In The Vault, you'll find a collection of old feature pieces from our back issues. Beta started in June 1999, so you'll find a veritable history here.

The Besnard Lakes' new indie rock Taking their moniker from a lake in northern Saskatchewan, Montreal band The Besnard Lakes are wowing music critics with their new album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar). They play orchestral indie rock, but somewhere inside what could potentially be a bloated genre, they find a taut fingernail-meets-chalkboard eeriness, and this is what rescues the music from lapsing into preciousness. Plus, they bring more to the table: Beach Boys-type vocal harmonies, Pink Floyd solos, and Spiritualized-space rock.

Frida Hyvönen's singular vision Her blog begins artlessly thus: "Frida, the details." The text that follows is penned without any hint of artifice, and the charmingly odd turns of phrase here and there tell you the writer's first language may not be English. But Frida Hyvönen is possessed of a optimistic streak; she's singularly confident of her vision and art, and she is clearly unafraid to make her way in the big, bad music world.

"I was born in late 1977 in Sweden," she writes, "My last name is Finnish because one of my grandfathers is from Finland. My debut album "Until Death Comes" was originally released in Scandinavia in 2005 by Swedish label Licking Fingers, and will be released in "the rest of the world" in late October 2006, by US label Secretly Canadian."

Coming in the wake of other newly-famous Swedes Jens Lekman and Jose Gonzalez, Hyvönen is a strikingly talented pianist and songwriter whose music reminds you of Laura Nyro in her Tin Pan Alley days. She explores sexual transgression, friendship, jealousy with a gravitas that belies her age.

Concave Scream's second wind There are two ways to put this: you could either say Concave Scream is one of the ‘oldest’ bands in the Singapore music scene, or that Concave Scream's one of the country's most enduring bands. The lads probably wouldn't care less which adjective you use - they're veterans who've seen it, and lived through it, the highs, the lows, the praise, the indifference. Their new album Horizons traces a maturing, graceful arc that should win more comers to the band's fan stable. Sean, Pann and Dean open up.

Manchester duo George live in sadness As musicians, Manchester folk duo George thrive on sadness. They are odd, possibly eccentric people who seem to prefer old-fashioned feelings like love, suspense, and resonance to modern-day emotions like rage and vitriol. Suzy Mangion and Michael Varty's second full-length album A Week of Kindness is the follow-up to 2003's critically-acclaimed The Magic Lantern. If reviews are anything to go by, the former manages to extend and even surpass the beauty and sadness of that debut.

Xiu Xiu's heart of darkness In 2005 music was so fragmented and so disparate a beast that music fans and critics could spend a fortnight debating what was good and what sucked, and still have no consensus. But the confessions and arguments concerning one band would likely come to a singular conclusion.

People have agreed for close to three years that it'd be impossible for anyone who heard Xiu Xiu's music to come away from it feeling ambivalent. Whether you loved or hated it, your gut reactions to the art of this San Jose experimental/post-punk quartet would be passionate, even violent.

The Observatory blasts off Singapore collective The Observatory made big waves last year. They released their second album Blank Walls, the follow-up to 2003's Time of Rebirth. Blank Walls was a denser, more layered, and more experimental project compared to its predecessor. To make it, the group flew to Bergen, Norway to mix with acclaimed producer Jorgen Traeen, returning with a trunkload of happy memories. They had the honor of supporting Chicago postrock ensemble Tortoise when the latter performed at the Esplanade, and thrilled their fans with a set that was by turns feverish, masterful and subtle.

Woven Hand's David Edwards Fans and critics who know David Eugene Edwards are perpetually fascinated with the way he handles the delicate, sometimes impossibly fragile, balance that sits at the heart of his music. Edwards, who fronts 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand is an evangelical Christian. His music draws sustenance from the fire and brimstone Christianity that America's heartland embraces.

Serenaide Singaporean band Serenaide may be relative newcomers to the island state's music scene. But they're not wet-behind-the-ears pups. With an impressive debut album The Other Side of The Receiver to their name, these are kids with big plans. They launched their record in January, toured Kuala Lumpur and Indonesia, and played a wonderful set at Baybeats 2005. Their songs display a sense of confidence beginning artists seldom exude, and they're good with the technical side of things as well. They've got viewpoints, too--they say no to Singapore's casino.

Alasdair Roberts speaks For Alasdair Roberts, the leader of the Scottish folk ensemble Appendix Out, music-making is all about fulfilling a communicative need. With his new album No Earthly Man, Roberts offers his fans a brilliant companion volume to 2001's The Crook of My Arm, a record of traditional-folk-song covers.