Indie Basement is a weekly column on BrooklynVegan focusing on classic indie and alternative artists, “college rock,” and new and current acts who follow a similar path. There are reviews of new albums, reissues, box sets, books and sometimes movies and television shows. I’ve rounded up November’s best music, highlighting my favorite songs and albums, plus links to relevant features and news, a monthly playlist, and more.

The year is winding up and we’ll soon be fully in holiday mode and year-end-list territory. December won’t have much in the new release department, but November was pretty action packed. It was so hard whittling down the month’s albums to five that I went with six. Some that almost made the cut include Jeb Loy Nichols’ The United States of Broken Hearted, µ-Ziq’s Hello, SAULT’s 11, and Carla Dal Forno’s Come Around.

There were even more great songs, and I picked 11 to write about here, and made a playlist with even more. You can listen to that on Spotify or Tidal below.

A note on end of the year since I brought it up. Don’t expect the Indie Basement Best Albums of 2022 to just be exactly what has been in these monthly wrap-ups. People change, tastes change, hairstyles change! Some albums have gone down, others have gone up. A few that I never reviewed in Indie Basement might show up. You’ll find out soon.

And with the holidays coming up quick, don’t forget the Indie Basement section of the BV shop for the classic indie music lover in your life. It’s full of vinyl, books, and merch from Love & Rockets, The The, Mogwai, The Flaming Lips, King Gizzard, Pavement, Wet Leg, Mo Troper, Arctic Monkeys, Beach House, Broadcast, Stereolab, Belle & Sebastian, Talking Heads, Spoon, Lilys, Cocteau Twins, Can, Dinosaur Jr and more. Records make great gifts!

Head below for Indie Basement’s Best of November 2022…

INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF NOVEMBER 2022

SINGLE OF THE MONTH: H. Hawkline – “Milk for Flowers”

Huw Evans has been making music as H. Hawkline for over a decade, and has also spent time in Cate Le Bon and Aldous Harding’s bands. Like them, he’s an odd egg but new album Milk for Flowers — which Cate produced — finds him approaching pop territory, at least as close as he’s likely to get. Powered by a ’70s-ish bouncy piano riff and featuring a vocal performance I didn’t know he had in him, “Milk for Flowers” delivers hooks and melodies without sacrificing his charming eccentricities.

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Halo Maud – “Pesnopoika”

The inspiration for “Pesnopoika” is traditional Bulgarian music, but the result is pure Halo Maud. Dig the crazy groovy rhythm section with jazzy drumming and backbone-slip bassline, not to mention the layers of angelic harmonies and diaphanous keyboards. There is also Maud’s amazing voice, which drifts into Bjork territory every once in a while, and an incredible, ragged and weird guitar solo that I wish had gone on for at least two more minutes. A great first taste of her second solo album, due next year.

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Andy Bell – “Our Last Night Together”

Ride’s Andy Bell has become a prolific solo artist, releasing EPs at a regular clip, the most recent of which is Untitled Film Stills that features lovely covers of songs by Yoko Ono, The Kinks, Pentangle and, best of all, Arthur Russell’s “Our Last Night Together.” The original, mostly cello and voice, is spare and ghostly but Bell turns it into something more full, atmospheric and enveloping. Or as Bell puts it, “‘World Of Echo meets This Mortal Coil doing Skip Spence’.”

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Fever Ray – “Carbon Dioxide”

“Carbon Dioxide” is the kind of song that only Karin Dreijer could create: anthemic,  thrilling (those strings!), unsettling (baby voices?), and a total banger. I am very excited for Radical Romantics.

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Gina Birch – “Wish I Was You”

It’s wild to think that Gina Birch of The Raincoats is only just now releasing her first solo album at age 67. If this song is any indication, she’s been saving up a lot of good stuff over the last 40 years. “I Wish I Was You” has a distinct ’90s alt-rock energy that is amplified by Thurston Moore’s guitarwork. Birch brings her own unique style and voice, of course, and producer Youth help her make it soar with an irresistible chorus.

