Labor Day is behind us and so is summer for all intents and purposes, and the fall rush already has begun. I review 10 new albums this week, including the first new The The album in 24 years, the first new Mercury Rev album in nine years, and the latest from Australian duo Party Dozen, NYC buzz band Fcukers, plus The Reds Pinks & Purples, Dummy, Peel Dream Magazine, SUUNS, Tall Juan, and Belarusian synthwave group Molchat Doma.

With a new The The album out today, this week’s Indie Basement Classic goes back to where it all began: Soul Mining.

Also: read my interview with Matt Johnson.

Over in Notable Releases, Andrew has a full plate as well, with MJ Lenderman’s much-anticipated Manning Fireworks, along with new ones from Fat Dog, Denitia, and more.

Need catching up on what happened last month? Check out the Indie Basement Best Songs & Albums of August roundup.

Need more Indie Basement-style news from this week? TV on the Radio are back; La Femme announced their first English language album; New Order are releasing a definitive box set edition of 1986’s Brotherhood; The Innocence Mission announced their first album in four years; and the Pavement movie had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

That’s enough small talk. Head below for this week’s too-many reviews…

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: The The – Ensoulment (Cineola / Earmusic)
Matt Johnson is back with the first The The album in 24 years, right when we need him

The The’s first album in a quarter century arrives like magic; an eerie sound rises from the speakers like an unexpected plume of colored smoke and soon materializes, fully formed, like a genie from a bottle. But Matt Johnson is not here to grant us wishes. Ensoulment is more of a Monkey’s Paw situation, showing us how everything we wished for blindly has come true but at a tragic cost. “Truth stands on the gallows, lies sit on the Throne,” Johnson sings on “Cognitive Dissident,” which opens the album. “Something in the shadows communicates by code.” In this turbulent election year, it’s good to have The The back even if, as Johnson told us, “I wish we lived in a very different world.”

Ensoulment is The The’s best album since Dusk and his most overtly political since the ’80s when he was delivering melodic warnings like “Heartland” and “The Beaten Generation,” songs that sadly, lyrically haven’t dated a bit. He’s a bit more subdued, musically, than the days of Infected and Mind Bomb, but no less astute and witty; working with Warne Livesay (who produced those albums) and the same band that accompanied him on The Big Comeback tour in 2018, Matt has crafted a “speak softly and carry a big stick” of an album, mixing post-covid fears and doom-scrolling with sublimely produced songs about loss, aging, and love, mixing cynicism and despair with hope and humor.

It’s a unique blend that Johnson still has a firm grasp on, though its hard to imagine anything as bluntly political as “Kissing the Ring of POTUS” coming out during The The’s peak years. As usual, he’s at his best when the politics are intertwined with matters of the heart, like on “Zen & the Art of Dating” and “I Want to Wake Up With You,” where his breathy baritone is as sultry as Barry White (albeit in a white, English sort of way). Then there are the soul-searchers — “Life After Life” and “Where do We Go When We Die” — that mix pop melodies with the kind of thoughtful, word-twisting platitudes that earmark The The’s best songs, from “Uncertain Smile” to “Slow Emotion Replay.” They’re also the kind of songs you can only write when you’ve lost loved ones and faced death yourself and come out the other side.

Ensoulment sounds fantastic. Warne Livesay’s production gives the arrangements and Johnson’s voice lots of atmospheric headroom and the band really steps up. Barrie Cadogan (of Little Barrie) is The The’s best guitarist since Johnny Marr, and DC Collard’s keyboard and piano work is nothing short of sublime. For those who miss The The’s synthpop days, Soul Mining and Infected are still there for you; Ensoulment offers an older, wiser, and mellower Matt Johnson whose fire still burns. “We can live our lives under false pretences,” he sings on “Risin’ Above the Need,” before adding, “We can deny reality – but not its consequences.” It’s very good to have The The back.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #2: Party Dozen – Crime in Australia (Temporary Residence Ltd)
This Aussie sax-and-drums duo’s fourth album is a real barn-burner

