four: frYars

I think it might come across as if I have my head jammed in a folk-shaped rut right now (which I kind of do) so just to dispel any presumptions I'll take a step outside the door and bring something new to the table.

frYars (a.k.a. Ben Garrett) is a one man band with an edge like no other. The 18 year old has just hopped off a tour stint with Goldfrapp and has less recently released "The Perfidy (a betrayal of trust)" EP.
All three songs are packed full of black magic and Garrett's lyrics in particular create dark images in your head and they seem to be written at midnight hunched over a fluorescent laptop screen. Olive Eyes for instance tells the tale of a boy on the war path to seek revenge on his biological father, who is in fact his uncle (you do the math) and The Novelist's Wife takes us into pages of adultery and unwitting cannibalism. Ooh err.
His first EP The Ides runs along the same vein, with lyrics such as "You should have died that very night/Good job for you I wasn't born a killer" that appear delightfully macabre, like a spin off of the villain's perspective in a fairy tale.
As for instruments, Garrett uses a menagerie of keyboards and endlessly tinkers with beats and blips to bring a simple yet effective electronic sheen to the songs.

To start you off here's the superb Olive Eyes.