Grant Lee Buffalo - "Jubilee"
Once upon a time they were the critics darlings, an alt-folk rock band that did mostly dreamy, wordy quiet songs, but on Jubilee (their last album), they really unloaded and wrote smart, rocking songs. Very clever, catchy music.
Also, "Haunted" by Poe.
Probably the best pop music ever written, and oddly almost the entire album is about her father dying, and every song weaves in and out of this theme with voices of her as a young girl and her father (from old family tapes) eerily popping up as samples. Don't let that fool you though, it's incredibly listenable. And, unlike most women in music, she writes, produces and engineers her own songs.....if she were into guns, that means she's a top competitor that shoots, builds and machines her own guns. Quite rare.