A Response

Bryan. I started to write you a reply in the comments to your last post, but it got to be a bit long winded. So I'll share my unoriginal musical tasted with everyone else.

Everyone else - you should check all of these bands out, too, and I'll make a real post later after my days session of watching cells fall into tubes has begun.

I don't know exactly how your musical tastes run right now, or how many of these you may have already heard, but here's a few bands that are in near constant rotation in my lab (I couldn't make it through the day without some tunes):

-Supergrass: I think that this is about the most perfect, well rounded Brit rock band that's around. Nothing like Oasis.
-The Dandy Warhols: Solid rock music that's also sort of hypnotic and nice to have on in the background
-Sigur Ros: Weird (beautiful) Icelandic rock(?). I'd listen to this if the stress level is way up, or in bed with a lucky lady, but not while driving - it might cause some nodding off.
-Rufus Wainwright: Good stuff. Can't really elaborate, but check it out.
-Mika: Spunky brit pop. The good kind. But definitely not for everyone.
-Scissor Sisters: This is another one that people seem to love or hate but I recommend a listen.
-Dwight Yoakam: I am, for the most part, not a country fan. But Dwight's right. Plus he used to open for punk bands at the Whiskey A-Go Go in the 80's, so he's got some hipster cred if you care about that sort of thing.
-Muse: Like Radiohead without all the computer shit and pretentious. Solid musicians - I like the cool, angular guitar solos (nobody else on the radio plays around with intervals quite like that!) and groovy, driving bass lines. Has gotten a bit played out, though.
-Tunng: Catchy, spacy, folk rock. Very listenable, but sort of borders on pretentious sometimes. Another good band to listen to at work, when the stress level is high.
-The Arcade Fire: But only their first disc. Kind of hard to explain, but I've heard more than one person (and I whole heartedly agree with all of them) describe the music on this CD as reminding you of what it's like to be a kid again.

Then there's all the old standbys and Desert Island Discs:
Alice In Chain's Unplugged album, classic metal, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" (I actually don't think that's as revolutionary as everyone else seems to, but it's damn good music to have on when nothing much else is happening), classic metal (Metallica, Judas Priest, Ozzy), you have to throw in some 80's metal and power ballads once in a while to remember the roots, the 'Stones, Dylan, Led Zep, classic metal. Did I hit all the bases?