Wow, lucky that this thread came back alive. I missed it when it was first started. I got into Pioulard earlier this year, and I second Anthony's recommendation.

Oh, and to continue that Smith discussion: actually, I think the weakest thing he did was the one postuhumous release, From A Basement On A Hill. That, I felt, was extremely overrated, mostly due to his death, and unfortunately that's the one that introduced me to the songwriter. But his albums before that, Either/Or and XO as mentioned, and also Figure 8 for me, are excellent no matter the context, and they were highly praised even before he died. Also, Anthony, I hope you listened to that new compilation, New Moon, because it's 1000x better than From A Basement, and it encapsulates his talent more.

Indeed he has, Andre. I have the new album, but haven't yet got a chance to sink my teeth into it.

As for E. Smith, still nothing but still trying.

(Back to Pioulard, I emailed him a while back - shortly after my first post here - telling him how much I enjoyed Precis. He replied back with: "heyy, thanks very much, this sort of thing always makes my day..hope all is well in the great white north; our bit of snow just melted..yours, tom" That was nice of him.)