Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me (2004) [Official Digital Download]

A striking mix of radical and traditional, raw emotion and literate expression, hip-hop and vocal pop, Nellie McKay's Get Away from Me is the kind of feverishly inventive, sprawling album that only comes from young artists. Though it could've easily fit onto a single CD, it's a double-disc set designed to reclaim the feeling of flipping over a record; the back cover proclaims that McKay "is a proud member of PETA." While McKay's age (21 at the time of the album's release) and sound make comparisons to Fiona Apple, Nelly Furtado, and Norah Jones easy she even named her album Get Away from Me as a preemptive strike against it being lumped in with Jones' Come Away with Me McKay is a more esoteric and hyperactively creative artist.