Rainer Maria, one of my favorite bands of the last ten years, just announced their breakup today. They've left quite an intriguing and challenging body of work in their wake, and I recommend them highly to anyone interested in pop music as a poetic art. Try any one of these works as your starting point (though I've starred* my personal recommendations):

Rainer Maria (EP)
Past Worn Searching
Look Now, Look Again*
Atlantic*
A Better Version of Me*
Ears Ring (EP)
Long Knives Drawn
Catastrophe Keeps Us Together*

As a side note, some of you may have recognized their name as a reference to the 20th century German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He is a strong and unique voice in the Modernist movement. Regardless of whether you are a casual reader of poetry, a literary fanatic or a poet trying to find inspiration, he's worth a read or two. Here's a list of some of his work to get you started, which should be available at any library or bookstore:

Letters to a Young Poet
Selected Poems (translated by C.F. MacIntyre)
*another fine translation is available from Stephen Mitchell
The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (tr. Anita Barrows & Joanna Macy)
Uncollected Poems (selected/translated by Edward Snow)
The Roses and the Window

Have fun!

Nick Garcia,
Adult Services Department