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Hot Chip – “Broken (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)”

One of the best songs on Hot Chip’s terrific new album Freakout/Release — frontman Alexis Taylor calls it the “emotional centerpiece” of the record — “Broken” is a swaying, yearning dancefloor anthem that is both moving and gets you moving. (There’s a little “Dancing on My Own” in there, too.) They’ve released an EP of remixes that are all great, but Stuart Price in his Jacques Lu Cont guise, takes things into joyous Crystal Waters territory.

The “Broken” video is great too:

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Old Fire – “Blue Star” ft Emily Cross

One of the most underrated, underheard albums of the year is Voids by Old Fire, aka former Earlies member JM Lapham. (You’ll also find it elsewhere in this post, see below.) Featuring tons of cool guests (Bill Callahan, Julia Holter, Doverman, more) and a dark vibe heavy on atmosphere, its meant to be consumed as a whole, but there are still a number of standout cuts, like “Blue Star” featuring Loma’s Emily Cross. Bewitching vocals intertwine with sci-fi noises, dreamy surf guitar and eerie bursts of free jazz. An intense fever dream you don’t want to wake from.

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Pozi – “Slightly Shaking Cells”

London’s trio Pozi have previously made arresting music – using only drums, bass, violin and voice — that rubs you like sandpaper, or at least that bit of sand in an oyster that ends up a pearl. On “Slightly Shaking Cells,” their first new music in a year, they are flirting with a friendlier approach that you could call danceable in an early-’80s postpunk kind of way. (Think The Slits or even Tom Tom Club.)  It’s still coming at you from Dutch angles, but the rhythms, bouncing in tandem with the violin and Rosa Brook’s vocals, is very enticing.

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Quasi – “Doomscrollers”

Please welcome back Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss who are gearing up to release their first Quasi album in over a decade. Always ones to mix the bitter with the sweet, Quasi seem ready made for observing pandemic panic, where “everybody’s baking bread, Doomscrolling, going outta their head.” It all leads into a swelling chorus of “Blackberry pie a la mode, Black coffee, no future” that is strangely reassuring.

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Spoon Vs Adrian Sherwood – “Wild”

I called Spoon’s “Wild,” a single from this year’s excellent Lucifer on the Sofa, “the closest they’ll ever come to U2,” swinging with a chorus meant to reach an arena’s cheap seats without heading into cheese. In producer/remixer Adrian Sherwood’s dubby hands, it’s been transformed into a rave anthem a la Primal Scream’s “Loaded” (or George Michael’s “Freedom 90”), dropping out most of the guitars and giving it a bigger beat with lots of bongos and house piano. The best Madchester anthem in years.

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The WAEVE – “Kill Me Again”

What is so interesting to me about The WAEVE, aka Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall, is that it doesn’t sound like anything either of them have done before and in that way feels like a true, equal collaboration. “Kill Me Again,” is moody and cinematic; midnight synthpop that delivers a big, memorable chorus but takes some interesting turns down dark alleys — like the wickedly skronky sax solo from Coxon.

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Weird Nightmare – “So Far Gone”

Having spent the last 10 years destroying eardrums with METZ, Alex Edkins showed his power-pop side on his solo debut as Weird Nightmare. He clearly had more songs than he used on the record, as “So Far Gone,” his entry in the Sub Pop Singles Club, shows. He’s still playing at tinnitus level volumes, but it’s the melody that lingers this time — along with the ringing in your ears.

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INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF NOVEMBER 2022

Acid Klaus – Step on My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance Pop Producer, Melvin Harris (ZEN F.C.)

Sheffield producer Adrian Flanagan has been involved in electronic music for over 20 years, with projects (some still active) including The Moonlandingz, International Teachers of Pop and the Eccentronic Research Council. (He was also briefly a member of The Fall.) For his solo debut, he’s set the bar for himself very high with a concept album about, the title helpfully explains, the “Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance Pop Producer, Melvin Harris.” This concept framework is also an opportunity to time-jump through a variety of dance music styles, from the acid house that inspired his punny moniker, to techno, trance, house, chillout, europop and more, with help from Eccentronic Research Council bandmate Dean Honer, Sheffield legend Richard Hawley, Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger’s Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and actress Maxine Peake. Flanagan is a dextrous, clever producer whose love and deep knowledge of the last 50 years of electronic music keeps the banger quotient very high. [Full review]

