Have you checked out Rob Dickinson's (of Catherine Wheel) solo cd
Fresh Wine For the Horses? He's also doing a few shows on the west coast in Jan. (I'm not sure exactly where, but it's listed on his Myspace page and also on
www.robdickinson.com ). It's usually just Rob and a guitar (with effects though
), but he puts on an excellent show.
Also I noted you mentioned The Church (yep, I can ferret out a mention of them nearly anywhere
). Yay! Do you have any of SK's solo or side projects? itunes has several of them, including the self titled
Isidore (SK and Jeffery Cain of Remy Zero);
Snow Job the second cd of the Jack Frost project (SK and the late Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens); Gilt Trip, a lovely chill out instrumental album SK did with his brother Russell; and all Steve's solo cds. My favourites of his solo cds are
Dabble and
Remindlessness ("The Celebration of the Elephant God" is an especially wonderfully trippy song -- it accidentally got hooked up with "Soul Sample" so it shows as only one song and is only sold with the whole album on itunes). However, if you tend to like the more pop oriented Church songs then
Unearthed or
The Slow Crack might be better choices.
Acoustic & Intimate is one I dearly love, but might not be for everyone as it is just Steve and an acoustic guitar.
-- Remy Zero's
Villa Elaine is fantastic and the song not on itunes, "Goodbye Little World" is the weakest so you're not missing much.
-- Lamb's
Best Kept Secrets -- The Best of Lamb 1996-2004 is another album I love. I'm not often into electronica, but this is good.
-- Big Spaceship's
Dream On is kinda in that same vein. Electronica, but good. Well, I like it anyway.
-- Go-Betweens --
Bellavista Terrace: Best of the Go-Betweens is an excellent introduction to them. You can't go wrong with "Bye Bye Pride" and "Streets of Your Town"
-- Grant McLennan (also comes up as G.W. McLennan) Grant was a founding member of the Go-Betweens (he died this past May) -- itunes has
Horsebreaker Star. You need this album. It's become one of my favourites. I only have the single disc US version, so I'm missing six of the songs listed on the album on itunes. Guess I better get those! The song "Horsebreaker Star" is just beautiful....
-- Gersey. I'm so excited that Gersey is on itunes! The music is shimmery, and noodly, and shoegazey in a way. It swirls and builds -- a slow burn. Beautiful stuff, great for late nights. Both
Storms Dressed As Stars and
Hope Springs are among my favourite albums. I've only met one other person who absolutely raves about them, so they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I
really like 'em.
Storms Dressed As Stars would probably be the better choice if you are only going to get one.