The Decemberists. The Mountain Goats. The Carpenters. ABBA. Queen. Beethoven. Arcade Fire. Sufjan Stevens. Bloc Party. Feist. Kate Nash.
My favorite writers are Russian. The Horatio Hornblower Saga. Aubrey/Maturin saga (Though I love Hornblower more!). Crime and Punishment. War and Peace. Anna Karenina. Everything Is Illuminated. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Jane Austen. Oscar Wilde. William Faulkner.