Kirsty Tickle and Jonathan Boulet have always sounded bigger than just a sax-and-drums duo but on their fourth album as Party Dozen, the awesome racket they make sounds like an battalion whose commanding officer has just yelled “CHARGE!!!” While still just the two of them, Tickle and Boulet have plowed past the group’s initial concept adding in a variety of other instruments (bass, guitar, keyboards) while still keeping their core instruments front and center. Skronk levels remain set to maximum as they rip through these songs that often recall mutant versions of ’70s cop show themes (hence the title Crime in Australia). “Bad News Department” struts to a “Peter Gunn” bassline but they twist it into wild, unhinged chaos. “The Righteous Front,” meanwhile, is funky like a blacksploitation score, “Les Crimes” is glitchy, overdriven dance rock a la DFA 1979, and “Piss on Earth” offers doom-levels of heaviosity. There are also a few lighter moments, like “The Big Man Upstairs” which is atmospheric and near poppy with Tickell singing through the bell of her sax. This is a big step up for Party Dozen, which is saying a lot given their last album had Nick Cave on it. Like any good thriller, Crime in Australia is grimy, propulsive, violent, and highly addictive.

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EP OF THE WEEEK: Fcukers – Baggy$$ (Ninja Tune)
Hotly tipped NYC electro group recall the city’s millenium-era heyday on their debut EP

Forget The Dare, this is the mid-’00s bloghouse / indie sleaze revival you’ve been waiting for. Fcukers slap some ’90s house chords and a fuzzed-out post-punk bassline on a skipping two-step beat that’s just minimal enough to let you hear singer Shanny drop lines like “Silk’s real, leather’s fake / Say you’ll DJ at my wake” and the none-more-2006 “All day M.I.A. / Tell your boss I need a raise / Cropped outta Cobrasnake.” “Homie Don’t Shake” would’ve killed at Motherfucker and is the cornerstone to Fcukers debut EP that is about as good a time as you’re likely to have in late summer 2024. If nothing else here has quite that song’s instant appeal, the other five tracks all come pretty close and show a promising amount of range. It’s also more pre-blog if I’m being honest, pushing a lot of end-of-the-millenium buttons, from the dubby, Massive Attack-ish “I Don’t Wanna” to the infectious opener “Bon Bon” which is somewhere between luxe French Touch disco and hedonistic rave tracks like Mr. Oizo’s “Flatbeat.” There’s also ethereal drum and bass (“Heart Dub”), the saucy “UMB” and “Tommy” which is like “I Feel Love” / “Rapture” by way of the Go! soundtrack. These songs are both crammed with hooks and clever ideas but never sound overstuffed. Most importantly, Fcukers sound like they’re having fun, first and foremost, and I think you’d have to actively try not to do the same while listening to this record.

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Mercury Rev – Born Horses (Bella Union)
Don’t like Jonathan Donahue’s new whisper speak vocal style on Mercury Rev’s first album in nine years deter you; this is a terrific record

“When I opened my voice to sing on this record, this was the bird that sang: a lower, whiskery voice, which surprised me as much as it may others,” Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue says. “I don’t know where the bird came from, but it’s there now, and I don’t question it. It’s just the bird that wants to sing.”

Jonathan Donahue whispers his way through the entirety of Born Horses, Mercury Rev’s first album in nine years, in a style that’s more emotive dramatic reading (shades of William Shatner’s Transformed Man) than the belt-it-out pipes he used on classic Rev songs like “Goddess on a Highway” and “Holes.” There are only a couple times where Donahue’s vocals even hint at melody and by the third song, when you realize the whole album is like this, it’s could be a dealbreaker for some fans.

And yet, Born Horses succeeds thanks to Donahue’s moving prose which is heavy, cathartic and ever imbued with a sense of wonder, as well as the absolutely gorgeous orchestral arrangements of these songs. This is sweeping, cinematic stuff that is moving all on its own, easily Mercury Rev’s biggest, most ambitious record to date. “I dreamed we were born horses, waiting for wings,” he intones on the album’s title track, “but with more sky inside us than most human beings.” As strings swell, it’s one of a few moments on the album where the beauty of the music and the sincerity of the poetry make you a little misty. The album also has the power to knock you back through sheer sonics, like on penultimate track “Everything I Thought I Had Lost” which builds and builds into a towering force of drum fills and swirling piano and horns as Donahue dreams of “old friends, twin flames… their faces, reaching me slowly now, like a bank of clouds that could only have come from far, far away.” It’s epic stuff and pure Mercury Rev. Settle in and give this one a shot.

