Twenty Twenty-Two is coming in hot! We’re only two months in and I already feel like I could pick a Top 10 of the Year that I wouldn’t regret in December or 10 years from now. Two of those were released this week, which are among seven new album (plus a reissue) I review today: Nilüfer Yanya, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Guided by Voices, The Weather Station, Wah Together (members of LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, more), Total Control/Rat Columns’ David West, Castle Face-signed duo System Exclusive, and ’80s French synthwave act Ruth.

There’s more crossover than usual this week between Indie Basement and Notable Releases, as Andrew also reviews Nilüfer Yanya and The Weather Station, along with Vein.fm, Crowbar and more.

If you need more Basement-friendly stuff from the week, there were new album announcements from Kevin Morby, Belle & Sebastian, Gwenno, Mick Trouble, Weird Nightmare (Alex from METZ), The Stroppies, and more, and. Plus: Stereolab are touring this fall; the new Pixies song doesn’t suck, Neneh Cherry tapped Robyn to cover “Buffalo Stance,” and the new Cure album has a title.

You should also check out the Indie Basement February Roundup, featuring reviews of my Top 10 Songs, my Top 5 albums, a 48-song playlist of all February’s best stuff and the proverbial much much more.

Looking to buy stuff? The Indie Basement corner of the BV shop has tons of hand-picked vinyl, books, merch and more, including preorders of Fontaines DC’s Skinty Fia on exclusive, limited edition colored wax, Destroyer’s LABRYNTHITIS, Kevin Morby’s new album, the Pavement Terror Twilight deluxe edition, plus From Manchester with Love, the new Tony Wilson/Factory Records biography by Paul Morley. We’ve also got vinyl albums from poon, Devo, Roxy Music, Stereolab, Jarvis Cocker and more.

Ok that’s enough intro. Head below for this week’s reviews.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: Nilüfer Yanya – PAINLESS (ATO)
Seriously impressive, easy to love, impossible to pigeonhole second album a true original

If you invested in Nilüfer Yanya‘s terrific 2019 debut, she pays out big dividends on Album #2, refining the sound of that album, parring everything down in a way that sounds bigger and brighter at the same time. The beats are jazzy, and so are the guitars when they’re not melting into shoegaze and post-punk territory. It fits so well with Yanya’s sly, smoky vocals that don’t try to mask her London accent and are also capable of diaphanous harmonies. Throughout PAINLESS, Nilüfer exudes an effortless, genuine, cool — the kind that’s not saying “I don’t care” but “I don’t care what you think.” You should care, though. She’s a true original.

Andrew has a longer review in Notable Releases.

Get PAINLESS on vinyl in the BV shop.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #2: Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – Topical Dancer (DEEWEE)
Snarky social commentary sidles against sophisticated dance music on Charlotte & Bolis’ debut album that was written and produced with Soulwax.

“Are you polite or political? Are you correct or cynical?” Belgian duo Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul ask a lot of questions you might not expect on their debut album. Especially for an act associated with DEEWEE, the mostly dance music label run by Soulwax‘s David & Stephen Dewaele (who co-produced and co-wrote the album). But with Topical Dancer, a very apropos title, Charlotte and Bolis are aiming to engage listeners from their head to their feet.

Topics these dancers address include racism, cultural appropriation, social media obsession, wokeness, vanity and misogyny, but as they note, “no matter how painful the subject, we use a certain lightness and humor to address things. It doesn’t minimize the problem, it only makes it easier to process, accept and overcome.” They also set the issues against some seriously forward-thinking club music. It’s a unique hybrid that feels closer to ’80s experimentalists Laurie Anderson, Art of Noise or Will Powers than what’s being played at Berghain or Fabric.

Production on Topical Dancer is unsurprisingly flawless but is also clever like the lyrics, with little sonic jokes subtly dropped in throughout, punctuating a line here and there. My favorite example: “HAHA” is chopped-up and autotuned laughter; set against a slinking backing and occasional sampled orchestra hits — the only actual lyric is “I guess you had to be there.” While the album is not wall-to-wall bangers (it’s not trying to be), Charlotte and Bolis never lose the beat. Crank up “Blenda,” “Ich Mwen” (ft Charlotte’s mom, Christiane Adigéry), “Mantra,” “Making Sense Stop” (yes inspired by Talking Heads) and “Thank You” for a full body workout.

