If you like [insert band], you'll LOVE [insert other band]!

I know the pain and suffering of trying to keep up with today's go-go high-speed Internet pop-culture landscape. You can't. C'mon, admit it. Even if you're 22 years old and an on-call substitute bowling-alley lounge DJ on Tuesday nights, you don't have enough hours in the day to figure out all the new stuff coming down the pike from cyberlandia.

And neither do I. I'm old now, almost 50. So old that going to a live show is a major coup for me and can only occur on weekends with plenty of pre-planning (no more Tuesday-night club-hopping for me!). And the drug-taking involves allergy medication to help me sleep afterward just so I can somewhat function the next day. That's how old I am. And I'm not sitting around listening to Pandora suggestions because I looked up a Lydia Lunch song in a fit of nostalgia. Life's too short. Especially for me.

At one point, I was briefly hired to post a bunch of new songs by new bands who released MP3s of their offerings for publicity purposes. These were legal downloads sent out to the world and in some cases, the world took notice, but as is often the case, y'know... Hey, music's hard, son.

But I say: bully for new bands, Bully, I say! And now you can too. I'm gong to slap some on here. Though most of these were released in 2011, music is timeless, I think you'll agree. And so, my recommendations—new music from bands who probably aren't even together any more. It doesn't get any up-to-the-moment than that (around here, anyway).

Enjoy my algorithms.

If you like demented folk-psychedelia, such as The Olivia Tremor Control, Brian Jonestown Massacre, whatever happened during the 60s, and then again in the 80s with the Paisley Underground, you'll love Mercy Mercy by Extra Happy Ghost!!! I don't recommend placing three exclamation points at the end of your band name, but remember, I'm old and cranky, so don't listen to me.




Gee, I miss the Buzzcocks, The Television Personalities, The Soft Boys, and all their pals in the British 80s-explosion of manic, sardonic punk-pop. I'll listen to Comet Game's Working Circle Explosion until the reunion shows come around. Sorry—no studio recording of this one on YouTube yet. But plenty to choose from otherwise. And this one has such a driven sound to it. It's Brit-pop so go for it!




Remember all those cool jazz samples from Arrested Development, Digable Planets, De La Soul, and Guru (among others)? Odjbox remembers on Sepia Sky.




All-girl garage rock rules! If you're craving sassy snarling female bravado, (The Donnas, The Runaways, The Pandoras, The 5.6.7.8's, The Slits, uh, She Mob...?), give The Gore Gore Girls your attention. Fox In A Box will start you out.




I just can't get enough of that Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys bouncy ironic folk sing-along style! I just can't! Although they appear to be on permanent hiatus (2011 was a big year for this musical style), Jared Meese & The Grown Children's Hungry Like A Tiger fits right in there. And they even made a video every self-loathing bohemian can get behind. Don't ask me to explain. I'm just an algorithm.