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Weyes Blood: And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop)

Weyes Blood’s Titanic Rising was BrooklynVegan’s favorite album of 2019. How does her follow-up fare? Very well. An especially empathetic songwriter, Mering is in sublime form this time, weaving the intensely personal with the universal, the macro and micro, and wrapping it in melodies, harmonies and arrangements that make it cosmic. Nowhere is this more evident, right in the title, than on opening track “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,” where Mering sings about our loss of real connection while we seemingly have everything at our fingertips: ” Fragile in the morning / Can’t hold on to much of anything with this hole in my hand / I can’t pretend that we always keep what we find / Yes everybody splits apart sometimes.” [Full review]

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Daniel Avery – Ultra Truth (Mute / Phanstasy Sound)

Ultra Truth is a gorgeous and often thrilling album that finds Daniel Avery a master of a variety of dance styles that he whips into his own alluring blend of techno, drum-n-bass, shoegaze, trip hop, chillout and ethereal electronics. It’s bullet train that rockets through neon urban cityscapes, glaciers and waterfalls, and blooming valleys, all under a skyfull of stars. His best record yet. [Full review]

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Special Interest – Endure (Rough Trade)

New Orleans dark dancepunk outfit Special Interest gained a following through their intense live shows (a electric drill was in their instrument list), so what happens when the clubs all shut down and touring stops? They make Endure, the band’s first album for Rough Trade, which they describe as “inverted,” as the songs were for the first time worked out in the studio instead of the stage. The band experimented more than ever and were as inspired and empowered by the studio as they were the pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the 2020 election. As fiery as all that sounds, Endure is a much friendlier sounding album than 2020’s The Passion Of, and tracks like “Herman’s House” and “Midnight Legend” are full of disco rhythms, fuzzy basslines, house piano, and big, chant-along choruses. There are also a few intense, raw nerve tracks that show they still know where the power tools are stored. [Full review]

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Spoon vs On-U Sound – Lucifer on the Moon (Matador)

Spoon’s sound has always had a lot of space and headroom and is perfect for dub production, as this reimagining of this year’s Lucifer on the Sofa shows. Producer  Adrian Sherwood rips these songs apart and reassembles the parts in a whole new fashion. In some cases, songs are given an entirely different backbone, with conga-and-tom-heavy percussion and new reggae arrangements, while others get more of the echo box trip to outer space. Lucifer on the Moon may have started as an experiment, but turned into a very cool album that not only stands on its own but is equal, in its own way, to the original. [Full review]

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Old Fire – Voids (Western Vinyl)

Producer and composer John Mark Lapham, who was a member of mid-’00s band The Earlies as well as The Late Cord and MEIN, also records eerie, atmospheric music as Old Fire . His second album under the name, Voids, features guest vocals from Bill Callahan, Julia Holter and Loma’s Emily Cross and Adam Torres, and also features instrumental contributions from Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett, saxophonist Joseph Shabason, The Earlies’ Christian Madden and more. Voids is in many ways a modern analogue to This Mortal Coil, the project of 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell and producer John Fryer, and is very much a late night album — featuring some cool covers — heavy on vibes. Despite all the cool guests and the amazing sounds within, this excellent album seems to have gone almost entirely unnoticed. Give this one a chance. [Read John Mark Lapham’s breakdown of every song on the record]

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And here’s the December playlist with selections from all the above, plus more of December’s best stuff, in both Spotify and Tidal form.

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.

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Top 20 Shoegaze EPs of the Early-’90s

20. Bleach – Snag (1991, Way Cool Records)

Formed by brothers Neil and Nick Singleton, Ipswich, UK's Bleach unfortunately ran out of songwriting steam before they released their first album. (Hey, it happens, just ask Elastica.) The band managed to deliver one terrific EP that showcased their moody style, with guitarist Neil providing the haze and bassist Nick providing the mood. Like a lot of shoegaze groups of this era, singer Salli Carson's ethereal vocals seemed more like an equal element of Bleached's sound, as opposed to a focal point. "Bethesda," with its tom-heavy drumming is especially good, as is "Dipping." Extended listening: the cover art is the most distinctive thing about Bleach's 1992 album Killing Time, but it's the only one of their releases on streaming services.

