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Wow, is it well into July already? How did that happen? Feels like it was winter just yesterday, and now suddenly everything’s exploding into Summer. And by that of course I mean the fireworks. I had a great 4th of July, marched in a parade in Sausalito, and afterward had the classic combination of barbecue and blowing stuff up! Sweet. Saturday and Sunday were spent mostly working out, climbing, playing tennis, or hanging with friends (mmm… Zachary’s pizza). Today, it’s back to the grind, sore in a good way from all that excercise, just sitting here recovering and working productively.

Well, during work I do two things: work, and listen to music. It’s a good combination. I’ve been using a few different music listening services, but mostly Pandora recently (especially now that they have this awesome desktop player, using Adobe’s AIR framework). I go on a Pandora spree to discover things, bookmark all the songs I like, and then go to Rhapsody or last.fm to listen when I want. If I like a whole album, I’ll buy it as mp3 off Amazon or go pick up the CD, and it gets into my collection, which I play with Winamp as I have for many years, or in my car on CD. When I get tired of a set of new stuff, there’s always more to discover. It’s a good music lifecycle.

So, read on for a list and comments on some great recent discoveries.

I started on several Pandora stations of artists I currently like, including Brooke Waggoner, The Weepies, and Sufjan Stevens. Most are in the folk/indie category like those, which just happens to be my current taste in tunes.

1. A Fine Frenzy – One Cell in the Sea

Alison Sudol (aka A Fine Frenzy), mostly known for her more popular song, “Almost Lover,” has a great variety of tracks on this album, 14 of them in fact, from energetic songs like “Come On, Come Out,” and a perfect joyous chorus in “You Picked Me”, to sweeping built-up melodies (reminiscent of Brooke Waggoner’s grand crescendos) in “The Minnow & the Trout.” She covers so many ranges of emotions and musical varieties within her style — this is not one of those albums where every song sounds the same, and it turns out to be one I’m listening to a lot. This is probably my favorite of this current batch.

2. Holly Brook – Like Blood Like Honey

I also found this album by Pandora, and kept listening mostly because there was a riff she sang on the track “Wanted” that I could not get out of my head. This is slightly more traditional and more poppy female vocalist and songwriter fare, but the whole album is better than I expected. There’s more piano and strings here, and some great musicality and catchy choruses. Very enjoyable to listen to, with a good variety of calmer and more energetic and catchy songs.

3. Kelli O’Hara – Wonder in the World

Kelli O’Hara is a broadway actress. She’s had a handful or so of Tony nominations, and been in such shows as South Pacific, The Pajama Game, and The Light in the Piazza. This is not how I discovered her (I’m not that into musicals) but rather again through Pandora. The gem on the album is the first track, “The Sun Went Out,” written by her husband. It’s a tender, sweet, slightly jazzy, unique little tune, but — this is the key — her voice is smooth like silk and makes the song. The rest of the album is worth it just for the pleasure of hearing her voice on a few old songs, “And So It Goes,” “Fire and Rain” and others, as well as a few of her own songs, and all in all it’s a good collection. Did I mention her voice is amazing?

4. Kate Klim – Up and Down and Up Again

Kate Klim is much more of a traditional female singer-songwriter, singing about relationships and life how she sees it, and the album ends up being fairly consistently good. Certainly some tracks are better than others – the first, “I Choose Me” is a good starter, and the rest of the album is simply easy to listen to and thoughtful. The stand-out track is “Gepetto,” with some real catchy melodies and a slightly deeper meaning than most of the others. All in all this is a very good album, and one I’ve been listening to a lot as well despite being somewhat formulaic.

Those are just four albums, there have been a few more as well which will perhaps make it to another post. Check my playlist for up-to-date stats on what I’m listening to (I have no musical privacy, haha). As always I recommend (and thank!) Pandora for being amazing. Enjoy the music, and feel free to comment with some of your own current favorites.