planet). Pairing up with Miska Mandic and Sophie McGinn, the four girls recruited drummer Rudy Udovich and started learning how to play over his beats, in an effort to combine indie electro with post-punk. Sounding mildly like an updated version of Luscious Jackson or the Slits — who, admittedly, also had very little experience on their instruments when they started — they met with producer Jona Ma from the Valentinos and Knife Machine to record their self-titled EP in November of 2005.