Stylish, confident, and, frankly, slightly menacing, the Raveonettes--Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo--made their mark on the emerging new garage-rock scene in 2002 with a flair for the dramatic. Their image was pure '50s retro-cool: lanky, dark-haired Sune and six-foot blonde glamazon Sharin wore black leather and sat astride motorbikes. The Danish duo doused their stripped-down songs about sex, suicide, and prostitution with noisy, fuzzed-out guitar, sweet boy-girl harmonies, and sleazy surf-punk twang. It sounded like a clash between Mods and Rockers if the brawl had taken place on the set of California beach movie.

• Rock