Cold Cave

Cold Cave leader Wesley Eisold has some skeletons in his closet — or at the very least, some really skinny people. Although he currently lends his time to the creation of lovely, often otherworldy synth-driven pop, the dude used to front hardcore bands. He was born with one arm, has been on tour for most of his life since 1997 and was once plagiarized by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz. The facts are novel, maybe, but the point is that the music is gorgeous, all rolling melody, punishing volume and careful instrumentation, even while its creator might be the world's least likely Pitchfork chosen one. Two albums in, Cold Cave has adopted a more collaborative process, but the larger vision is still based almost entirely on the whims of its founder.