19. Medicine – 5ive (1993, Creation)

Led by Brad Laner, who spent time in the '80s in L.A. cult post-punk band Savage Republic, Medicine were arguably the U.S.'s best shoegaze band, with a firm grip on melody, noise and dynamics, and they weren't afraid of sampling or dance culture. They also had rare bonafides for an American band; they were signed to Creation in the UK. (Rick Rubin's American Recordings put out their records at home.) The 5ive EP, also known as Come Here to Drink Milk, takes the tremolo-heavy title track (originally on their debut album) and pairs it with the ragged version of "Time Baby" (not the version with Liz Fraser & Robin Guthrie), searing slow jam "Lime 6," and the quasi-industrial "Wrought." Extended listening: The Sounds of Medicine EP has the Cocteau-ized version of "Time Baby" from The Crow soundtrack, plus "stripped and reformed" versions of other songs, but the 1993 sophomore album The Buried Life is Medicine at their best.

18. The Telescopes – Flying (1991, Creation)

Having got their start in the mid-'80s, The Telescopes predate shoegaze but were part of the dark neo-psych scene that included Spacemen 3 and Loop (who they shared a split 7" with in 1988). By their fourth EP for Creation, 1990's Flying, The Telescopes had blasted off most of the white noise in favor of groovy psychedelia that put them somewhere between The Stone Roses and Ride, but frontman Stephen Lawrie was always on his own sonic plane. With layers of 12-string guitars -- acoustic and electric -- Flying's title track is one of their best pop songs, while "High on Fire" heads deep into outer space and "The Sleepwalk" showed they could confidently compete with their Creation labelmates that were getting much more ink in NME. Extended listening: 1990's Celeste EP features an amazing 10-minute version of the title track that's worth the price of admission.

17. Blind Mr. Jones – Eyes Wide (1992, Cherry Red)

Their fondness of flute gave Blind Mr. Jones the reputation of being the shoegaze Jethro Tull, but this band from Marlow, UK were one of the more underrated groups of the era, with a distinctively British sound, a decided goth streak, and consistently memorable, melodic (New Order-esque) bass lines. There are no wind instruments on the Eyes Wide EP but it does feature Slowdive's Neil Halstead who gifts the record with some of his transcendent guitar cloud cover. All four songs are terrific. Is your favorite Ride song "Decay" from Nowhere? You should definitely investigate Blind Mr. Jones further. Extended listening: Compilation Over My Head collects everything Blind Mr. Jones recorded, including the Crazy Jazz EP that featured Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood.

16. Adorable – Sunshine Smile (1992, Creation)

While they owed more to Echo & the Bunnymen or House of Love than My Bloody Valentine or Ride, Adorable were signed to Creation Records, peppered their very catchy songs with guitar noise and got not entirely unfairly lumped in with the shoegaze scene...even if frontman Peter Fijalkowski bristled at the word in interviews. One thing's for sure: "Sunshine Smile" was a hell of an introduction that sounds like its title, a wonderful guitar-drenched pop song with a slinky slowburn intro that gives way to a massive guitar riff chorus. The two b-sides -- melancholy-drenched ballad "A to Fade In" and the Madchester-leaning "Sunburnt" -- are great, too, as is the cover art which uses imagery from The Passion of Joan of Arc. Extended listening: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling EP takes its title track from Adorable's debut album, Against Perfection, and adds three good b-sides, especially "Everything's Fine."

