Jim Sturgess - Across The Universe: Music From The Motion Picture

Soundtrack to the film featuring all Beatles songs -- the film isn't bad but the music's the highlight. Lots of good covers here, I like 'Come Together' (Joe Cocker), 'I Am The Walrus' (Bono), and 'Let It Be' the best.

Brand New Immortals - Tragic Show

"Immortals" were a group from Atlanta that got some play before I left in 1999. Every now and then I'd wonder what happened to them -- until I came across them on Yahoo. Turns out they release a fairly compelling record and then called it quits. 'Kalifornia', 'Ill Conceived' and 'Blacksun' are among my favorites, hard rock with some varied melodies and bit of funk.

Jim Noir - Tower of Love

Heard the song "Tell Me What To Do" on The Current.  Listening to this album the last few days.  I like it, though I can't tell yet if I'll like it even more as I listen more.

Armin Van Buuren - A State Of Trance 2007

Good working mix of [vocal] trance. "Anthem" is toe-tapping if cheesy, but what techno music isn't?

The White Stripes - Icky Thump

Recommending this here because it's new, and I didn't know it existed until recently.  So far, I think I don't like it as much as their previous albums "Get Behind Me Satan" and "Elephant", but time will tell.

Pela - Anytown Graffiti

I also recommend their EP, All in Time.  The song "Episodes," from the EP, was in the beginning of an episode of Scrubs and I liked it so much that I tracked it down.

I would describe them as sort of in the Interpol family, but more melodic and also more rockin'. 
Here is their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/pela

Also, most of the things I recommend are available on emusic for those who subscribe. 

I highly recommend these guys.

Kashmir - No Balance Palace

Continuing the Danish trend, this band is one of my recent hang-ups. 

They produce the kind of understated intensity that I've been craving lately.  I'd recommend the tracks "Kalifornia" and "She's Made Of Chalk" as samples.

Donna The Buffalo - Positive Friction. Rockin' In the Weary Land - Positive Friction, Family Picture

Not your (grand)father's country. This is country-rock with smart lyrics.

Muse - Black Holes and Revelations

(Via Chris on Pandora.)  I can't escape the thought that this guy sounds like Radiohead, but I'm really impressed by this album.  The tracks are really varied, which I think is a mark of good musicians.  Oh, and watch out for the first track.  It's a doozy.

Figurines - Skeleton

I'll also recommend my second favorite Danish band, which I only discovered yesterday. So far, so good. Also, the opening track is in 3, which helps my lifelong quest to find the Top 5 Track 1s in 3 of all time. I have three spots pretty well shored up, but the other spots are open, as is the order overall.

Hey, I just noticed that the '1 in 3' thing could be a Trinitarian reference. Heh. I guess that qualifies this post as 'work' for me. No wonder it's my arbitrary musical lifelong quest.