The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You Full disclosure, many longtime fans have derided their latest album for being a departure from their previous sound for a more laid back sound (too much piano not enough banjo). This is the title track from their newest.
My Morning Jacket - One Big Holiday I liked, but didn't love them until I saw them live.
Wilco - Impossible Germany Wilco - Ashes of American Flags I had to include two here. Both are great songs. I love the video for Ashes of American Flags from their DVD because it is a huge shoutout for my hometown Tulsa and where I see most concerts Cain's Ballroom (Home of Bob Wills). While you can't see it in these songs, I think Wilco is the band of these who is influenced to some degree by Velvet Underground with their at times exploratory sound and many times darker lyrics. Their album Summerteeth has a lot of songs dealing with chief songwriter Jeff Tweedy dealing with marital problems. It might not go so far as S&M issues, but ending a song with the line "She begs me not to hit her" is still pretty intense (and got a letter from NOW).
Spoon - The Way We Get By The lowest score of any of their last 4 albums is an 80 on Metacritic. Basically, the get universal acclaim for everything they do.
In my book, any discussion of new music is very lacking without Jack White. He performed on 9 good to great albums in the last decade.
The Raconteurs - Top Yourself In this one he does give (I love slide guitar) the best guitar part to Brendan Benson, who if you like 70's guitar pop he puts out some great stuff, but is primarily known as the premier guitar god of this generation. I could link to some of those videos, but this is my favorite off The Raconteurs latest.