Really digging Joanna Newsom's Drag City Debut - "The Milk Eyed Mender" She's a harpist with this strange little girl voice that writes great lyrics and wonderfully oblong melodies. Would love to record a harpist sometime, Noah Georgeson does a simple, tastful production job.
Loving Jim O'Rourke's guitar tones on the advance copy I procured of Wilco's new one, "A Ghost is Born." Jim's own "Eureka" will always hold a place in my heart as well.
Karen Dalton has become a staple for me lately as well...what a voice, it sounds like frozen cigarette smoke pushed slowly through a jello mold. Also a talent for phrasing that it is beyond perfection. Only Ella compares.
Andrew Bird's "Weather Systems." Former violinist for Squirrel Nut Zippers makes beautiful, mournful pop record with Mark Nevers. Very dynamic, no multiband compresser mastering here. Who knew a violin virtuoso could whistle like that?
Self - "Breakfast with Girls": One of the squeaky-cleanest, sugary-sweetest, most gloriously overproduced messes of undeniable pure-pop genius I could ever hope to hear. I return to this one from time to time and am always blown away by something new. Released on Dreamworks in 1999 and currently out of print but by no means rare. Used copies and cutouts can be had for under $10. Pick it up.
The new Destroyer record, "Your Blues" is weird and amazing. The entire record is pretty much various Kurzweils, handclaps and nylon strung acoustic guitar accompanying several instances of Dan Bejar's voice. The first line of the record is "O notorious lightning, yes I had to ride you, and trash the crystal jets they kept in storage inside you." Need I say more?
Echo & the Bunnymen - "Evergreen": so much better than Coldplay.
--Justin