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Guided by Voices – Crystal Nuns Cathedral (GBV Inc)
Robert Pollard does it again; another terrific record from one of indie rock’s most enduring, prolific bands

Which is a more impressive feat — that at 63, Robert Pollard can still do those high kicks, or that he still cranks out indie rock hits at a rate not unlike the candy factory episode of I Love Lucy? Crystal Nuns Cathedral arrives just four months after It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them! and finds them still climbing. This is Guided by Voices at their most magisterial, with power-chord riffs working in tandem with Pollard’s melodies that spiral up and up. In that regard, the current lineup of GBV are Jenga-masters; these songs scrape the sky but never topple. Where It’s Not Them brought in strings, here they orchestrate just with guitars. Big guitars. Also crashing drums. Thunderous bass. Pollard’s ever-powerful voice and deep bench of Brit-rock inspired melodies. I love Bee Thousand and those early-’90s 4-track albums, but this is the sound I imagine Pollard had in his mind all along.

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The Weather Station – How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars (Fat Possum)
On this whisper quiet companion piece to last year’s maximalist Ignorance, Tamara Lindeman still speaks volumes

The Weather Station‘s 2021 album Ignorance was Tamara Lindeman at her most maximallist, an album about climate change written as breakup songs and recorded like a big ’80s Trevor Horn production. But there was more where that came from. “When I wrote Ignorance, it was a time of intense creativity, and I wrote more songs than I ever had in my life,” says Tamara. “The songs destined to be on the album were clear from the beginning, but as I continued down my writing path, songs kept appearing that had no place on the album I envisioned. Songs that were simple, pure; almost naïve. Songs that spoke to many of the same questions and realities as Ignorance, but in a more internal, thoughtful way.” Those songs have now appeared as How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars, which she describes as “quiet, strange album of ballads.” With just piano and her voice — and well-placed woodwinds on a few songs — Lindeman is just as affecting, perhaps moreso.

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RUTH – Polaroïd/Roman/Photo reissue (Born Bad)
Vinyl reissue of cult classic ’80s synthwave album

I love compilations, especially ones of scenes that seem cool but I know nothing about. Back in 2006, Born Bad Records put out a fantastic comp titled BIPPP: French Synth-Wave 1979/85 that I bought at Williamsburg record store Sound Fix (RIP). The whole thing is great (and still in print!) and led me down all sorts of rabbit holes, even though most of the acts on it only ever released a single or two, maybe an album. The instant standout was “Polaroïd/Roman/Photo,” a 1985 single by Ruth. The song’s bones are icy minimal-wave, but the song is elevated by a horn section that gives it a spooky noir vibe. Bandleader Thierry Müller, who was a photographer and graphic artist before starting a band, also cleverly samples a Polaroid photo being spit out by a camera and uses it as a rhythmic device. It’s a great song that I still put on mixes, playlists and use in DJ sets.

Ruth’s sole album, also released in 1985 and titled Polaroïd/Roman/Photo, has been reissued a few times over the years and has just gotten a new vinyl/CD edition from Born Bad. There’s nothing else quite like the title track here; in fact no two songs sound alike. There’s wild mutant punk, tropical pop, manic synthpop, and gothy dirges, all sung in chilled-out Franglais and peppered with their unique horn charts. But the whole record maintains a cohesive, cool, disaffected vibe. This new reissue comes with a 12-page booklet with rare photos, new essays and liner notes (in French and English), and there are a few digital bonus tracks, including some remixes. Ruth were gone in a flash, but the image remains unfaded.

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Wah Together – Let’s Wah Together (Dedstrange)
Members of LCD Soundsytem, The Rapture, Longwave and Electroputas join forces for a noisy, fun party of an album

Wah Together are a newish group made up of people who’ve been part of the NYC scene for a long time: Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture), Steve Schiltz (Longwave), Phil Mossman (ex LCD Soundsystem), and singer Jaiko Suzuki (Electroputas). The band formed not long before the pandemic hit, and sound like what you might expect, given the parts: kinda funky, kinda shoegazy, a little skronky and in general pretty fun. One also senses that everyone in this band owns a Can album. Let’s Wah Together was recorded primarily live and you can feel that energy in these nine songs that range from komische groove riders (“Tobu,” “You Got the Blues”) to psychedelic freakouts (“Closer We Get,” “Who We Are,” “Out! Out! Out!”) to more spectral works (“Teen Vito”). This is an album that sounds good at home but also makes you want to see them live. While many of the early-’00s key players bailed on NYC for L.A., it’s nice that some are still here, making a racket.

