I'd have to go with a Meshuggah - Demiurge acoustic cover from a few months back, parts of it keep getting stuck in my head

https://youtu.be/9_CHSHE1w2o

Stephin Merritt is the greatest songwriter of my generation. My favorite song is "100,000 Fireflies" but another good one to start with is "All My Little Words".

My favorite local band is Chicago's Zapruder Point. The song that got me hooked was "You Are Not Your Own" but my favorite overall is the heartbreaking "Big Sister (I Never Had)".

PSA: All the links I posted have their tracking info trimmed off, which is best practice when sharing links.

Hard to pick a favorite.

The Mountain Goats - the Sunset Tree or Tallahassee

Arcade Fire - the Neon Bible

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People

I don't know if I can pick a favorite artist, my tastes are too varied. There's a ton of good suggestions in this thread, so a couple album recommendations I have that I don't see are:

Mannheim Steamroller - Fresh Aire II

Rheostatics - Melville

"Srontgorrth" by Nagelfar. If you really want to expand your horizon. Lol

Super Furry Animals - Radiator

Been my favorite since mid 00's. As someone from the US, they were never very big here, and I get tons of looks from people if I tell them this. They were pretty successful overseas from the looks of the concerts. I didn't mind. Whenever they toured here, I got to see them in super small venues, which was great. Sadly, they haven't put out an album in over 15 years and doubt they will. They all have side projects and kind of moved on but never officially broke up. I can only hope they will return one day. Side projects are really good as well, thankfully.

My favorite band is Enter the Haggis. I'll give you a couple choices:

Swallowed by a Whale - one of their newest.

Gasoline - one of their most popular ones, a bit country-leaning.

To the Quick - a solid instrumental.

One of my favourites that's not known very much is Meg Myers. She puts raw emotion into her music.

Instead of my favorite, which is very well known, I've chosen to promote a different awesome song in an adjacent genre:

Destiny Potato - Addict

Excellent song, and the buildup + guitar solo = chefs kiss

Hey that's cool. I get my music from "all songs considered" (new music Friday), the NPR podcast.

Last thing I enjoyed was the new album "embers" by God is an astronaut.

Seven Spires!!!

If an evil spirit cast a curse on me that I cannot listen to anything but Seven Spires, I wouldn't be too bothered.

They're a symphonic metal band, they released an amazing album this year "A Fortress Called Home".

Too many genres, artists, decades to choose one, I'll pick one, hope you'll enjoy. Cassius - The sound of violence

Beborn Beton – Truth (Album)

I was listening to old punk rock (from my own collection, not some algorithmic channel) and Kamala's Too Nice by Screeching Weasel came on, which was really amusing in the current American political landscape. https://youtu.be/EjlhlqcCTjM

If you like this one you'll probably like the whole My Brain Hurts album.

Blanco White, British artist with Spanish/Latin influence. 'The wind rose' from his EP is such a good song and I think it reflects his style still. https://open.spotify.com/track/2B2iGPBD6RBWJ11uxtb34t?si=GidmWC2uSoSiDvwbw8XmyQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A18WIUFEZRfWSRDhfnmO9NB

"Giordano's dream" (both parts) are an amazing listen too. https://open.spotify.com/album/0ZiiZQCm1aez7Kt77j78QG?si=5e5wSsbETP2dNLOLlMVxhg