It’s an exciting time to be a Lilys fan. While they haven’t released a new record in over a decade, bandleader Kurt Heasley has reignited the flame in recent years, reissuing their first two albums and putting together a new lineup of the group for shows. There is more archive digging on the way: earlier this month, they announced that Lilys’ great, ’60s pop-inspired 1999 album, The 3-Way, would be getting its first-ever vinyl pressing on February 26 via Sundazed (preorder).

And now comes word that their 1994 EP,  A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns, is also being reissued, this one by Frontier Records who also reissued Lilys’ Escame the Photon Band and In the Presence of Nothing a few years ago.

Amazing Letdowns contains one of their best-known songs, “Ginger” (which appeared in a ’90s CK One commercial and a ’00s Cadillac ad), made our list of Best Shoegaze EPs of the Early ’90s, and has been woefully out of print pretty much since it was released, and hasn’t been on streaming services either. This new reissue will be out February 12 and comes in expanded form, taking five of the six songs from the original EP and replaces the sixth track (which was “Glosseder” on the vinyl and “Evel Knievel” on the CD) with previously unreleased song “G. Cobalt Franklin.” Additionally, the reissue adds four songs (recorded in 1994) that were on their 2000 split EP with Aspera Ad Astra.

You can listen to “G. Cobalt Franklin” and the whole of the new A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns reissue below and you can preorder it now.

These will not be the last Lilys reissues we’re likely to see, either. Three more albums — 1996’s Better Can’t Make Your Life Better (which contains their UK Top 20 hit “A Nanny in Manhattan”), 2003’s Precollection and 2006’s Everything Wrong Is Imaginary — have yet to get the reissue treatment, and there are dozens of unreleased (in some cases, unfinished) tracks from the last 12 years that have yet to see the light of day, too. One of those unfinished tracks ended up being completed and relased as “Unheard Of Curiosities” for the Lodge 49 soundtrack, and was the first new Lilys song in ages.

We caught up with Kurt to talk about the reissues, Lodge 49, getting songs placed in TV commercials, playing Top of the Pops, Neko Case’s greyhounds, the possibilities of future tours once COVID is out of the way, and a whole lot more. A hyper-intelligent, hyper-literate and very funny person, Healy talks at lightning speed, free-associating and swerving through tangents. Over the course of our hour-long phone conversation I was doing good just to be keep up. Read our free-wheeling talk below.

So it’s been about four years since you last played shows and did those reissues of In The Presence Of Nothing and Escame the Photon Band. Now we’ve got two new reissues basically coming out at the same time. What was the spark that made all that happen?

The television series Lodge 49 used some of our songs, and awoke the current incarnation of Warner Music. [Both Better Can’t Make Your Life Better and The 3-Way came out via Warner imprints/subsidiaries Che/Sire, respectively.] This was the third Warner Bros. Records owner since ’99. Like the guy who owned Warner Bros sold it to Edgar Bronfman Jr a couple of years after we were done on the label. Then Len Blavatnik bought it from Bronfman, Jr. And when you have that level of top down reorganizing, there’s nothing organizationally left. So I basically flew out to LA and I was like, “Hey, I don’t mean to be a total douche, but that Kurt Heasley, that’s me. I’m Kurt, that guy from this television show,” They realized after six months of not taking any payment, “Oh wait, this is one of ours.” And a couple of days after Business Affairs got wind that Che/Sire was “one of theirs,” they took the check. A few days after that, [those albums] went up on iTunes.

We’ve just been in contact like, “Okay. Hi, like I said, I’m Kurt.” And so basically all year was attempting to discover our current relationship — Lilys current relationship — with the Warner Bros. products. That’s what I have to refer to them as, they’re no longer records. They’re these things in a database, in a filing system probably in Ohio. Something really just dark. Not Ohio. Ohio’s great. I’m talking about Warner Bros’ filing cabinets. As we were leaving LA, Sundazed reached out to Rhino Records’ Jason Jones who said, “Oh, this is amazing. Sundazed wants to do a [reissue].” I was like, “Wow, that’s really incredible. Have them contact me.”