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David West – Jolly In The Bush (Tough Love)
Total Control satellite member and Rat Columns leader is back with his first solo album in five years

Like most musicians even remotely associated with the Melbourne “dolewave” scene, David West has been in a lot of bands, including a couple with Mikey Young (Total Control and Lace Curtain). The music he makes where he’s the focus, be it under the Rat Columns moniker or his own name, tends to be the kind of brittle pop — jangly, sparkling guitars, cheap synths, drum machines — that match his appealing, fey vocal style. It’s music that politely asks if you want to listen and demurs if you don’t. You should, though, especially if you have a fondness of ’80s British indie like House of Love and The Shop Assistants. Jolly In The Bush is West’s first solo album in five years (Rat Columns did have an album last year) and it features guest appearances from Mikey Young, Eaters’ Bob Jones and others. He’s at his best, though, on the songs with the least instrumentation, like “Not That Lonely,” where he spins delicate spiderwebs with his guitars that refract the dew in the first light of morning.

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System Exclusive – S/T (Castle Face)

When not running Castle Face Records with OSEES’ main man John Dwyer, Matt Jones makes music too. He led gothpunks Male Gaze and is now one half of duo System Exclusive alongside Ari Blaisdell (Lower Self, The Beat Offs). The band are very different from their previous groups, not to mention anything Castle Face has ever released. Their self-titled debut is the kind of dancepunk that would’ve been right at home at a DIY space in San Francisco or Brooklyn back in 2003. Bouncing disco synth-bass and live drumming power these song and let Blaisdell’s powerful, soulful vocals take the spotlight. (Just a little post-punk guitar and keyboards color in the outlines.) I wouldn’t call it retro or nostalgic, though; the live drumming adds a ton of energy, the songs are good, and the clear production keeps things out of the garage.

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.

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The 20 Best Britpop Albums of 1995

20. Echobelly – On

Where Echobelly's debut album (1994's Everybody's Got One) was as shiny as Britpop got, the band scuffed things up just a little for its follow-up, and made On with American production team Sean Slade and Paul Q Kolderie (Buffalo Tom, Hole, Radiohead's The Bends). The guitars rip and roar a touch more, but songs like "Great Things," "King of the Kerb," and "Pantyhose and Roses" remain chipper, sugar-sweet and ridiculously catchy. Like on their debut, On's most distinctive feature remains singer Sonya Aurora Madan whose crystal clear voice really makes things soar.

19. Salad – Drink Me

London group Salad was led by Dutch musician and model Marijne van der Vlugt who was also a VJ for MTV Europe at the same time she was in the band. She was a striking presence in the band with a clear, powerful voice that cut through the often jagged guitars --- all of which set them apart from the rest of the Britpop pack. Certainly no other group was releasing anything quite as wonderfully odd as "Motorbike to Heaven" or "Drink the Elixir" at the time. Despite being on a major label (Island Records subsidiary Red), Salad were just a little too odd for mainstream popularity -- though Drink Me did briefly enter the UK Top 20 -- but it does, however, make the album ripe for rediscovery (they're also back in action).

18. Menswe@r – Nuisance

Every genre seems to have its blatantly commercial group that pays close attention to the competition, trying to beat them at their own game while proclaiming what they really want to be is famous. Menswe@r were that band for Britpop, a group that felt like they were conceived in the pages of the hype-heavy British music press or at a scene-y Camden pub like The Good Mixer. In fact, the band's Johnny Dean and Chris Gentry managed to get a quote about Menswe@r in an issue of Select when the band was just an idea in their head, and Melody Maker put them on the cover before they'd released a single. (MM did the same for Suede.) Musically, the group swiped ideas from all the other popular bands: Like Elastica, they ripped off Wire ("Daydreamer") and brought in a string section a la Oasis or Blur for swoony ballad "Being Brave." Pulp and Suede are also clearly points of reference from the hairstyles down. But as far as style-forward disposable pop goes, Nuisance is enjoyable fluff and, unlike some groups, Menswe@r don't attempt to hide what they're doing.

