While MySpace.com’s popularity may be primarily based on scantily clad females posting cockeyed self portraits and juicy details regarding their personal lives, it is, in fact, good for more than that.

Really. No joke.

In fact, MySpace Music might be the most important thing to happen to music in the past five years. With nearly 50 million different artists spanning more than 60 genres, users literally have the sonic globe at the fingertips. Major label groups get a free way to spread their influence while small time acts, previously without any public outlets, can now efficiently showcase their music to users worldwide. And the best part is you can listen and decide for yourself what’s worthwhile and what’s not – a steep departure from the Secret Internet Fatties (SIFs) who prowl social networks in an attempt to lure enterprising young gentlemen into profile views or worse.

Below are fifteen acts that, for one reason or another, are worth a listen. Enjoy.

Unbunny

It is, perhaps, appropriate to point out that the three songs posted are the worst three songs in the Unbunny discography. It is also, then, pertinent to note that these songs are actually quite good. Spearheaded by singer/songwriter Jarid del Deo, Unbunny is a transient group that operates under a variety of conceptualizations and guises. Musically, they combine shades of Magnetic Fields precariousness with a Sebadoah-like poignancy. Del Deo's distinct Neil Young tinge gives the band a classic rock feel that melds well with the afflicted lyrics in order to create a final production that is both dynamic and dexterously accessible.

Polar Bear Club

This Rochester, New York outfit burst onto the national scene with their May release of the EP "The Redder, The Better." With a musical architecture close to bands like Avail, Hot Water Music, and mid-90's Vagrant artists like Automatic 7, Polar Bear Club play an upright and ardent brand of rock'n roll. Vocalist Jimmy Stadt's granular voice drives the band's sound without over-riding or immobilizing it. Polar Bear Club is comprised of members from various, short-lived upstate New York bands who never could find the right ingredients to put out anything of note. Here’s to new beginnings, though, because these guys have all the makings of becoming something spectacular.

Living With Lions

It’s difficult to quantify a band on the basis of a single, un-mastered song. But this song (called Colours) is really good. Really, really good. The vocals have an edgy Trevor Keith (California's seminal Face to Face) feel and the music itself conjures up memories of a more melodic Grey Area.

The Riot Before

Perhaps the most conspicuous aspect of The Riot Before is drummer Freddy Clark's clydesdale- like beats. Its constant, beefy thump gives the band a stable backbone with which to work with. In an agglomerate sense, the band's sound varies between Lawrence Arms-styled ditch punk and record label Planet-X's brand of nouvelle folk. The lyrics are intelligently introspective without delving into the realm of masquerade or pretext and thus, take on an almost “Jacksonville Punk” like qualities. Simply put, the more you listen, the more endearing the band's blue collar sound becomes.

100 Demons

These guys are pissed. And by pissed, I mean incredibly agitated about something - or anything and everything in general. There is an undeniable desire to compare them to Hatebreed's "Satisfaction is the Death of Desire," Fury of V, or even their more recent mosh metal contemporaries, but ultimately 100 Demons just seem to be more substantial. While their sound is less than innovative, they do it better than anyone else – all the while resisting the urge to fall into the bottomless and inescapable hole known as “tough guy” hardcore.

Giant

Spaciously spatial, capaciously cavernous, mammothly expansive. Giant is, well, giant. Oceanic in size and abyssal in scope, Giant is both analeptic and cold. In many ways, these guys are a poor man's Isis - which, despite how it sounds, isn’t really a criticism of Giant. The music exhibits the rare ability to be both melodic and antagonized. While Giant has the potential to assume the “next big thing” within the stoner metal genre, they, more importantly, have the potential to create a discography comprised of vacant desolation and reclusively beautiful music.

Brother Ali

Brother Ali has been around for awhile but he started to garnish national press after his 1999 demo release on Ryhmesayers. One part old-school soul, one part funk, and one part backpack rap, Brother Ali’s astute observations are neatly packaged and delivered. While Ali's vocal mechanisms are often compared to something akin to a Baptist preacher, he readily acknowledges his Islamic beliefs – an ironic, if not dynamic, twist. The sum of his product is cautiously thoughtful and devoid of any masturbatory chest-beating - a metaphorical breath of fresh air in a hip hop world that often leans on aggressively violent lyrics in an attempt to hide its lack of any real substance.

The Good Fear

Featuring ex-members of Lucero, Fulton, and The New Amsterdams, The Good Fear have a workmanlike eloquence that is, albeit economically, quite captivating. The band shows semblances of Uncle Tupelo's southern acidity but it does so in the more agile context of progressive rock. Guitarist/Vocalist Zach Holland's voice embodies a degree of heartbreak that is free of melodrama and the band's usage of lap steel, various forms of percussion, and keyboard give them a coarse originality. Like all good southern rock, TGF doggedly confronts the melancholic ghosts of regret and irascibility that accompany the dissolution of youth. It’s music about red eyes from restless nights and futures clouded with introspection – just archaic enough to inspire nostalgia but at the same time safeguard the listener’s attention.

