Here are a few contemporary groups and musicians I find unique and gifted that I enjoy listening to.

Walk Across the Earth

Magic Giant

Jon Gomm

Panic at the Disco

Chris Jarrett (Classical/Jazz Piano Improvisation)

PROG ROCK...

Mix - Gandalf's Fist:

Universal Migrator Pt.1 & 2:

Steven Wilson - "Hand. Cannot. Erase" complete album:

BLUES....

Mix - Jake La Botz:

POWER METAL....

Mix - Kamelot:

Mix - Edguy:

FOLK....

Mix - David Wilcox:

POP.....

Mix - The Mute Gods:

My favorite artist currently active is Steven Wilson, and he's had a pretty dense music career.

He used to front a band called Porcupine Tree. Their first four albums or so could be categorized as "space rock" or simply "prog" for progressive. Then they released "In Absentia" in 2000 which has more of a Tool meets Radiohead vibe, but even that doesn't do it justice. They released three more albums and an EP since then, plus a few live DVDs.

Porcupine Tree more or less....well, they're essentially done, but they never declared it. Before 2000, Steve Wilson did one or two other projects, notably No-Man, which is sort of ethereal dreamscape-y music. Since 2000, he's collaborated with Aviv Geffen in a small project called Blackfield. There's a sense of gloom in that band, but it's....I dunno, not really folk, but definitely has a rainy day quality. And he did a one-off with Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth (he's produced some of their albums, too) called Storm Corrosion.

But largely, Steve has been releasing solo albums, and they're nothing short of perfect IMO. My favorite is "Grace for Drowning", but "Insurgentes", "The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)" is also great, and "Hand. Cannot. Erase." is just perfect. His latest, "To The Bone" is kind of pop-y, but it's not too bad. It's definitely the weakest of his solo albums.

I like EDM music, especially the trance sub-genre. I recommend kaskade, deadmau5 and orbital to start with.

Anything from the band Bright Eyes. St.Lucia always gets me in a good mood.