17. Various Artists – The Help Album

Some of the biggest artists in the UK and Ireland, including most of the Britpop Elite, contributed new songs to this high concept benefit album aiding the War Child charity. The concept was inspired by John Lennon's "Instant Karma" -- the idea that all art should be released to the world as soon as it's made. So 20 artists went into the studio on September 4, 1995 and the album was in the shops five days later. Some of the Britpop highlights: Radiohead's "Lucky," which would appear two years later on OK Computer; a new, terrific acoustic version of Oasis b-side "Fade Away" featuring Johnny Depp and Kate Moss; Suede covering Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding" (also famously covered by Robert Wyatt); Blur in playful instrumental mode on "Eine kleine Lift Musik"; The KLF's Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty as The One World Orchestra with a cover of The Magnificent Seven theme (their first music in four years); Salad and Specials frontman Terry Hall covering "Dream a Little Dream of Me"; and The Charlatans covering Sly & The Family Stone's "Time for Livin'." The biggest deal was a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together" by The Smokin' Mojo Filters (aka Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller), but the secret best song is Sinead O'Connor's cover of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billy Joe."

16. Shack – Waterpistol

Shack were one of those bands who seemed poised for stardom but just couldn't catch a break or get out of their own way. Led by brothers Michael and John Head, who spent most of the '80s in orchestral indie band The Pale Fountains, Shack updated the '60s merseybeat sounds of their Liverpool hometown, which landed them sonically somewhere between The La's and The Stone Roses. Recording of their second album took place in 1991, but went over schedule as Michael Head struggled to finish songs; when the album was finished, the studio burned down along with the album's masters. The only finished copy of the record was in the possession of producer Chris Allison...who accidentally left the tape in a rental car. The DAT tape was eventually tracked down but by the time it was back in the hands of the group, their label had folded. Waterpistol finally saw release in 1995, by which time Shack had been broken up for a couple years already, with Michael Head falling into heroin addiction. Drama and back luck aside, Waterpistol is a fantastic record that felt very of the moment in 1995, full of shoulda-been-hits like "Dragonfly," "Mood of the Morning" and "Walter's Song." A lost classic that is well worth seeking out.

15. The Verve – A Northern Soul

The Verve started off as a deeply psychedelic band, known more for Nick McCabe's awesome, tripped out guitar pyrotechnics and frontman Richard Ashcroft's million-mile stare than catchy melodies. That all changed with The Verve's second album, which they made with Oasis producer Owen Morris. McCabe's playing was still very cosmic but was now in service of hooky rock songs that also made better use of Ashcroft's powerful pipes. (Drummer Pete Salisbury and bassist Simon Jones, meanwhile, were one of the best rhythm sections of the '90s.) Tracks like "This is Music" and "A New Decade" were still pretty far out, but it was singles "On Your Own" and "History" that proved The Verve could give the Gallaghers a run for their money in the sweeping ballad department.

14. Blur – The Great Escape

After the one-two punch of 1993's Modern Life is Rubbish and 1994's Parklife, there was a lot of pressure on Blur to one up themselves again. Of course, anything short of amazing was gonna be a letdown, and at the time this third serving of quirky British life felt like one Full English Breakfast too many. (Blur were full, too; the band looked to Magic America for 1997's self titled album which, woohoo, gave them their first U.S. hit.) But with the distance of 25 years, The Great Escape is actually a really good album, from singalong hits "Stereotypes" and "Charmless Man" (one of the great Blur singles), to the swaying "Best Days" and bouncing "Top Man." Blur and The Great Escape really excel at sweeping mood pieces and three of their best are here: "The Universal," "He Thought of Cars" and "Yuko and Hiro." Even the none-more-Blur "Country House" sounds pretty good now.

