Bully

Bully started out as the name of an indie-rock band led by guitarist, singer, songwriter Alicia Bognanno but came to refer to Bognanno herself by the third full length album (a fine, fine tradition in rock, actually). Musically she fits very well into Sub Pop's tradition of providing a platform for hard rocking, loud, scrappy, no-frills artists. Bognanno, who cut her teeth in Steve Albini's studio as an intern, has the '90s grunge sound down cold while staying closer to garage aesthetics, as opposed to some of the original grunge bands who gravitated towards punk or hard rock. Her songwriting became sharper and more grounded over the span of her albums, bringing melodies closer to the front and gravitating towards a bigger, grander style that allows her band's firepower to stand out more clearly.