Check out Sam Shaber http://www.samshaber.com she's pretty talented.
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So many to pick from here... Lets see what I can do:

Hip-Hop:
This would have to be Bone Thugs-N-Harmony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Thugs-N-Harmony

Industrial:
Filament38 (disclaimer here, I do web design work for Ash so I might be bias) http://www.filament38.com

Soul:
The O'Jays (ok they are not current but still a great group from the area) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O%27Jays

Pop Rock:
Jackie http://www.worldofjackie.com/
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I've got to go with Pinback. They've been playing local shows here in San Diego for nearly 8 years now. They have a huge huge following here and it's kind of suprising that they haven't really gotten national attention. The music is rock, not emo rock or heavy metal rock, just good old fashioned lyrics and balls rock. The songs are catchy and the band is a lot of fun to watch(it's a shame they're all ugly or they'd be famous already).

Check out a few of their tracks. I would recommend songs from the following 3 albums: Summer in Abbadon, Too Many Shadows, or Nautical Antiques. These albums all were around in the peak of their popularity so I'm sure they're the reason why. I don't own any of them, so I don't know which one has all their "hits" that people here seem to love.

Good luck.
Source(s):
www.pinback.com

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My favourite local artist is easy to pick: Brooke Fraser, a New Zealand singer/songwriter. Listen to her music with headphones on. You can get totally lost in that voice of hers. She's got that songwriter sound to the range of songs she does, but her albums have definitely been produced to sound mainstream.

My track recommendations are "Better" (her first single, and IMHO still one of her best), Arithmetic (Brooke playing the piano, just her voice, the piano, and a little orchestral background. Great structure to the song, the lyrics, and I just love that voice), Seeds, and Albertine (both of these off her second album.)

If you want one of her more off-beat tracks, maybe Saving the World. I just like the playful style it has, in the way Saving the World is something we can do this afternoon to pass the time. ..but there is a deeper message.

I was almost going to recommend Missy Higgins, but as an Australian she's not quite as local. :) When I first heard her stuff I thought she was American from one of the southern states because of this certain twang she puts in her vocals. I love her first album (Sound of White) which she wrote on piano. When writing her second album she was constantly touring, so it was written with guitar, so there's a totally different sound to the second album which just didn't grab me, unfortunately. I was totally taken by the sound of her first album though.
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I have to pick Shaimus here in LA. They were in Guitar Hero 1 and Rock Band 2.

But then again, I'm incredibly biased!

www.shaimus.com
www.myspace.com/shaimus
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My favorite local band is Lion Sight, an alternative reggae rock band from Chico, California. Their myspace is http://latino.myspace.com/lionsight.
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I live in LA so I'm not sure if this is what you mean by "local," but Avril Lavigne is my top choice.


Perhaps more what you're looking for is small, undiscovered talent; I point you to Evan Taubenfeld. He's coming out with his cd soon...but here's a leaked track

http://www.blacklistclub.com/COTY.html

also, taylor swift is surprisingly good!
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my favorite "local" artist would have to be "the man in the van with the bass in his hand," mr. mike watt himself. the man with whom d. boon revolutionized the post-punk sound in long beach/los angeles with the minutemen. after d. boon's death he formed fIREHOSE with ed fromOHIO and since then has worked with literally dozens of artists, often all at once. currently he plays solo shows, and is currently a member of the stooges (of iggy pop and the stooges). he also plays an occasional show with dos (two bass players), his local band the missingmen, and collaborates with funanori, with brothers sisters daughter as well as working on another half-dozen projects... this month alone he is playing in the southern california area with four bands (banyan, mouthful, scarcity of tanks, and mike watt and the secondmen).

my favorite bands are the jesus and mary chain (scotland) and any band with hope sandoval (from LA) in it (mazzy star, the warm inventions as well as collaborations with the chemical brothers, air, death in vegas, and more). as for newer sounds, i really like lily allen's sound on the more "poppish" end of the spectrum.

and as the jesus and mary chain are fairly inactive lately, i've picked up on their heirs apparent glasvegas from glasgow. they are an interesting mix: a little beach boys, a little phil spector, a little joe strummer, a little echo and the bunnymen, and a whole lot of the jesus and mary chain.
Source(s):
mike watt and associated projects:
http://www.myspace.com/wattfrompedro
http://www.hootpage.com

glasvegas and their first album:
http://www.amazon.com/Glasvegas-Explicit/dp/B001GOMD5Y/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=U...

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Maybe you would like to try something different. Here is my favorite local band of those that plays a combination of styles. If you are in New Orleans for Mardi Gras they are in the Krewe du Vieux parade, as well as some others. The Panorama Jazz band plays a mixture of Klezmer, Carribbean, Traditional Jazz, and other music.
Source(s):
http://www.panoramajazzband.com/

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I'm in L.A., so I'm going with No Age.
Source(s):
http://www.myspace.com/nonoage
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/50161-no-age-nouns

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