Well, I guess I got a Facebook message six months later. Again, its both perfect and incomplete and messy and unpredictable. And in a strange roundabout way, I’m not sure what’s going on. I can honestly say I don’t think anyone knows. My first Beau Brummels record was a Sundazed pressing. So I’m like, “Okay well, there we go.” Beau Brummels were so hot back in ’91, you had to buy a reissue. [laughs] Introducing the Beau Brummels, listen to that shit. That is Love Rock 101. I’m like, “Oh, it’s true, man. Wait a minute. Did Sly Stone produce this? What the fuck was going on in San Francisco?” [Laughs] Sorry.

Ha ha, no, that’s all right. Just hanging on for the ride here.

Freestyle again, my love of all things — “hmmm, I’m not sure how that all connects, but that’s what I’ve got.”

Sundazed definitely feels right for The 3-Way and would probably feel right for Better Can’t Make Your Life Better as well.

I know! There was this… Back then, we were coming from Crass and Skinny Puppy and noise through a filter of Dinosaur Jr into My Bloody Valentine. Plus all of our childhood inspirations of being five years old and loving “The Porpoise Song” from the Head soundtrack. We were just attempting to add a visual component, theatrically, to the expectations that this narrative on Better Can’t Make Your Life Better and The 3-Way embody. You know…muscle car séance and emergent technologies and loss of consciousness, oh my god…fucked up stuff, I’ve got an encyclopedia of it. John Waters did more in five movies than anything you people can ever do. The Cry Baby/Pink Flamingos/Desperate Living benchmarks of “is it cool?”

I know you grew up in John Waters’ hometown. I still remember in Serial Mom, they go to [Baltimore hard rock club] Hammerjacks, and the teenage son says to his dad, “Try to act cool, Dad. It’s Hammerjacks.”

“It’s Hammerjacks.” That was even on WHFS in DC. Hammerjacks bills got read out on the coolest cutting edge radio station… and you could feel the college rock marketing angle. It was like “Wow. And everything Bill Hicks was laughing about the marketing people.” He’s like, “Oh, there’s a wonderful demographic that’s disenfranchised. A hot emerging demographic. Come on, Bill.” And in a way, there is the value of the analytics, like understanding. I’m not sure how the monetization of saying, “Oh wow, we have found truly suffering group.” It’s like, “Let’s send a snake oil salesman in there.” Which, is it my business? No. Am I buying snake oil? No. If someone asked me, “Kurt, I have all this snake oil. I think I’m going to put everything in it. What should I do?” I’m like, “Probably something else, not that.” They’re like, “Thank you.” But no one’s asking me.

Speaking of marketing and just steering things a little bit back to these reissues that are coming out. A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns opens with “Ginger,” which has been used in not one, but two major commercials, both of which I remember seeing on television and basically doing a double take. There was the CK One commercial from the early ’90s which also had a Luna song in it. And about 10 years later, or a little bit more, there was a Cadillac commercial, right?

There was the summer. Basically what I called it was the Cadillac Summer.

Do music supervisors just all love the Lilys, or do you have a theory on all this?

Do you remember Ditch Croaker?

I remember the name.

Tim Barnes, who played drums in Ditch Croaker and is still an incredible productive percussionist, was an associate editor at this video post facility Lost Planet in NYC. The producer who was shooting the CK One campaign said, “Oh, my God. I need something…” that is not what they were dealing with in 1992, 1993… “if you have any ideas musically, just give me what you’ve got.” And Tim, who had been letting me sleep on his couch, he’s like “Oh you know, I just got this CDR whatever of Kurt’s demos.” They’re not even out yet, I don’t think. And Tim just makes a mix tape and first song on was “Ginger.”

