Indie Rock Crushes

5:54 PM EST on December 6, 2008

Girls

We've had a crush on Zooey Deschanel since Almost Famous, but not until 2008 were we able to give her an award for it. It helps that She & Him's Volume One proved the actress has actual chops (sorry, Scarlett). In second place is another Hollywood-bred hottie, Jenny Lewis, followed by Leslie Feist, who remained dear to your hearts even without an iPod commercial. Last year, we called Lykke Li an artist to watch and this year we spent a lot of time watching her. Marnie Stern jumped 14 spots this year and is the only gal on this list who will make out with you. Alexandra Lawn (Ra Ra Riot), Victoria Legrand (Beach House), and Mary Pearson (High Places) received plenty of votes, too, but not as many as Katy Perry.

10

Emily Haines (Metric)

9

Annie Clark (St. Vincent)

8

Alice Glass (Crystal Castles)

7

Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A.)

6

Chan Marshall (Cat Power)

5

Marnie Stern

4

Lykke Li

3

Feist

2

Jenny Lewis

1

Zooey Deschanel (She & Him)

Boys

Jens Lekman, who proved most desirable in 2007, dropped to #12 in 2008. He clearly didn't strip down to his skivvies or wear enough face paint, a la Kevin Barnes (#2 for a second year). A sharp contrast to Barnes' hedonism is the buttoned-up Vampire Weekend dreamboat Ezra Koenig, who dresses like your dad even when he's covering the Descendents. Perennial favorites Sufjan Stevens and Spencer Krug remained perennial. Ryan Adams broke the top 10 as did new face and hipster fashion icon Andrew Vanwyngarden of MGMT. Justin Vernon lodged one for the all the smalltown guys with male pattern baldness. Zach Condon and Britt Daniel had strong showings, but not enough for top ten. The biggest dropoff, though, goes to Win Butler, who went from #10 last year to nowhere to be seen this year. Congrats to Ben Gibbard, though; he hit the gym hard this year and was rewarded with a spot in the top 20.