You read my mind with Strange Mercy! That album has become such a touchstone in terms of style for me. Everything about it rips me in half. The hazy synth textures combined with the ultra modern orchestral arrangement styles, the super fat drum breaks, and of course all of the guitar production. He brought so much to Annie's style and let all of the little avant-garde tweaks shine. There are so many radical production choices that form a coherent product, it's incredible.

"Rigorous and ego-destroying revision " is going to be a phrase I steal.

Have you listened to Dot Hacker at all? They are an experimental rock band that sounds like what would happen if Radiohead and Muse stripped their music down to it's core, wrote clever minimalist harmony, and were fronted by a singer who sounded like a roomful of ghosts. Their production has some awesome subtlety.