15. Catherine Wheel – 30th Century Man (1992, Fontana)

Released in the last week of 1992, this limited edition EP was a step up, sonically, for Catherine Wheel who had never sounded so confident and powerful, giving fans a taste of what they might get with 1993's Chrome. This is probably a controversial pick, given that three of the four songs here are covers, but Catherine Wheel seriously deliver the goods with these killer takes on Scott Walker's "30th Century Man," Husker Du's "Don't Wanna Know if You Are Lonely" and Mission of Burma's "That's When I Reach for My Revolver." Their cover of "30th Century Man" is particularly inspired, while the other two merely rip (while they make them their own). The EP's original, "Free of Mind," is great too. Extended listening: If you just want great Catherine Wheel songs, the Black Metallic EP has four of them, including the title track which was a Modern Rock Radio hit in the U.S.

14. Kitchens of Distinction – Drive That Fast (1990, One Little Indian)

Kitchens of Distinction would probably be classified as dreampop these days; Julian Swales was up there with Robin Guthrie and Neil Halstead for being able to coax out gorgeous waterfalls of sound from his guitar, but bassist/frontman Patrick Fitzgerald was a confident frontman who had a lot to say. (They were probably closer to The Sound or The Chameleons than to Ride or Lush.) Released as a precursor to their second album, Strange Free World, "Drive That Fast" is one of KoD's best-ever singles and the EP's other tracks are all good, with the dark, boozy "These Drinkers" and a piano rendition of single "Elephantine" being standouts. Runner up: The Elephantine EP has the full-on swirling version of the title track, plus three worthy other tracks.

13. Lilys – A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns (1993, spinART)

Kurt Heasley has reinvented Lilys a few times over the last 30 years, but the group began as noisy indie rockers who pulled equally from late-'80s Creation Records and Dinosaur Jr's freak scene. This wonderfully titled EP has some of Lilys' catchiest songs, including "Ginger" (which inexplicably ended up getting used in a 2007 Cadillac commercial), "Any Place I've Lived" and "Jenny, Andrew and Me." It's one of their best releases and, sadly, also one of the rarest...out of print, not on streaming services, and used copies are hard to come by. Extended listening: Lilys' debut single, "February Fourteenth," is a real ripper.

12. Verve – All in the Mind (1992, Hut)

Before they became Britpop stars with “Bittersweet Symphony” and “Sonnet,” The Verve were just Verve (they had to add the "The" after legal threats from Verve Records), a band from Wigan, England who made out-there, super-groovy psych rock. The group pretty much disowned the title track of their debut EP moments after releasing it, but what do they know? “All in the Mind” is a propulsive space-hopper jam that really shows off Nick McCabe’s incendiary fretwork, Simon Jones’ deeply melodic bass, and the indispensable, jazzy style of drummer Peter Salisbury. The other two tracks -- the beautiful “One Way to Go” (featuring a great vocal from Richard Ashcroft) and dreamy “A Man Called Sun” -- are more indicative of where The Verve would go on their debut album, A Storm in Heaven. Extended listening: The Verve E.P. was the band's introduction to the U.S., taking tracks from their first three singles/EPs, including "A Man Called Sun," and edits of their tripped-out A-sides "Gravity Grave" and "She's a Superstar."

11. Swervedriver – Duel (1993, Creation)

Another band who got better when they burned off some of that haze, Swervedriver made a massive leap between their first album, Raise, and their second, Mezcal Head. A big part of that was a new lineup of the band -- which included a much-improved rhythm section of drummer Jez Hindmarsh and bassist Steve George -- that could really rip. But it was also better songs and more muscular production courtesy producer Alan Moulder who was very busy in the early '90s. (He probably worked on half the records in this list.) The soaring, roaring "Duel," arguably the album's finest moment, is backed with two killer B's: the majestic "Planes Over the Skyline," and starry eyed "Year of the Girl," both of which have Jez going full Keith Moon. Extended listening: Standalone single "Never Lose That Feeling," which would be tacked-on the U.S. edition of Mezcal Head, was actually the last record the original lineup of the band made. The EP version melts into the dubby "Never Learn," making for a very worthy 11 minutes.

