I think theres plenty of lesser known bands with talent in britain, in fact most of the best ones slip under the radar as far as I can see. I'll list a few that have been doing it for me recently:

The Sunshine Underground - unfortunately been slapped with this stupid "nu rave" tag by the NME, but if you ignore the hype, they are a band that bang it out, they've got some great tunes and they are brilliant live, I've seen them a few times and they put on a great show. The album is pretty strong, there are some fillerish tracks on there, but most are pretty damn good, and tunes like Put You In Your Place and Commercial Breakdown are ****ing banging, check the Bside on the rerelease of Commercial Breakdown, I think it was only on the 7", anyway its called filthy techno breakdown and it does what it says on the tin.

Klaxons - Once again, they suffer from way to much NME hype, but they have made some good music, havent seen em live yet but hopefully will in february, anyway their album comes out end of the month and it'll be a goodun I reckon.

Keith - Based in Manc and it sounds like it, more chilled out, but they've got some really good songs and they are another good live act. Their album has been out for awhile, they've had some singles out recently as well, my favourite one is Mona Lisas Child which is definately worth checking out, there is a remix 12" as well with some decent remixes by the likes of Alan Braxe and Matthew Herbert.

Rumble Strips - I really like these guys, I saw them supporting the Young Knives awhile back and they totally stole the show as far as I'm concerned, its a slightly random but pretty awesome mix, they chuck in bits of brass and keyboards with the standard guitars and stuff, and the singer can really sing! They released their first major single recently, cardboard colour dreams I think its called, well worth checking out.

Mistys Big Adventure - not necessarily rock, but one of my absolute favourite bands ever, they sort of create their own genre, and totally kill it! They've got a few albums out that are well worth checking out, although getting ahold of them may be hard as they may've been deleted by now. But they've just been signed to Sunday Best and recently put out a single called Fasion Parade that is well good, its 7" only though. And they are without a doubt my favourite live act of the past 2 or 3 years at least.

Those are the ones that I've been listening to lots of, although there are plenty more, including bands that havent been signed yet, for instance, keep your eyes peeled for Survival Of The Fittest, they are gonna be good, and I suppose The Fratellis are making it pretty big now, but if anyone hasnt checked em out, definately check it cause they are pure quality.