Best kept secret?

Last month, Joel Dear of The Album Wall conducted a survey about music consumption and included the request "Recommend me a great album I've never heard before." He's since set down his general reflections on the numerous enthusiastic responses he received here, expressing surprise at people's generosity of spirit: "obviously we all want our favourite bands to make it big, but in my experience that latter feeling is often superseded by a more selfish desire to keep a good band all to yourself".

This is a sentiment I can partially identify with. I certainly don't automatically become predisposed to disliking a formerly beloved band as soon as they find modest success and a foothold in the popular consciousness, but there is indeed "a warm, smug glow from feeling like I'm the only person in the world who knows about an amazing artist".

On the other hand, though, I'm not slow in offering recommendations and endorsements - something to which this blog bears witness. In that respect, I find it hard to keep a secret. The likes of Codeine, The Icarus Line and Marissa Nadler are all pet bands/artists whose records I regularly enthuse over - none of them are completely obscure, but hopefully they're just a little less obscure to anyone who regularly visits this site.

Enough of my generosity - now it's over to you. Recommend me a great album I've never heard before...