Now, of course, it’s kind of ironic because all “Ginger” really starts with is, A) a cymbal, B) me playing guitar, which is basically trying to pick a riff out of a chord. I’m not really playing single notes, but you’re attempting to hear me go, (singing the riff) “dah dah duh. dah dah.” And it’s like Iggy Azalea. There’s nothing but a kick drum and a base line and a vocal going on. And you’re like, “This sounds huge.” And it’s like, “There’s nothing going on.” And they’re like, “Exactly.” And that’s what the floor tom does, [singing] “bom bom bom.” It’s not the pursuit of perfection. Obviously, there’s the ideal, but I’d rather let the process, looking for the ideal be what gets left in the recording rather than sitting and spending non-productive amounts of editing time. There’s a certain amount of, “Hey, we’re just going to mute that lip smack.” That kind of editing, that makes sense. “Oh, there was a little drop. I can just cut that and we’ll be fine.” Versus, “We’re going to redraw everything. We’re going to CGI your vocal melody.”

So I think there is that rub of recognize-ability, that rub of reality that maybe some music supervisors love. It’s in the realm of right, but there’s something about it like, “Yeah, it sticks out a bit. That could be good. That could work in our favor.” It’s worked in our favor, so I’ve taken crazier risks personally, professionally, creatively, because you have to say yes. In my contract there was “no candy, no beer.” But everything else, I’m game. They’re like, “You’re the next fragrance.” And I was like, “Sure, why not? Let’s do it.” I’m waiting for them to pitch “Mike And Ikes Extreme Sweet” and to be like, “Oh, I gotta pass, man.” It never happened, but it could, you know what I mean? Then later, they’re like “Cadillac.” I’m like, “Are they still made in America?” They’re like, “Absolutely.” I said, “Green light that motherfucker. Let’s do it.” They’re like, “Do you like Cadillacs?” I’m like, “I’ve actually never ridden in one. Oh wait, I was in a trunk in ’86. Let’s not talk about that story.” That’s it.

Whereas the Levi’s ad that used “A Nanny in Manhattan,” I imagine [director] Roman Coppola probably knew who Lilys were.

Yes. With “A Nanny in Manhattan,” there was that moment of, “Oh, this is really kind of fun.” In that “five year olds who accidentally fall in love with a Carole King song produced for a Monkees episode” kind of way. We were playing it live somewhere while they were shooting the commercial in Glendora. They were like “Hey, we have a working edit through the commercial, and we would understand if it’s not your thing.” And I was like, “Are there Mike And Ike Super Sweets involved in this, or is it literally just Levi’s is getting into the non-denim business for a second?” They’re like, “Yeah, just White Tabs.” And I was like, “Fucking, really?” I can’t say no, ever.

It was a Top 20 hit in England, right?

There’s a couple different ways to look at how it charted in England. There was an awareness of the song, and there was a very strong showing, but there was no… We went over for a week, we played two shows and Top of the Pops, and that was it. And I think even though it had made the Top 40, the reality was that Levi’s had two other very, very large campaigns that used these out-of-the-blue artists and, to their credit, the sections of the songs they used were interesting. But when you listen to the whole song, you’re like, “I don’t know if I’m ever listening to that again.” You remember Babylon Zoo. Do you remember Babylon Zoo?

I know the name, that’s all.

You’re going to go, “Okay, Babylon Zoo Levi song. Well, Kurt was generous. I don’t know if I would listen to that whole song again.” Whereas anyone in 1998 who comes across Lilys goes down this bizzarro rabbit hole of 12-strings and drone rock and three-part chorale harmonization. They’re like, “What is this?” Yeah, it’s a little hard to categorize.” They’re like, “It’s over. No more. If you can’t check a box, we don’t want it.” But it allowed us to keep going, basically without saying, “You must embody this opportunity.” It’s like, “We’ll do our best.” We did our best.

A little bit more about the Brief History reissue. Now, the original, there were different songs on the 10″ and on the CD, but both of those songs, the different ones, are not on this new Frontier reissue. Why not put everything on there?

