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This weekend’s Bamboozle lineup hardly lacks for the tried and true: Paramore, Weezer, Something Corporate, Angels & Airwaves, Say Anything—each brings the pop-punk pain like nobody’s business.

But every year, you can be sure to find an assortment of acts that fall outside Bamboozle’s emo-identified core. Some hail from Planet Rap, some from the ashes of the late-’90s boy-band boom. And then, of course, there’s Ke$ha (pictured above), whose recent performance on Saturday Night Live made us wonder if she might’ve sprung fully formed from the mind of Courtney Love. Whatever their provenance, though, we think these 10 unusual suspects are well worth your time.

Spose

Yes, he’s the “I’m Awesome” guy. And, yes, he’s from Maine, perhaps the least likely hip-hop hotbed in these vast United States. But Spose just signed a deal with the same major label that brought you Owl City. So like him or not, you can definitely expect to be seeing quite a bit of him this year. Ladies and gentleman, we give you the Internet!

Francis And The Lights

Led by a mysterious New Yorker who answers to the impossible name of Francis Farewell Starlite, Francis And The Lights kick out sleek future-soul jams that sound like Hall & Oates after several rounds of sizzurp. It’ll Be Better, the band’s first full-length, is due in stores July 20, but prior to that Starlite will appear on Thank Me Later by Drake, who also recruited the band to open a string of upcoming college dates.

88-Keys

Hip-hop heads know his name from production gigs on records by such heavy-hitters as Beanie Sigel, Mos Def and Scarface. But these days New York-based 88-Keys is concentrating on his own material (at least when he’s not remixing Tegan and Sara—hit up his blog for the stellar results). The rapper’s brainy 2008 debut, The Death of Adam, was executive produced by 88’s pal Kanye West, who also contributed guest verses. Hey, if he’s good enough for Kanye he is good enough for anyone who would listen to Attack Attack.

Mike Posner

Mike Posner started making waves last year with his pop-rap mixtapes and his college-circuit live shows. Thing is, he was still a student himself, finishing up a bachelor’s degree at Duke University. (We seriously envy the guy’s time-management skills.) Now that he’s graduated, Posner’s really kicking his career into high gear, finishing up his major-label debut (due this summer from J Records) and heading out on Warped Tour. This Bamboozle slot should offer a handy preview of things to come.

Girl Talk

Known as Greg Gillis to his parents (and to the record labels who’ll probably one day sue him), Girl Talk approaches the art of the DJ like a fast-food line cook approaches ground beef—with delicious indelicacy. On albums like Night Ripper and Feed The Animals he mashes up thousands of tiny pop-song samples into awesome new jock-jam shapes. But dude’s fist-pumping live show is even crazier: Let’s just say you may well end up onstage minus a T-shirt.

Wiz Khalifa

You have to hand it to any rapper confident enough to do his thing over a sample from a Demi Lovato song, as this Pittsburgh MC does on his new Kush and Orange Juice mixtape, which also makes use of “Let Go,” Frou Frou’s supremely wimpy Garden State jam. Of course, questionable source material is nothing new for Wiz Khalifa: “Say Yeah,” his 2008 hit, was built atop a synth riff cribbed from Dutch Eurocheese act Alice Deejay. Next up: “Wind Beneath My Wings”!

Hanson

Much has happened to the boys of Hanson over the decade-plus since “MMMbop”—most notably, they grew up. On the Tulsa band’s upcoming Shout It Out they indulge their love of vintage soul records made well before they were born (and they even notched collaborations with a couple of musicians who played on those records). Don’t be surprised if they pepper their Saturday-afternoon set with some straight-up golden oldies.

Drake

In the crowded field of young Canadian heartthrobs, only Justin Bieber looms larger than this insanely charismatic actor-turned-rapper—an impressive feat only made more remarkable by the fact that Drake still hasn’t released his debut album. (Thank Me Later is finally due out June 15.) Like Kanye West (and his mentor Lil Wayne) before him, Drake combines swagger and sensitivity in a way that feels both true to and larger than life; his “Best I Ever Had” is a hip-hop love song as believable as any of Rivers Cuomo’s.

Ke$ha

Given her total domination of Top 40 radio right now, it’s weird to think that less than a year ago we were all living in a world free of Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK.” What did America’s young women listen to while preparing for a night on the town!? We’ll admit that Animal only occasionally lives up to the dizzying electro-pop highs of Ke$ha’s debut single. And her bonkers SNL appearance raised the distinct possibility that homegirl can’t actually sing. But with Ke$ha you always feel like something crazy might happen—a quality embodied by precious few of today’s stage-school starlets.