My recommendations 2006:And the Glass Handed Kites by Mew

Mew: And the Glass Handed Kites
Sony 7/25/2006

The problem with most bands is not that they shamelessly rip off the bands that preceded them; it's that they don't rip off enough bands that preceded them. Mew could never be credibly accused of having too few influences, and they aren't ashamed of it. On their official website, they namecheck virtually everyone who has mattered in music in the last thirty years or so: Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., M83, Prince, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins and, weirdly enough, Aqua. Mew describe their music with elaborately nested and modified noun phrases, such as "ecstatically icy space ballets" and "bombastic medieval madrigal space opera." I can't find fault with any of these descriptions; they certainly illustrate the quailitied of Mew's songs, which are just as elaborately nested and modified as their metadata suggest. It's safe to say that if you love music at all, you will find something about And the Glass Handed Kites to enjoy.