You can't find them on the internet and their names verge on the unpronounceable. But by using symbols in their monikers, many artists are creating a whole new underground scene

Scan the array of recent blog buzz bands and you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in the middle of a migraine. †‡†, Gr†ll Gr†ll, ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ and GL▲SS †33†H all use dots, dashes and triangles in their names and on their flashy websites. Some of the genres they use might be familiar – they make screwed and twisted music using 90s house, crunk and goth – but the names look just plain weird. Whatever happened to bands called "The" something? On the Drowned in Sound forum, in the thread on "Witch House", users have joked that these bands' names are "liable to break Google" but also that they're part of "the most internet genre ever".

"Having a band name like that makes me totally unsearchable," says Rhode Island artist Λ, explaining that his name is pronounced "arc", "but I like how using symbols means favouring an aesthetic choice over a more practical one. I morph my voice in the music, and wear costumes that make it impossible to see who I am when I play live – and I enjoy the anonymity it affords me."

ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ (a name so unfathomable we struggled to get it to show up on our system) of drag band the Mater Suspiria Cult agrees, explaining how the symbols in his name give it a deeper meaning and aren't just a fashion statement. "It has the meaning of 'doppelganger' and also 'split personality'," he says. "As you see, some parts of the name are mirrored and some differ."

Yet pop stars showing an interest in symbols isn't anything new. Prince irritated editors by turning himself into that symbol. And you'd have thought the novelty of difficult-to-find names might have worn off with !!!, the Californian dance band who went to great pains to explain that the three exclamation points could be pronounced by repeating any three identical monosyllabic sounds. Chk chk chk was the most common, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam or Uh Uh Uh, etc etc etc. This year, MIA famously used a series of dashes in place of letters to create "/\/\/\Y/\". She's since admitted that the name is intended to escape the clutches of internet search engines and the "Wall Street dudes" who think the web is an endless goldrush. In drawing attention to her views on web politics, MIA emphasised to her critics that she had shrunk away from a mainstream audience. Prince's switch, too, defined the strangest and least successful period of his career (unless you're in to space-age blue bodysuits and pelvic jewellery). But when you're as famous as MIA and Prince, difficult titles are unlikely to do too much damage.

Unlike everyday signs, which mean certain things based on conventions and rules, †‡†, Gr†ll Gr†ll et al use symbols to stay hidden. Where the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s had secretive clubs and zines, these artists have locked last.fm pages and GIF-heavy unsearchable sites too. Perhaps they're trying to create a generation gap, where (probably) only the youngest and the most enthusiastic will be bothered to seek them out by reading the right blogs. Comics writer Warren Ellis has already proposed that using symbols is a handy way to create a new underground.

Maybe, if you're looking to make a statement (but not have wild success), symbols do speak louder than words.