I have to say that my recent subscription to the Zune Pass “subscription”-based service has really opened my library – and tastes – to a whole new arena of music. I like polka now!
Here are some albums/artists that I’m really enjoying right now…
- Cold War Kids, “Robbers & Cowards”
- Starflyer 59, “Old” (or most any recent album of theirs)
- Rosie Thomas, “If Songs Could Be Held”
- Damien Jurado, “Caught In The Trees”
- Clinic, “Do It”
- The Verve, “A Storm In Heaven”
All really good stuff.
Y.I.P.C.A.N.J.O 
Honestly, the only one of that list that I ever listened to was The Verve, and even then, just Bittersweet Symphony.
You should check out Zoe Keating, her style is… well, iTunes would classical, I’d probably call it new age, but it’s all cello and she uses a computer to layer it to create an ambience that makes for a relaxing listen while you’re doing whatever on the computer.
Listening to Zoe Keating right now. Pretty good stuff, and *definitely* very mellow. Good background stuff.
I’ve never been a listener of The Verve — aside from Bittersweet Symphony, which you mentioned as well — so I was surprised to find out that they are a fairly “musical” group. Let me clarify. “Bittersweet Symphony” led me to believe that they were a typical Brit-alt-pop kinda band, but they’re really not. They tend to have longer, more music-driven songs. Not the “power pop” I was expecting. I like it!