13. Paul Weller – Stanley Road

Never one to get too comfortable with his surroundings, Paul Weller has had a pathological need to reinvent himself over the years. He broke up The Jam at the height of their stardom to form the politically active, suave pop group The Style Council, which he then disbanded in 1989 just after turning 30. He changed things up again for his '90s solo career, making the kind of earthy, soulful rock you might expect from Traffic or Joe Cocker. At the same time a new crop of British groups (Supergrass, Blur, Pulp) looked to The Jam and The Style Council for inspiration. It all made it a perfect time for a Weller comeback. Having primed things with 1993's Wild Wood, Paul really delivered with the million-selling Stanley Road that featured a host of collaborators, including Steve Winwood, his old Style Council cohort Mick Talbot and big fan Noel Gallagher. Stanley Road's sound fit right in between Oasis and The Charlatans and on the album's lead single, "Changing Man," he even addressed his need to blow things up and start again -- "Numbed by the effect, aware of the muse, too in touch with myself, I light the fuse" -- all while cementing his Modfather status.

12. Sleeper – Smart

Louise Wener and Jon Stewart, who had been in a number of college bands together before moving to London, took out an ad in Melody Maker: "Bass player and drummer wanted. Influences The Pixies and The Partridge Family." Sleeper were born. Wener was a charismatic frontwoman and an even better lyricist, riviling Jarvis Cocker with witty, relatable tales of romantic angst, mid-20s ennui and sex in the suburbs. All that can be found on Sleeper's debut album, Smart, which kicks off with three fantastic singles: love-the-one-you're-with Top 20 UK hit "Inbetweener," the Pixies-ish "Swallow," and decidedly randy "Delicious." The nine songs that follow are nearly as good. The IT Girl, released in 1996, is even better but Sleeper  wouldn't last much longer, breaking up in 1998 after their third album; Wener then put her observational talents to good use as a novelist (her debut, 2002's Goodnight Steve McQueen, is terrific). Sleeper reformed in 2017 and released the very good The Modern Age in 2019.

11. Gene – Olympian

London group Gene were dogged by comparisons to The Smiths, due mostly to frontman Martin Rossitter's at times uncanny vocal resemblance to Morrissey, but also their purple-prosed lyrics and a propensity for sticking some of their best songs on b-sides. Those comparisons were fairly superficial, though, with guitarist Steve Mason drawing more from Small Faces' Steve Marriott or Paul Weller than Johnny Marr, and Rossitter offering a more positive, romantic, us-vs-the-world outlook than Moz. Gene also tended to swing for the fences with big riffs and bigger anthemic choruses, and their debut album, Olympian, finds them connecting with real power, whether it was swaggering rock like "Haunted by You," "Car That Sped" and "To the City," or more windswept numbers like "London, Can You Wait" and the title track. To See the Sights, released the next year, collects non-LP singles and b-sides from this era and is, to further that Smiths comparison, their Hatful of Hollow and a great companion to Olympian.

10. The Charlatans – The Charlatans

The Charlatans are survivors, having started as part of the Manchester music scene in the wake of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. But they have managed to change with the changing times, surviving a few major setbacks and tragedies, while maintaining their own identity and Hammond organ-led sound. As Madchester's high faded, guitars began figuring in a little more prominently into their sound. While 1994's Up to Our Hips stumbled, The Charlatans sorted themselves out by the time of their self-titled fourth album, which found them sounding more confident than ever, adopting a Stones-y Exile on Main Street vibe that put them right in heart of Britpop. The Charlatans was a #1 album for them, with terrific hit singles "Crashin' In," "Just When You're Thinkin Things Over" and "Just Lookin'." Another impressive pivot for one of the UK's most resilient bands of the last 30 years.

9. Teenage Fanclub – Grand Prix

Glasgow's Teenage Fanclub haven't altered their musical course much since forming in the late '80s, making a brand of jangly guitar pop that owes much to Big Star, Beach Boys and The Byrds. With a high level of quality that continues to this day, Teenage Fanclub have done it without ever really playing music industry games, just happy to crank out good record after good record. But in the mid-'90s, the Fannies' classic sound fit right in with the Britpop revival. It also coincided with the release of what is arguably their best album, Grand Prix, which to play off the album's Formula One cover art, has them firing on all cylinders. It helps to have three very good songwriters, and Grand Prix was their first record where guitarist Raymond McGinley's work rose to the level of his bandmates Norman Blake and Gerrard Love. Some of Teenage Fanclub's all-time best songs are here: Love's "Sparky's Dream" and "Don't Look Back," Blake's "Mellow Doubt" and "Neil Jung" and McGinley's "About You" and "Verisimilitude."

