there are some bands from your list i like too and well i hope everything goes ok with your music, and if u don't mind i would love to hear it. there was a time i made music by myself too, there is a long long story that if u want i can tell u jeje nothing really shocking, but i stop it... and now am lerning how to play celo.
somepeople thinks The Mars Volta are great cuz they don't write 4/4 music, but i think that's not the only thing, something i do like about them it's the vocabulary, jeje there are some words in both languages i never heard before jeje i like that.