Wow I like Algernon but that post was a bit much, brah.
So, Parenthetical Girls have been releasing their new album in the form of four EPs under the title Privilege. I liked the concept and had been into the band for a while and just went to their wiki page for the fuck of it... I discovered they released an album in 2007, Entanglements, that I had not heard a single mention of in all of my time looking at music blogs and threads such as this.
I got my hands on it and it may be one of my favorite new albums I've heard in forever. It's different in the same way I thought Beirut's Gulag Orkestar was completely unique, out of left field, and incredible.
I found Entanglements at a perfect time, as I'm in the same place I was when I first heard Gulag Orkestar... pretty bored with almost every band that uses one or two guitars, a bass, and a drum kit. This album has maybe one guitar part in the entire thing, and a drum kit on I think one song... the rest is brilliantly composed orchestral pop... like, pretty much sounds exactly like Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle, but more pop and modern (obviously more modern but you know).
Probably my favorite album discovery so far this year, with a very small chance of being topped.
http://www.mediafire.com/?d6k0xwdsoubm2is