Dead Can Dance

Listening to DCD's debut album and Spiritchaser, from 1996, you can hardly believe it's the same core duo. The first recordings were very early-80s post-punk. Then they moved into exploring Renaissance music, then opened up to Middle Eastern influences, and finally dove into sounds of Africa. I suppose "goth world music" could describe them to the uninitiated, but it's much more than that.

Big Pig

A cool Australian act with multi-percussionists, they had a minor hit with I Can't Breakaway from their debut album, Bonk. Their second was never released worldwide and they quickly faded into obscurity.

Zola Jesus

One of the most alluring voices to emerge in these Twenty-Teens, Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus uses her haunting voice to mine the depths of heartache. Sometimes it's even danceable.

LoOp

Loop emerged in the late-80s with a sound combining post-punk, shoegaze, psychedelia, and a bit of post-JAMC noise rock. To me, their sound really gelled later, culminating in their final LP, A Gilded Eternity, which is a very unique entity. They pared down the previous guitar workouts into repeated off-kilter riffs and a heavy rhythm section. The buried vocals still sound rather shoegaze-ish, but the music seeks to pound you into a trance rather than float you there on a bed of haze and clouds. Great stuff.

The Alarm + Mike Peters

Mike Peters really is one of the good guys in an industry that fosters narcissism. Even when the lyrics are a bit ham-fisted, you're willing to go along with it because of the earnest passion.

Crowded House

All of Crowded House's albums are great, but this one especially, produced by Youth, with Neil Finn delivering on the songwriting in spades, has a particular energy to it. "Together Alone" is a densely-layered sonic pop masterpiece.