10. Chapterhouse – Mesmerise (1991, Dedicated)

In the UK, there was a lot of cross-pollination between shoegaze, acid house and the Manchester scene, and few groups pulled all those together as successfully as Chapterhouse. Coming just a few months after releasing their debut album, Whirlpool, the four-song Mesmerise EP -- which is is sometimes listed as a single -- features two great examples of their blissed-out style: the title track, which blasts out thick waves of synthesizers against a piano hook, was as much a Madchester anthem as anything else; while “Precious One” rides a bongo-fueled groove. There’s also the swirling, ambient “Summer Chill” and the windswept guitar haze of “Then We’ll Rise.” Extended listening: 1990’s Freefall EP falls a little more into space rock territory, but “Falling Down” -- which uses The Soul Searchers’ "Ashley’s Roachclip" drum break sample heard in Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” Milli Vanilli's “Girl You Know it’s True” (and on many, many, many other records) -- pointed to the direction they would soon be heading.

9. Curve – Blindfold (1991, Anxious)

Curve were an interesting group, as both Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia had been around for a while in the industry; Dean was a live member of The Eurythmics in the early-’80s, and they were both in short-lived ‘80s band State of Play, who made one record and then broke up. Dean played on Toni’s 1989 solo album, and then they decided to take another whack at a group, perhaps taking My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon” as an influence, mixing hazy guitars with dance music. With Halliday’s powerful pipes it was an alluring combination. Alan Moulder, who they’d worked with in State of Play and on Halliday’s solo album -- and who was THE shoegaze engineer -- was the de facto third member of the group. Curve released three EPs in 1991, all of which are great but the first, Blindfold, is the best with the seductive single "Ten Little Girls"  featuring something no other record on this list has: rapping. Extended listening: Curve’s second EP, Frozen, is also killer, featuring “Coast is Clear” -- one of their best-ever tracks. All three of their 1991 EPs were collected onto the Public Fruit album.

8. Velocity Girl – Velocity Girl (1993, Slumberland)

While mainly known for its influential punk scene, Washington DC also had a thriving indie rock scene in the late '80s and early-'90s that was heavily influenced by the UK's C-86 scene and labels like Creation, Cherry Red and 4AD. Velocity Girl, in fact, were named for Primal Scream's song on C-86, and played a similar style of very fuzzy janglepop. The group included former Black Tambourine member Archie Moore and, originally, Bridget Cross who, when she left to focus on Unrest, would be replaced by vocalist Sarah Shannon. The band's gift for melody, and love of shambolic, noisy guitars, is evident on this EP that collects songs from three early 7"s. "My Forgotten Favorite," which would turn up a few years later on the Clueless soundtrack, is the obvious standout (and arguably VG's best song), but the other five songs are equally stellar. Extended listening: Velocity Girl were more fond of 7"s than EPs, but their 1993 debut Copacetic (released, like all their albums, on Sub Pop) has held up well, and gotten better with age.

7. Ride – Today Forever (1991, Creation)

Released just a few months after their debut album Nowhere, the Today Forever EP takes Ride out of the hazy murk and into cleaner production without sacrificing their signature swirl. The EP also shows a growing confidence in songwriting and arrangements, like with the powerful, deliberate “Sennen.” Today Forever was never released in the U.S., and is unknown still to a lot of fans, though three of its four tracks found their way onto the American "Vapour Trail" CD maxi-single...but it leaves off one of Ride’s prettiest songs ever, “Today.” Extended listening: Ride’s 1989 debut EP contains classics “Chelsea Girl” and “Drive Blind.”

6. The Boo Radleys – Lazarus (1992, Creation)

Like a number of shoegaze bands, The Boo Radleys spent a couple years hiding their musical skill and good songwriting behind a wall of MBV-inspired noise. This resulted in some great music but when they came out of their shell, they got even better. Released not long after their wilfully dissonant Everything’s Alright Forever LP, the Lazarus EP felt a bit like seeing the band with a new pair of glasses. The signs had been there all along for The Boo Radleys, but all four songs here are a step up in every way. “Lazarus” would show up on 1993’s Giant Steps, but without the long, dubby EP intro that pays off so well when the song roars into focus. It's also amazing they'd delegate songs as good as "Petroleum" and "At the Sound of Speed" to b-side material. Extended listening: 1991’s Every Heaven EP is pretty fantastic with a nice balance of melody and roar, and has one of the Boos’ best-ever songs, “The Finest Kiss.”

