I will follow you into the dark

I was sitting here playing Aimee Mann's "Humpty Dumpty" tonight and I thought to myself: Aimee Mann is one of those artists I would follow to the end of the earth. I don't think she's ever recorded a bad song; she's an artist of such high caliber, with such impeccable credentials, astoundingly talented, I can't stop listening. Who are those artists you feel the same way about? I sat down and tried to think of the artists who I feel I can trust to consistently deliver quality material.

* Aimee Mann
* Bob Dylan - in the regard that I don't think he'll release another bad record before he dies.
* A.C. Newman and James Mercer - Mercer hasn't written a bad song (except maybe "Your Algebra") and Newman is just a genius who couldn't write a bad song if you held a gun to his head. In fact, if you commanded either of them to write a stinker, it would still probably be a delectable pop concoction.
* Danger Mouse - the man is just a superstar, not a bad feat for a producer. Everything he touches turns to gold.
* Stephin Merritt - but I'm running out of patience -- just release another damned Magnetic Fields record, already.

Really cheesy and incomplete list, but maybe it will inspire you to start thinking of beloved artists of your own. And no, despite what the subject line says, I would not include Ben Gibbard on this list...