I like this list better than Pitchfork's. Pitchfork's felt too by the numbers. It didn't surprise me at all or introduce me to anything new. I guess that isn't necessarily bad though.
I think a fun exercise would be to point out all of the bands that you've never heard of on the NPR list, give them a listen, and then note how many of them you'll be listening to a month from now. My guess is that the reason you haven't heard of them, is because they're not in your genre of choice. People don't typically seek out what they don't already like. Edit: Don't listen to me. I think I'm grumpy this week.
I was lucky enough to get a bomb ass CD from BrainBurner when we were partners on the very first mutha fuckin Hubski mixtape swap. Dude has a genre.