Well, there was three iterations of the record. I was attempting to get the most amount of what we had musically from the highest definition of source material. Original mixes of the five songs from A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns that don’t include the [Evel Knievel] stunt anthem. The CD track that really, like the 10″ track, they were energetic ideas we had in the seven hours in the studio. They spoke to the mood but not the music. The song from the spring of ’94 that we never released, “G. Cobalt Franklin,” even though it is a DAD-GAD guitar tuning –sort of post-rock — this sludge, it actually fits [on the reissue]. And the reason we put it at the end of Side 1 was to basically point in the direction [of the songs on Side 2], it’s all connected and it’s all changing, so pay attention.

Past these two reissues, are there more on the way? You’ve got three more albums, basically…

Yeah, there’s a lot of… I mean all of this record-making is basically to underwrite our Love of People habit, our Live Music habit and… even if we’re just spending a dollar to make a dollar, and all we get is the visibility of “Hey, you’re doing something,” that’s great because LIlys are an odd duck.

In some ways it’s amazing these are coming out at all.

I have been maybe not enjoying the greatest amount of fruits but there are, let’s say, much more talented and capable people with a lot more training that I felt were maybe forced to compete on levels that they were not meant to be competing on. And they did not get through that gladiatorial entertainment system unscathed. I’d rather have 30 years of the story about me — “Oh, what’s that smell? Oh, my God. ‘Kurt from the Couch’ just made breakfast” — than when I try to analyze like, “Oh, can you imagine it going differently?” It’s just like, “No, what do you mean?” That’s to somehow question the great order of things. It’s like, “Look up. Those stars are bright all night. You don’t have to do anything.”

That’s a good attitude.

But now that we have a foot in the door, to a degree, at Warner Bros, now that we have these old Spin Art records safely nestled and creating…there’s of course, a few more records. I mean, just the stuff we haven’t released that’s new over the last 12 years. I’m waiting for the vibration to pull me to it. It’s like I don’t need to get my dream hunting spear and go plod into the jungle looking for something… I have it. It’s actually more like I’m the butler. I’m taking care of serving our guests. And rather than taking a lot of things halfway there, there’s the general art of dissolving obstacles to let these new relationships form. A lot of the people that were involved 25 years ago aren’t around anymore. So it’s like I can’t be static. I must be able to flex with the current times. Everything Wrong Is Imaginary, Precollection, Better Can’t Make Your Life Better, Services For The Soon To Be Departed. The Sub Pop single. I’m like, “Tony Kiewel, What up? We need to talk. We need to generate more odd.” We need to get odd.

Tell me a little bit about “Unheard of Curiosities,” which is the Lodge 49 song. Was that a brand new song that you did for it, or was it something you had in the archives?

I had written two songs basically telling parts of these stories from Season 1 of Lodge 49, because [series music supervisor] Thomas Patterson had hinted that they wanted to have an original piece of music. And I was like, “Wow, let me know.” Well, they finally did. They’re like, “Can you have it back to us in two weeks?”

Tight deadline!

It was so fast, but I had been thinking about it for nine months. But the difference between me sitting around an Ashram playing acoustic guitar and finishing a production, they are not the same thing. And basically, I think whatever limit I had on a credit card, like 500 bucks, I bought a ticket to LA and I said, “Okay, let’s do it.” I think Thomas Patterson asked me, “Are you solvent?” It was a real learning experience. Like, wow, if I had nine grand open on a card, I would just go and get, like, drums, bass, keys second vocalist, three days in the studio to track the instrumentations, do the vocal arrangement and mix. What ended up happening was Michael Musmanno and I, in his living room, with a Sennheiser 441 and the dream. I was basically playing him both of these pieces I had written and he’s just making these eyes at me like, “Come on, seriously. Like what are we going to bring a studio in my living room?” It got really serious because he was like, “I hear that these are your ideas and they’re great ideas. Do you want to go and get us a few thousand dollars for studio time?” Now I’m really learning the definition of solvent.

Right.

