If you know me, you know I love music. One other fun fact about my love for this art form is that I don’t strictly love music from one nation or area. I can bounce all around, not only depending on genre, but on country as well.

For this column, I will be focusing on introducing you to some of my favorite bands and performers from Great Britain, an area of immense talent that often goes unrecognized in how fantastic its musical artists are. So here we go!

Mark Ronson

First, I have to admit that I’ve been listening to Ronson’s song with The Business Intl. “Bang Bang Bang” pretty much non-stop for the past few days—it’s really that good. Ronson is an English musician, DJ and producer who has been working in the music industry for 20 years with acts such as Lily Allen, Black Lips and Adele. If you’ve ever heard of Amy Winehouse, you’ve most likely also heard of Ronson; he was a major contributor to her career and is credited as the producer of “Back to Black,” which won him Grammy for Producer of the year. If you still aren’t wowed by how impressive he is, go check out any of collaborations, such as “Valerie” or “Oh My God.”

Paloma Faith

This 32 year old can put women have her age to shame. Faith is also a Londoner, whose music can be described as a mixture of pop, soul, soft rock and jazz. Having only released her debut album in 2009, Faith has become a major fixture in the European music scene, performing at festivals such as Lovebox Festival and the iTunes festival, both held in London. She has also proven her comedic talents through her various appearances on the popular English comedy panel game television show “Never Mind the Buzzcocks.” To check out how awesome she is in both the music and comedic sides of her life, head on over to YouTube and go crazy—I would recommend starting with her 2010 single “Upside Down” and go from there.

Rizzle Kicks

As you have probably guessed from all my articles/mentions of Kanye, I like hip-hop, rap and the like. This duo from Brighton takes my love and puts a spin on it with their use of instruments such as trumpets. Rizzle Kicks is the collaboration of Jordan “Rizzle” Stephens and Harley “Sylvester” Alexander-Sule, and, although both are closer to the age of college students than most performers, the pairing definitely packs a punch. The two are incredibly well-respected in their home country, having sold over 1 million singles and over 600,000 albums in the UK as of last year. To start out your own love of the group, check out their song “Down with the Trumpets” for an instant mood-enhancer and a damn-good song.

Arctic Monkeys

If you haven’t heard of the Arctic Monkeys, you could just let yourself out now. The Sheffield group started sharing their talent with the world in 2002, and hasn’t slowed down since. The four-some has released five studio albums in their 11 year career, with two of my favorite albums of all time included (“Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” and “Favourite Worst Nightmare”). They are largely believed to be one of the first groups to come to the public’s attention via the Internet, which even further proves how massive of a force they are. If you haven’t feasted your ears on their majestic sound as of yet, go check out one of their amazing singles (I love “Old Yellow Bricks”) and then check out their side-projects and solo material.

The Wombats

When a band is from the same city as The Beatles, you know they’re going to be great. The Wombats has been on the market with their talent since 2003, but didn’t truly become immensely popular until the release of their single “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.” Since then, the band has had a bit of a spotty appearance in the American music scene, but has still been tearing it up; they have had the opportunity to perform at festivals such as Glastonbury and T in the Park, as well as make cameos on television shows. The band is expected to release its third studio LP this coming fall, but as of now, check out all of their fantastic music up to this point, including one of my faves, “Jump into the Fog.”

Hopefully you all found some new and exciting music to brighten your days/life—next month, we’ll delve into even more out-of-this-world musicians, so hold onto your hats until then!