If you're a music person, even the slightest bit, then the Hype Machine should be your best friend.

It's the kind of Web site that requires a check every time you get on the internet, just to see if there's something awesome on there that you've not heard of yet. The kind of site that shows you how wonderful and powerful the internet is.

It's an aggregator of music blogs, so it shows you all the recent posts from blogs around the world containing mp3s. Which means--and this is honestly the best part--that not only do you get to hear about new music, but these music files are right in the posts and available for download.

Be sure to click the "read full post" link in order to get to the blog it's referring to.

Admittedly, you have to weed through it a little bit. There are incredible amounts of remixes, mashups (which are always cool, but they're getting a little old because they all sound the same) and bands you've never heard of and likely won't hear of again.

That being said, it's a beautiful thing when you find a rare B-side Phoenix track on this Web site. Or maybe the new OK Go single.

I'm going to do an experiment.

After looking at the most recent posts, here are five Web sites it just linked to: Modest Mouse - The Devil's Workday: What's cool about this one is that some of them are themed so this is one of a few songs on the post, all of which deal with "work." And this is just a great song. Well, no: great band.

The Splinters - Mysterious: So I've never heard of these guys. But according to this post, they're playing at SXSW, which is a huge music festival. So that's cool.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain: OK, so it's not just new artists on here. There's definitely something for everyone. These are classics.

M. Ward - Green River: Speaking of CCR, here's the current indie hit, the Him from She and Him (the She being Zooey Deschanel), doing a B-side cover of Green River.

Autolux - Here Comes Everybody: I'll admit my bias here, I'm linking to this one because I saw them in concert once. But they're worth a listen. Or maybe a few.

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