If You Like...with a twist

OK, so here's the deal. Go to Pandora. Pull up your iTunes. Set said iTunes to shuffle. Press Play. The first artist to come up, search for them in Pandora. Find an artist similar to the band in your iTunes. Enjoy. Here's my Ten.

10. We Are Scientists (found via Phantom Planet)
The Brooklyn-based indie rock trio We Are Scientists formed in 2000 around the talents of guitarist/lead vocalist
Keith Murray, bass player Chris Cain, and drummer Michael Tapper. After building a small but devoted following through their epic live shows and a series of three self-released EPs, the group signed with Virgin Records. Their major-label debut, With Love and Squalor, was released in early 2006. In 2008, the group -- which was now just the duo of Cain and Murray -- put out their second full-length, also on Virgin, entitled Brain Thrust Mastery. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide

9. Pete Yorn (found via Ryan Adams)
Pete Yorn is proof that fairy tales do come true. The 26-year-old drummer turned singer/songwriter landed a record deal
after an impromptu performance of his song "Life on a Chain" for a Columbia Records A&R person. In 2000, a few years after graduating from Syracuse University, the New Jersey native moved to Los Angeles, CA, where he began writing music for film and television. Things heated up when Yorn scored the 2000 Farrelly Brothers film Me, Myself, & Irene, starring Jim Carrey. Among Yorn's accomplishments, his song "Strange Condition" also appeared on the Elektra soundtrack to the
film, and Yorn's "Just Another" is featured on the compilation album for the WB television series Dawson's Creek, Songs from Dawson's Creek , Vol. 2. Yorn co-produced his 2001 solo debut album, Musicforthemorningafter (Columbia), with Brad Wood (Placebo, the Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Sunny Day Real Estate) and R. Walt Vincent, while playing the bulk of the instruments himself. Yorn went on to tour the world for 18 months, allowing Musicforthemorningafter to go gold by April of 2002. In spring 2003, he returned with the earnest Day I Forgot. A year later, Yorn issued his first live album, Live from New Jersey; the double-disc set captured Yorn's late October performance at the Community Theater in Morristown, NJ. For his third studio LP, Yorn enlisted collaborators such as the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Dixie Chicks Martie Maguire and Natalie Maines for the bright rock sounds of Nightcrawler. The Butch Walker-produced effort arrived in August 2006 and was supported with plenty of in-store and club performances. ~ Kerry Smith, All Music Guide

8. Thirteen Senses (found via Oasis)
Melancholy Brit-pop quartet Thirteen Senses originated from Cornwall, England with the lineup of Will South
(vocals, guitar, piano), Tom Welham (guitar, vocals), Adam Wilson (bass) and Brendon James (drums). First going under the name Soul Magician, the band released a single titled "Inside a Healing Mind" in 2002, followed by the "No Other Life Is Attractive," the first release as Thirteen Senses. "Falls in the Dark" surfaced a year later. The Invitation was available by September 2004 and reached number 14 on the U.K. charts upon its re-release. Cracking the singles chart were a handful
of songs including "Into the Fire," which was featured in several popular U.S television shows. The band toured Europe in 2005 before returning to the studio for Contact, appearing in April 2007. ~ Kenyon Hopkin, All Music Guide

7. Tarkio (found via The Decemberists)
Formed in 1996 in the college town of Missoula, MT, Tarkio, named for a small city in the western part of the state,
featured the talents of guitarist Gibson Hartwell, bass player Louis Stein, drummer Brian Collins, pedal steel player Kevin Suggs, and singer/songwriter and future DecemberistColin Meloy. The band mined similar musical territory as college rock staples the Go-Betweens, the Waterboys, and R.E.M., employing a blend of alternative country and Americanized Brit-pop that
won them a small but loyal regional following. Between 1996 and 1999 they released two records, the full-length I Guess I Was Hoping for Something More and the EP Sea Songs for Landlocked Sailors, both of which were reissued on the Kill Rock Stars label as a two-disc set called Omnibus in 2006. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide

6. Nine Days (found via The All-American Rejects)
(editor's note: Those of you who've known me since high school have been hearing me sing this band's praises since 2000!!!!!!)
Nine Days was formed on Long Island by singer/songwriter/guitarists John Hampson and Brian Desveaux, who had
previously played together and apart in a series of local groups. The band was filled out by keyboard player Jeremy Dean, bass player Nick Dimichino, and drummer Vincent Tattanelli. Focusing on their songwriting and shared lead vocals, Hampson and Desveaux holed up in Hampson's apartment in Deer Park woodshedding, then released their own
debut album and began playing live shows. They won WBAB's Homegrown Talent Search and WLIR's Best Unsigned Band competition, made a second CD on their own, and finally signed to Epic/550 Music, which released their debut major-label album, The Madding Crowd (its title a comment on Thomas Hardy's novel Far from the Madding Crowd) in May 2000. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

5. Jimmy Eat World (found via The Academy Is...)
(ed note 2: another band I've LOVED since '99)
Once a trailblazing name in the mid-'90s emocore scene, Jimmy Eat World steadily rose to national prominence by
embracing a blend of alternative rock and power pop that targeted the heart as well as the head. While the band's influence widened considerably with 1999's Clarity -- an album that has since emerged as a landmark of the emo genre -- it
was the band's self-produced follow-up (specifically the infectious single "The Middle") that crowned them as major figures in commercial rock. The emo label proved difficult to shake throughout the 2000s, even when subsequent albums Futures and Chase This Light did little to evoke the hard-edged sensitivity of Clarity, but Jimmy Eat World nevertheless remained a league above the generation of emocore torch-bearers they'd helped influence. Read the rest here.

4. Owl City (found via Hellogoodbye)
No Pandora bio, but you can check out his Myspace page and his tidbit about himself now: Hello, my name is Adam. I prefer daydreams over reality. Music is my muse. I write and record in my basement. I have trouble sleeping. These songs are all I have to show for my sleepless nights. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them. It means the world to know someone is out there listening. You have no idea how much I appreciate you. Thank you.

3. Cartel (found via Motion City Soundtrack)
Cartel's earnest take on emo/pop-punk emerged out of Atlanta around 2004, when vocalist Will Pugh, guitarists Joseph
Peppers and Nic Hudson, bassist Ryan Roberts, and drummer Kevin Sanders released an initial EP that caught the ear of the California-based Militia Group label. Militia signed Cartel, and the Ransom EP reappeared under Militia in 2004. The label then released Chroma, Cartel's full-length debut, in September 2005. The album cracked into the Billboard Top 200, as bloggers praised the band and the video for "Honestly" found moderate airtime on MTV. The majors noticed all of
this activity, and in early 2006, Cartel inked a deal with Epic. Touring continued through the rest of the year, opening for acts like New Found Glory and the Starting Line. That same year, Roberts decided to leave the band. He was replaced by
Jeff Lett, who joined on just in time for their 2006 Warped Tour dates. The band's biggest marketing break came in May of 2007 when they were invited to do a four-part MTV mini-series called Band in a Bubble. The show followed Cartel as they lived in a giant bubble-shaped structure on Pier 54 in Manhattan and were filmed for 22 days writing and
recording their self-titled sophomore album Cartel. Although the album was planned for release in July, just after the band left the bubble, it was postponed while they filmed a video to promote the single "Lose it" and the record didn't officially hit the shelves until August 21st, 2007. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

2. Explosions In The Sky (found via Death Cab for Cutie)
With a reputation for a scathingly intense live performance and a quickly sold-out CD-R demo, How Strange, Innocence,
which was later reissued in 2005, Explosions in the Sky was touted early on in their career as the next phenomenon in moody and dynamic instrumental indie rock à la Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor! The quartet of Texas kids, made up of Mark Smith and Munaf Rayani on guitars, Michael James on bass, and Christopher Hrasky on drums, was
signed for its first release on Temporary Residence Limited after half a listen to their demo, which was submitted by the American Analog Set with a brief note saying "This totally f*cking destroys." From that, they released their first six-song album, Those Who Tell the Truth, in the latter half of 2001. After a new record, 2003's contemplative The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, and the 2005 re-release, Explosions in the Sky, who had by this time garnered a dedicated fan base, came out with All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone in 2007. ~ Blake Butler, All Music Guide

1. Wes Fracker (found via his sheer awesomness)
Ok, so this one I cheated. Ben Folds Five came up on my iTunes, and Pandora had no other options for me other than Ben Folds (solo style), The Beatles, and Gary Jules ("Mad World"); I thought I'd throw a little love to a hard workin' piano man. Check the myspace here