Lately I’ve stumbled across an oddly appealing kind of music that’s completely new to me, mainly because it’s totally radio unfriendly. It’s a genre I would describe of as anti-pop; it’s full of orchestral arrangements, odd mixes of instruments, and completely atypical song structures. Sometimes there’s singing, sometimes there’s not, sometimes there’s a chorus, sometimes there’s not. There’s a lot of distortion and just plain weirdness.

I think the music revolution that we’re just beginning to experience will most help bands like this. Thanks to their radio unfriendliness, bands like this usually don’t have a chance at mainstream success (and they probably don’t want mainstream success, or they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing).

All of three of the anti-pop bands that I’ve heard of (I’m sure there’s more out there, I’m just uninformed and unwilling to sample new songs on a 28.8 connection) I discovered through the Internet. One was mentioned in a friend’s blog. Another had a funky animated video linked on a web site. And the third appeared in a VW/Apple TV commercial, and I discovered the band’s name not in the commercial, but by e-mailing a friend who was able to freeze-frame the commercial online and decipher the band’s name. Not only did I first hear about all three of these bands through the Internet, but I was able to further explore all three bands online. This is the musical revolution. I’ve yet to buy any of these albums (mainly because I’m poor and unemployed), but I’m very tempted.

I mentioned Lemon Jelly back in April, and they’re still intriguing me. Their music has also been used in a VW commercial. Lost Horizons is their latest album.

Flaming Lips is the next band I heard of, thanks to a friend’s iPod list. It seemed a little too funky for me, but still very intriguing. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is their latest album, and with a title like that you know it’s funky.

The Polyphonic Spree is the band I heard about today. They’re the band behind the song “Section 9: Light & Day” that plays during the VW/Apple “Pods Unite” commercial. This band is so anti-pop they consist of 22 members and perform in white robes. Their latest album is Beginning Stages Of… .

And did I mention that all three of these bands have amazing websites? Funky, whacked, and crazy — but beautiful. I’m sure other anti-pop bands are out there (VW’s “Pods Unite” site hosts a number of mp3s that my connection is too slow to bother downloading), just waiting for you to get lost. Welcome to the music revolution.

Check out Christianity Today’s interview with newly independent artist Justin McRoberts. (I heard Justin’s Cornerstone performance included covers of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and U2’s “One.” I so wish I could have been there. For the U2. The Avril would have just been funny.)

The f-bomb-dropping hard rock band Evanescence was in the news again today, this time a bit confused as to why they were dropped from Christian stores: “We never said we weren’t Christians, we just said we weren’t a Christian band,” says band member Ben Moody in Billboard. “Then, all of a sudden, we were quite, quite evil.”

A wacky video from the band Lemon Jelly is available online. They’re basically one of these funked-out, two turntables and a microphone type electronica groups. It’s trippy, but it’s great background music. Their website is pretty trippy as well.

Evanescence Drops the F-bomb; Gets Dropped from Christian Stores – The female-fronted hard rock band Evanescence, whose hit song “Bring Me To Life” appeared on the Daredevil soundtrack, is featured in an Entertainment Weekly story peppered with the f-bomb (unfortunately, Entertainment Weekly is stupid and won’t let you read their magazine online unless you’re a subscriber or an AOL user). The behavior is causing the band’s record label, Wind-Up (home to Creed and 12 Stones), to pull the album from Christian bookstore shelves and end what had been a successful push into the Christian market. Despite expressing their faith in former interviews, the liner notes of the album, and agreeing to pursue the Christian market, the band now thinks that’s fucked up. I can only wonder what’s happened in their lives in the past six months to bring about the change.

You can now listen to “Sleeping Awake” online, P.O.D’s contribution to the new Matrix soundtrack.