5. Slowdive – Holding Our Breath (1991, Creation)

While clearly influenced by the Cocteau Twins' shimmering style, Slowdive didn’t really sound like any other group from the original shoegaze era, with an oceanic guitar swell that remains unique and mysterious. “Catch the Breeze,” which would also show up on their 1991 debut album, Just for a Day, is an all-time classic but the rest of this EP is just as captivating. Rachel Goswell’s ethereal harmonies on “Shine” will never not send shivers down your spine, and their cover of Syd Barrett's "Golden Hair" is rather titanic. Extended listening: Slowdive’s debut EP, Morningrise, nods to the band’s ‘80s goth youth while pointing toward the direction they’d soon head.

4. Moose – Jack (1991, Hut)

If it wasn't for Moose, this list might have to be called something slightly different, as the word "shoegaze" was first used in a Sounds review of one of their early gigs. That is probably enough to warrant an inclusion here, but luckily Moose were a great band who carved out a distinct corner in The Scene That Celebrates Itself. Their first of three 1991 EPs, Jack, was as dissonant as they got, but underneath the bandsaw guitars were melodies rooted in a classic songwriting style that owed as much to Burt Bacharach as the Velvet Underground. That would bubble up to the surface more as the band progressed, but you can hear it on both "Ballad Of Adam & Eve" and "Boy." The EP kicks off with the awesomely drony title track, and wraps with moody ballad "I'll Take Tomorrow." Extended listening: By the release of their third 1991 EP, Reprise, they were already halfway to the breezier style they'd adopt for XYZ and subsequent albums, and it features the gorgeous, country-ish ballad "This River Never Will Run Dry." Songs from Moose's early EPs were cherry-picked for the Sonny and Sam EP, the only record Moose ever got released in America. Criminally underrated, I

3. Pale Saints – Flesh Balloon (1991, 4AD)

In between their first and second albums, Pale Saints added singer-songwriter-guitarist Meriel Barham to their lineup, changing the dynamic of the group for the better. She made her debut on this EP, singing lead on a playful, dreamy cover of Nancy Sinatra's "Kinky Love." The whole EP is fab, though, with the sprawling, dramatic "Hunted" -- which would show up on second album In Ribbons -- and is one of the best examples of the group's unique mix of beauty and noise. There's also a demo of "Hair Shoes," which shows up in full studio version on In Ribbons, but the real standout here is spectacular instrumental "Porpoise." Extended listening: 1990's Half-Life Remembered is pretty great too, especially "Half Life" which toys with Madchester beats. The title track is great.

2. Lush – Mad Love (1990, 4AD)

Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie was behind the boards for this four song 12” that remains the perfect distillation of everything Lush did so well. Quintessential Lush song “De-Luxe” leads the EP that also includes the equally wonderful dreampop track "Thoughtforms" both of which feature Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson's signature guitar and vocal interplay. plus great minor chord slashers “Leaves Me Cold” and “Downer.” Lush made many great records during their brief run, but if you can only have one, make it this. Extended listening: Lush’s debut, the six-song Scar mini-LP is excellent too, if a little rough around the edges. You don’t have to choose, either: Gala compiles Mad Love and Scar, plus a couple other tracks, on one album. It's also hard to argue with picking up Ciao! Best Of Lush which includes their dabblings in Britpop (like the title track which was a duet between Miki and Jarvis Cocker).

1. My Bloody Valentine – Tremolo (1991, Creation)

While My Bloody Valentine’s 1990 Glider EP features their danceable classic “Soon,” the 1991 Tremolo EP has an overall higher hit-count, and sees Kevin Shields and the rest of the band continuing to break new ground. Tremolo features the swirling, transportive “To Here Knows When,” the beautiful “Swallow,” glide guitar ripper “Honey Power” and the churning, Brian Wilson-esque “Moon Song.” Nearly 30 years later, listening to this dazzling EP's four songs will have you wondering "How did they make this?" and "are my stereo speakers functioning properly?" A must-own companion to Loveless. Extended listening: Then again, Glider does have “Soon.” Get them both!