What he ended up doing is, after we had been listening to a lot of Grace Jones, as one trying to make great recordings does — it was maybe one o’clock in the morning — he’s just going through rough mixes and scratch mixes of the previous 17 years of our friendship. And he came across two acoustic 12 string performances from, I think February of 2009. These were from around the time that I did vocals on Middle Cyclone, the Neko Case record. There was a lot of songs that weren’t on Everything Wrong Is Imaginary that Michael Musmanno and I were still working on in 2008 and 2009. So this was this really strange long song I had written about these animals that Neko had in her house. And Mike looked at me and he was like, “What does this make you think of?” I was like, “I remember the greyhounds. I remember Neko’s greyhounds.” It was like “we’re going to have more of chance making something from this than with any other idea. Start here.”

I woke up the next day and I recorded a part on a new guitar. He was like, “Close. Give me one more.” Okay, number two. He was like, “Now, we’re talking,” and we sat down and started writing this song about Lodge 49 which involves all these animals that were living at Neko Case’s house and then we get to this point where there’s now an outline of these animals, and me getting dropped off at the airport. It got really weird.  So here’s these, the greyhounds and getting on the plane and, y’know, life, and not really understanding and about home. Home is where the heart is, and I don’t know how great of a song it is, but it’s pretty sincere. And it’s pretty raw and there’s a lot of, like I said, Grace Jones involved.

It fit the show so well.

The second season of Lodge 49, it was literally like a 10 hour movie. It was the most bizarre…if it takes another 10 years for that thing to be a banging hit, it’s happening. [Creator and Lilys superfan] Jim Gavin is an actual brilliant, brilliant thinker who can write it down in these long ways. I don’t understand that kind of clarity. That’s like, “Wow. I have so much to be inspired by in this life still.” A lot of it that I’m not actively ignoring, I’m actively adoring. Ooh, that got really Steve Powers for a second. Zing, Steve! The dog, it ages, it learns new tricks, it eats weird things between its toes, it’s a dog. It doesn’t care.

If things return to normal are there any tentative plans to tour like you did four years ago, but maybe with The 3-Way and Better Can’t Make Your Life Better era songs?

When Jay over at Sundazed contacted me, I was like, “Oh my God, this is amazing.” And I went into this flurry of talking to everyone I know, even writing, I think, Carl from the New Pornographers for help with lawyers. Literally, of course, within 36 hours it was sorted out but we’re still sorting it out. And there are many pieces involved. Believe me, this is like trying to turn the USS Nimitz. Left is going to take a few hours, man. “The engines are strong and straight lines are easy. Course corrections, that can be a little time and energy consuming.” Attempting to bring all of the Frontier stuff, ’91 to ’95, into ’96 to ’99. I get basically one shot to create the communication for this organization, basically starting now. Starting a week ago where we’re like, “Ah, gosh. I don’t really have a plan. Anybody got a plan?” They’re like, “Fucking Trump’s out!” But I’m like, “Okay, yeah. But what’s the plan?” Then they’re like, “Oh shit, oh yeah. We should call some people.” I was like, “Ah, you mean I’m not the only one? I thought I was the faker.” No.

So we’re all literally, we worked through it with our eyes closed for five and a half years. Now, we’re attempting to open our eyes and continue working through it. But the way the ensemble sits right now, there’s a couple of people to do two intense 45 minute blast sets. I don’t know, I call them blasts. But highly focused in the way we attempted to develop the set in 2015 and 2017, because there are a lot of players who are just more fun to play with. Less stress. There’s more of an emphasis on the purpose than its importance. When you’re in your 20s, you think everything is important, rather than thinking are your eyes forward, is your neck free, are your shoulders wide? Is this you? Or is it all the strutting around.I think a lot of people mistake posing for posture.

I was at my most nervous when I found myself posing, because I could not create that understanding of “what do they want from me? What do these people expect? Were they not around the last five years? Do they not know?” So let’s see if we can make this easy for everybody and now. Corbin, Aaron, the other players, everyone’s in a place where we could actually do some Generals of Soul. One song, stop it. Next drummer, another song. It would be like, “Goddam, this is a review. This is 30 crazy fucking years.”

[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]

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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!