Grimes

Chock-full of ethereal whispers, dreamy dancescapes and buoyant synth beats, Claire Boucher's 2012 release Visions under her Grimes alias quickly skyrocketed the young singer-songwriter to indie queendom. The Montreal auteur returns this year with a new album of top-notch synth-pop, Art Angels, and considering she's as willing to name-drop bizarro industrialites Skinny Puppy in an interview as to attempt to produce a song for Rihanna ("Go," which RiRi turned down), the songs are as fastidiously fractured between mainstream kitsch and subcultural cache as you would expect. She lands in NYC for two capacity gigs following her performance at the Guggenheim International Gala.