Often called a king of spoken word, Polar has been a massive inspiration and brilliant teacher for me, and these are probably my favourite versions of these pieces.
I discovered Michael McQuilken when he was Amanda Palmer's drummer, and this album totally gripped me. Some very cool music for sure, and impressive stuff for a (mostly) one-man band.
A very recent discovery, this is the kind of modern rock I love. Very clever, very pretty. I know pretty much nothing about the band, but their more recent stuff is great, too, especially "Circles."