8. Boo Radleys – Wake Up!

The Boo Radleys began life as died-in-the-wool, noise-loving shoegazers but main songwriter Martin Carr always had a fondness for classic pop songwriting that fought its way through the noise of their early records. The band dabbled in straight-up guitar pop on 1993's Giant Steps, which is also around the time their label, Creation, signed a band named Oasis whose runaway success really changed everything for the label and the existing roster. Where bands like Ride and The Boo Radleys were once content to make "cool" indie records, there was now pressure to compete with the Gallaghers in the charts. Carr came from the same school of pop as The Kinks, The Beatles and The Zombies and proved to be a natural, with The Boo Radleys making the transition effortlessly on their fourth album, Wake Up! The ebullient, horn-filled first single "Wake Up Boo!" is a song, like Katrina & The Waves' "Walking on Sunshine," that was made to be played the minute the weather gets nice, and was a Top 10 hit for the band that stayed in the UK singles charts for most of the spring and summer. While that was the only hit on the album (which also went to #1) but "It's Lulu" and "Find the Answer Within" shoulda been smashes, too.

7. Black Grape – It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah

Happy Mondays crashed and burned during the making of their 1992 album Yes Please!, with frontman Shaun Ryder and other members of the band dealing with serious drug problems. Instead of disappearing off the face of the earth, Ryder and Mondays dancer/vibes man Bez rebounded surprisingly quickly, forming Black Grape in 1993, enlisting Ruthless Rap Assassins members Paul "Kermit" Leveridge and Ged Lynch as well as producer and songwriting partner Danny Saber. Past excesses thankfully hadn't dimmed Ryder's lyrical wit one bit, and the fresh start and new collaborators brought out the best in him. It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, a title that referenced Ryder's new cleaned-up lifestyle, rivals Happy Mondays' Pills N' Thrills N' Bellyaches for sheer pleasure. The cover art, featuring a Pop Art illustration of Carlos the Jacklyn, referenced other things. Musically, Black Grape resembles Ryder's old band, but adapted to the mid-'90s with Kermit as a great vocal foil, and some of Britpop's anthemicism baked into singles "The Reverend Black Grape," "In the Name of the Father" (which takes swipes at the Catholic Church) and "Kelly's Heroes" (which sounds lot like Madonna's "Express Yourself"). Few artists manage a second act like this, let alone one so good.

6. Cast – All Change

The La's 1990 self-titled debut album is one of the direct precursors to Britpop and while frontman and songwriter Lee Mavers never made another album, sideman John Power proved more than up to the task of leading his own band, Cast. Enlisting Peter Wilkinson from Shack (another Liverpool band who had trouble with labels and frontmen), they formed a group who favored songs over bravado and drama. It was a formula that worked. Songs like "Alright," "Sandstorm," and "Finetime" sounded like classics from the get-go, with earworm choruses that stick in your head on first listen. John Leckie's production -- with layer upon layer of guitars and harmonies -- makes everything pop. The real appeal of All Change is just how effortless it all seems. These songs don't sound like they were written as much as they were always there just waiting to be heard.

5. Radiohead – The Bends

Nobody would call Radiohead Britpop now, and nobody really did in 1995 either, but The Bends definitely has more in common with Blur and Oasis than the proggy widescreen grandeur they would debut with OK Computer. These are pop songs played on guitars -- lots of guitars -- and tracks like "Fake Plastic Trees," "High and Dry," "Bones" and "The Bends" became the template for many new Britpop groups in the second half of the '90s. (See: Travis, Stereophonics, Longpigs, Coldplay.) John Leckie's production helps tracks like "Just" and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" achieve liftoff, and The Bends is also notable as the record where they met Nigel Godrich, who engineered the record and would go on to form a beautiful friendship with the band that lasts to this day. Before The Bends, Radiohead were that band who did "Creep," but with this it was clear they would never be stuck in the land of One Hit Wonders.

