There’s something extra special for you in the big red boxes today — our 2010 music issue, a wonderful roundup of up-and-coming local bands curated by our own reliably ass-kicking Stephanie Garcia and filled with great shots by our key photographers Jen Fariello, Tom Daly, and Will Walker. Just look for Adam Smith on the cover. (He doesn’t look too pleased about it, honestly. This is probably understandable.)

You should keep an eye on all these bands in the months to come, and not just because the Red Satellites drummer likes to steal things. You could start below, with this ramshackle meta-roundup of the MP3s we have on file for whomever, since we somehow neglected to post them with the article as in years past, but quite honestly these spotlights might actually be more fun. Here’s a quick sampler of Tyler Magill and Josh Krahn from Mss. earning their merit badges in Sheer Lunacy via our Q&A segment.

Who would you jam with, dead or alive?
Does the dead person come back to life when you jam with him or is he just lying there?

How will you know you’ve made it?
We are not going to make it–Tyler. Already there, Brah–Josh.

Has your grandmother listened?
My grandmother is never to hear this band. Are we clear on that? Stop calling her.

And there’s plenty more crazy where that came from — Jesse Harper’s addiction to infomercials, for instance, or commentary from Nailgun James dubbing David Baker Benson of DBB Plays Cups “a Faulkner for the Friendster era, whatever that means.”

What it means, James, is that he might just be appearing shortly on the cover of our upcoming 2004 music issue — come on, who uses Friendster anymore? — which is coming soon to a hot tub near you. Maybe we’ll even get him to smile.

Mss. - Little Flies
Jesse Harper and His Best Intentions - Memphis
Jesse Harper and His Best Intentions - Falling
Drunk Tigers - Small Town
Drunk Tigers - Lessons Hurricane
Borrowed Beams Of Light - Kids Are Great!!!
Astronomers - Or Maybe It’s Nothing
Astronomers - Perpetual Emotion
Astronomers - Stratagem
Astronomers - The Singularity
Astronomers - Shoes
Astronomers - My Hologram
Astronomers - Fermata
The Hilarious Posters - The Fists The Fighting
The Hilarious Posters - Crossed Over The Ocean
The Hilarious Posters - That Thing You Don’t
The Hilarious Posters - Sugarbread Falls