My name is Alex. I'm a longtime DMusic staffer, a senior at Lehigh University, and user and abuser of the Harvard comma rule.

For those that don't know, I recruited some of the hottest bands in the punk, rock, and hardcore sections here on DMusic when the site was in its infancy.

Today some of those bands still stand, rocking the charts: Midtown, The Color Green, and The Ataris being two of them.

But enough with introductions. And welcome to the Hit Parade.

First up, we have a band from the land down under. While most bands seem to be getting back into the hang of throwing the article "the" in front of their names (and this band is certainly no different), THE VINES have my personal backing in retiring the tradition because they are just that . . . damn . . . good.

They've been hyped as the "next Strokes" by NME (a reputable rag from England) and are garnering the reputation as "the band" to check out.

Think of a fifty/fifty split between the Beatles and Nirvana as The Vines bring the pop sense and sensibility of the England foursome while exerting their grunge sixth sense. I won't tell you any more details. Just hop on the Internet and download some tracks or count your pennies when their next album drops in a month. The single "Get Free" is invading radio. As should "Mary Jane" soon after.

I caught them at the Khyber Bar in Philly with a crowd of maybe 50 awestruck individuals. Consider yourself lucky if you see them with a crowd 100x bigger than that.

Next up, we have a band from the Big Apple making smaller waves on Yankee shores, but soon to make tidal gains with their continued concert schedule. MOONEY SUZUKI is their moniker and expect to hear it more and more as the buzz behind this band grows to consume New York City, their hometown, and neighboring territories.

My experience with Mooney Suzuki is simple. They were on the same ticket as The Hives (another wonderful band, amazing in concert) at Bowery Ballroom this past Thursday night. I paid close to four hundred bills to see The Hives alone. I didn't even bother checking out any Mooney Suzuki tracks beforehand, but my friend Bret told me not to miss them.

We caught Mooney Suzuki... and I almost felt like leaving afterwards.

Between Sammy James Jr's "human fly" glasses and soulman antics and Graham Tyler's behind the neck guitar acrobatics (and who could forget drummer Will Rockwell and bassist John Ribas just getting goofy and providing the party of the night).

I wanted to leave so my view of the Hives couldn't be tarnished. I didn't want to let the cool Swede-rockers performance be downplayed by a bunch of NYC rockers. But in the end, The Hives could not physically muster the level of energy and punk raucousness their opener was able to. The Hives rocked, but Mooney Suzuki rocked harder. And trust me, the Hives rock hard to boot.

So by the transitive property of equality (God bless high school Geometry being used by an almost senior in college): If Hives = rock, and Mooney Suzuki = rocks harder than the Hives, then Mooney Suzuki will charm your rock socks off. Tracks like "Electric Sweat" will be owning your Winamp or stereo shortly.

To further this accusation that Mooney Suzuki does indeed rock, a certain Van Zandt was in attendance at the Hives/Mooney Suzuki show... let's just say he plays guitar with Springsteen and finds his way on The Sopranos as well. I'd say he was there for The Hives. But I know who he discovered that night.

You very well may hear these bands on the radiowaves or headphones or on the television. But you will be hearing about them. You heard it here first.

I'll have to check them out.

cool.

I like the Hives but Mooney Suzuki do nothing for me. Maybe they are better live than their recorded stuff.

Im not really into the hives, so i dunno if im gonna be all about mooney suzuki.

the hives kick so many levels of ass. mooney... i saw them perform on conan... nothing i'm interest about.