4. Elastica – Elastica

Led by Justine Frischmann -- who had been an early member of Suede and for much of the '90s was one half of Britpop's #1 Power Couple with Blur's Damon Albarn -- Elastica were a breath of fresh air when they released "Stutter," their 1993 debut single that mixed punk, new wave and heaps of attitude. If you weren't paying attention then, you certainly were by the time of their third single, "Connection," that borrowed (and later paid for) its riff from Wire's "Three Girl Rhumba." When the song kicks in at the 20 second mark, you've got one of 1994's most undeniable hooks. The band were not shy about paying homage to bands they loved: "Line Up" also borrowed heavily from Wire, and "Waking Up" tipped its hat to The Stranglers' "No More Heroes." The wait for their debut album seemed like forever, and when it was finally released in March of 1995 it became the fastest selling UK album since Oasis' Definitely Maybe the year before and held onto the title till Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in 2006. More than half of Elastica's songs had already seen release on singles (including some b-sides) which made it a little disappointing for fans at the time, but it now just sounds like a start-to-finish classic.

3. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

In the storied Blur Vs Oasis battle of 1995, when the band's respective singles "Country House" and "Roll With It" were released on the same day in the UK (August 14), Blur debuted at #1 with the Gallaghers coming in at #2. But Oasis won the war just a couple months later when their second album was released and made them worldwide superstars. (Blur's 1995 album, The Great Escape, was very good but just a little too British for mainstream international appeal.) Songwriter Noel Gallagher was at the top of his confident game; he was still swiping bits from his heroes but had also figured out Oasis' style by this point, mixing equal parts melody and swagger, with sing-a-long choruses that sound good even when the lyrics don't make a lot of sense (often). Beyond singles like "Wonderwall," "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Champagne Supernova," Morning Glory's deep cuts, like "Cast No Shadow," are just as good. While their boasts of "bigger than the Beatles" were tiresome, for a while Oasis made a very good argument.

2. Supergrass – I Should Coco

Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes was only 19 when the band's debut album was released in May of 1995 (his bandmates weren't much older) and the record gets much of its charm from the trio's unbridled youthful energy that they managed to capture on tape. Its staying power, though, comes from the songs which are smart, insanely catchy and much more sophisticated than they first seem. I Should Coco incorporates a wide range of influences, including punk ("Caught by the Fuzz," "I'd Like to Know), glam ("Lose it," "Time"), '60s psych ("We're Not Supposed To"), and Britpop forebears the Kinks and Madness ("Alright," "Mansize Rooster"), but they jumble them together to make an infectious, distinctive sound. Supergrass were also ferociously talented musicians, with drummer Danny Goffey's playing keeping those energy levels high as the band tear though the album's 13 tracks in just 40 minutes, and that's including the six-minute spaced out, proggy "Sofa of My Lethargy". I Should Coco was a huge hit in the UK -- it was label Parlophone's biggest selling debut since The Beatles' Please Please Me -- and earns extra Britpop points for its title which incorporates Cockney Rhyming Slang.

1. Pulp – Different Class

Having led Pulp to general critical and public indifference since the early-'80s, Jarvis Cocker put the group on hold to study film at London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where he had his mind expanded by raves and met Steve Mackey who would help usher in a new, more formidable lineup of the band. (He also met a girl from Greece with a thirst for knowledge who studied sculpture, memories of which would come in handy later.) With the '90s, Cocker's lyrical observations became sharper, his stage presence more assured, and Pulp's glammy disco snapped into sharp focus. 1994's His N' Hers was their best yet by a mile, but it did not prepare the world for the record Pulp would release the next year, a massive leap forward that had Cocker and Pulp working at the height of their powers and that perfectly aligned with Peak Britpop. His time at Saint Martin's College was inspiration for "Common People," a tale of upper class slumming that would quickly become Pulp's signature anthem. The album, Different Class, followed suit with 11 more brilliant tales of Misshapes, mistakes, and misfits, including: "Disco 2000," one of a few unrequited love songs here, this one set to a riff nicked from Laura Brannigan's "Gloria"; "Sorted for E's and Wizz" found Jarvis out of his head at a rave; and "Monday Morning" laid out the drudgery of mid-'20s endless post-college partying against ska backing. The hooks are plentiful and the quotable lines are endless, and while the record is exceedingly British it is somehow relatable to anyone who's ever felt out of place. "Blur Vs Oasis" may have been the hot topic in the British press in 1995, but Different Class rendered the debate instantly moot.