Baby Calendar

Indie pop with alternating, multi-sex vocal harmonization is a risky endeavor. Done poorly, it can inspire second-hand embarrassment of the worst sort - a knee jerk reaction to hackneyed and sugar sweet cutesiness that causes listeners to whither and die on the vine. But rest assured: Baby Calendar is tactfully done. While a majority of the songs are about pedomorphic subjects like lunchboxes, moving out of your parent’s house, or other varied forms of high school nostalgia, they are delivered with a tangible amount of maturity. Jackie Biver's fragilely adorable vocals fit well with the band's animate modulation and Tom Gorrio's singing. The 2006 release of "Gingerbread Dog" serves as evidence of Baby Calendar’s musical cultivation as it is a dramatic improvement over both the 2004 release "Your Move," and 2005's "Fifteen Year Old Sneakers."

Set Your Goals

Set Your Goals sounds a lot like Lifetime. Consequently, they also sound a lot like "Cant Slow Down" and "Through Being Cool" era Saves the Day, the Movielife, and a myriad of other mid to late 90's pop punk outfits. It’s no secret that catchy punk with lyrics about growing up (all of which seems to be inspired by Lifetime and Saves the Day) is about as homogenized and generic as music comes, but SYG operates above and beyond the stereotypical and oft-closed sphere of bad lyrics and power chords. "Mutiny," the band's recently released debut full length, is perhaps that catchiest album released in the first half of 2006 and it may very well end up being the most memorable fetching punk album of the year. Sure, the Set Your Goals unabated optimism is a tad irritating, but a little youthful idealism isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, it inspires that small flame of reminiscence that burns deep within all of us. Remember when you thought the world was conquerable, manageable, and fair?

The Golden Birds

In many ways, The Golden Birds are the musical personification of the adjective migratory. Musically, the band refuses to linger or stall; instead they plod along, triumphantly evolving and revolving, unfolding and ripening in cyclic pattern of subtle chords and backup vocals. The most transient aspect of the band, however, is their subject matter. Authors of a fiercely imaginative tour, members of the Golden Birds played an acoustic set on the steps of every state capital in America. On their myspace page, they list their influences as "DC, Connecticut, Chicago, Cincinnati, California": Take a listen to any of the songs on "Transamerica" (released as part of their Fifty tour) and you'll understand why. Regardless of subject matter, however, the Golden Bird's pairing of elegantly circumspect lyrics (sometimes pieced together from various 20th century literature) and conciliatory yet expressive music construction make them a more than worthwhile endeavor.


Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think conjures up images of faraway cities and rainy days. Its indifferently beautiful music that rises and falls in a crescendo of peripatetic tones, horns, and extrinsic sounds. Did I mention that it’s beautiful? DMST is certainly a part of the Mogwai-slash- generic ambient rock movement but their simmering jazz influences and tranquil vibe set them apart. While their contemporaries choose to chronologically build their music up to a sweltering breaking point, DMST rhythmically treads along, acquiescently wallowing in the beauty of time and place. The band's experimental aspects and clever use of percussion give them a sense of entireness and elasticity that equips them with a mountainous aura.

* - Please note that this page is NOT officially sanctioned by the band

The Distance

"From my stereo to your heart/ You can only hear the sad parts."

The above, taken from The Distance song Inspired By You (which appears on their recently released full length, "The Rise, The Fall, and Everything In Between"), pretty much sums these guys up. They write songs about broken hearts and cold-blooded women with a deft sense of musicianship and benumbed sincerity in a manner that is both believable and ingenuous. Over the past couple of years, The Distance have released a spattering of EPs and splits that fall into, more or less, the traditional hardcore category. Their debut full length, the aforementioned "The Rise, The Fall, and everything In Between", seems, however, to have deviated from this path in favor of a more accessible pop/rock style. It’s no secret that such a move will bring out the critics and "haters," but perhaps such aspersion is maligned. The band is comfortable with their sound and it shows: tightly orchestrated, they are both anthemic and sinewy. Its catchy enough to appeal to a fairly wide demographic but, at the same time, The Distance hasn’t totally given up on the edginess that defined them as a hardcore band.

Envy

Envy exists in a sort of purgatorial suspension between cultivated fluidity and ornamental geniality. Each of the band's songs plays out like something of a Homer-ian epic: moments of antipathetic violence and sobering crisis falter and fade in the face of pastoral simplicity and tranquil sanctuary. Hailing from Japan, Envy is an enigmatic mixture of seemingly opposing musical styles and perspectives. At times, they sound like Pg. 99 or Isis only to comfortably metasize into the minimalist world of acts like Brian Eno or The Equatorial Stars. While much of Envy's earlier work was decidedly biased in favor of a heavier sound, their recent LP "Insomniac Doze" triumphantly incorporates a dynamic and wide-ranging array of musical styles that pleasantly displays both the adamantine and calmative sides of the musical spectrum.

* - Please note that this page is NOT officially sanctioned by the band

Daggermouth

Daggermouth's enthusiasm accosts the listener in a direct and less-than-subtle manner. It hits you like a slap in the face: these guys really enjoy what their doing. Earlier this year, the band had their myspace account deleted after encouraging its fans to electronically heckle Nickleback's Chad Kroeger (and his 604 records) after he was arrested on the suspicion of drunk driving. The fact that Daggermouth got admonished for calling public figures for their insipid and portentous behavior indicates several things: First, society has lost its sense of humor and secondly, guys who make a lot of money get to call the shots, even when they are in the wrong and have a bleach-blonde butt-cut that’s held in place with a veritable reservoir of hair gel. But Daggermouth's questionable conceptualization of justice also defines them as a band: youthful, outgoing popish punk with a take no prisoner’s attitude. Perhaps Daggermouth’s most endearing quality is their willingness to plunge headfirst and unabatedly into their music with little thought of consequence or retrospection.