Since there's a consistent TIMH post, figured I'd throw this out there.

Many of you have no idea who this man is, but he has been the MOST prolific songwriter since 1992, since the release of Slanted and Enchanted.  Rolling Stone had two of their albums in the top 25 of the 90s, and others have rated them even higher.  And while Pavement is my all time fave band, I'll posit that the 7 albums he has released since disbanded Pavement have been equal to, if not better, than those.

The reason I'm writing this today is because his most recent release, "Traditional Techniques", is a complete departure from everything he has done previously, and yet still outstanding.  If you like the music of say Neil Young, John Hartford, or countless others, even having never heard this guy, you're going to love this album.  

Play it once through, let it marinade, and then you'll eventually figure out that even the parts you don't like make a ton of sense upon reflection.

And to address the subject, yes, I truly believe he's the greatest songwriter to ever write modern music, other than maybe Stevie Wonder.   This includes the Beatles, Dylan, Paul Simon, David Byrne, Taylor Swift, Neil Young, and anyone else you want to toss in.  The sheer amount of songs, the uniqueness, creativity, all of it, I think he's untouched in this capacity.

Anyway, there's my music rant...hope you get to figure him out.  Special dude.