You don’t have to be a recently-disgraced member of the U.S. Congress to be a little freaked out about what breadcrumbs you’re leaving as you schlep around the World Wide Web. They can pretty easily be gathered and presto – you’re an instant demographic target, with preferences and interests neatly catalogued.

Aside from whatever skeletons we’d like to keep safely tucked away in our closets, you can color us curious as to what our tastes say about us – especially when that information is used for the Forces of Good, like Pandora, the creation of The Music Genome Project.

We first opened Pandora’s box in May, plugging the DC stop on tour of Town Hall-style meetings, and in June we sat down with creator Tim Westergren.

For months, Pandora’s 3 million customers have been feeding the site information about their musical tastes. Since the site also tracks zip codes, the data can be spliced by locality, which is exactly what the Washingtonian did for D.C., New York, Chicago, and L.A., and a surprisingly distinct picture of local music tastes emerged.

From the Washingtonian’s Capital Comment:

The area has a significantly greater appetite for hip-hop, rap, and soul, with Washington favoring three artists— Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, and Jay-Z —who do not appear on the top lists from other cities. Mixed in with the usual suspects—genre definers like U2, Pink Floyd, and the Beatles—is a folksy, mellow strain featuring the likes of Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, and James Blunt.

Not content with merely noting our collective weakness for a simple chord, the Washingtonian puts us on the couch and points out a few inferences psychologists make about what our unique predilection for Energetic and Rhythmic tunes.

The psychologists found that those who like energetic and rhythmic music are inclined to be extroverted and agreeable, athletic, physically attractive, and politically liberal.

Wow. Handsome, athletic, and friendly. Sounds right to us!