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The Reds, Pinks & Purples – The World Doesn’t Need Another Band (self-released)
More perfectly gloomy strum-and-glum from Glenn Donaldson

“Statues in the park,” Glenn Donaldson sings with a resigned air. “They always look sad to me.” This is The Reds, Pinks & Purples to me in a nutshell. Donaldson views the world in grey-colored glasses, the kind Morrissey used to wear when singing “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and “Unlovable” with The Smiths. It’s a little bit of a schtick, but it’s a good one, and The World Doesn’t Need Another Band is another fine collection of strum-and-glum RPPs earworms. Also like Moz, Donaldson likes to sing about pop dreams, misunderstood artists, and the perils of the music industry — see the title track and “Unlovable Loser” — which seem to provide an unending source of material. As on Unwishing Well from earlier this year, Donaldson is spiking his indiepop melodies with Jesus & Mary Chain-style guitar noise which make his pointed lyrical barbes sting just a little more. The world may not need another band, but I’ll take as many Reds, Pinks & Purples albums as Glenn wants to make.

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Dummy – Free Energy (Trouble in Mind)
Second album from these LA drone-pop shoegazers expands their horizons in all the right directions

Los Angeles band Dummy perfected a hazy motorik groove on their debut album, a style that they are now moving beyond. For its follow-up the band set out to get “harder, dancier, more psychedelic” and they’ve largely succeeded. Dummy will not entirely avoid Stereolab comparisons with Free Energy, — there are still lots of droning organs, Neu!-style beats and ethereal harmonies — but there’s so much more going on this time, as the band pull apart and reassemble their sound. Sometimes, like on fantastic and bubbly single “Nullspace,” all three of those boxes are ticked, adding a Madchester-style shuffle beat, trippy dubbed-out production and shearing noise. Elsewhere, removing just one element gives things new life: “Nine Clean Nails” sounds sublime with just bass, drums and voice, and closing song “Godspin” swirls with hallucinatory atmosphere. And even when they’re more derivative, they’re cutting off their critics at the pass: one of the more overtly shoegazey, MBV-ish tracks here is titled “Soonish.” Well played, Dummy.

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Peel Dream Magazine – Rose Main Reading Room (Topshelf)
Joe Stevens’ third album as Peel Dream Magazine finds him finally becoming more than his influences

It’s fitting that Dummy and Peel Dream Magazine are both releasing new albums this week, as back in 2019 both groups were travelling much the same path with one foot in Stereolab and the other in My Bloody Valentine. Neither sound like that now, exactly, but they will forever be associated together… in my mind at least. PDM in particular made a hard pivot into gurgling pastoral psych with 2022’s Pad, a pretty record that suffered from sounding like bandleader Joe Stevens was trying to see if he could make a High Llamas album. He could, but there wasn’t a lot to it beyond that. (Still, at least he picked someone non obvious to imitate.) With Rose Main Reading Room, though, he’s found his own path while still admiring his influences. Vibraphone chimes alongside flute and vintage organ sounds with a Steve Reich flutter on “Dawn,” while the band float gently down a lazy river on “Central Park West,” and things get cyclical and hypnotic on “Wish You Well.” Best of all are “I Wasn’t Made for War” and “Four Leaf Clover” which sound like the songs were written outside of the arrangements, making them unique (and very catchy). Those arrangements are spectacular, too, full of woodwinds, mellotrons, nylon string guitars, brushed drums, and loads of keyboards, all deployed with nuanced skill, moving Peel Dream Magazine past pastiche into their own distinct world of sound.

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SUUNS – The Breaks (Joyful Noise)
Montreal dark psych band embrace the daylight in on their most un-SUUNS-y album yet

“The Breaks became sort of the opposite of our last record,” says SUUNS’ Joseph Yarmush, referencing 2021’s The Witness. “Nothing was really played together. We were caught in a little bit of a wormhole, trying new things, throwing different things against the wall.” That wormhole led SUUNS to ethereal dreampop territory crafted from loops, synths and samples. They’ve used some of these elements before — dubstep bass, extreme autotune — but never quite like this. Ben Shemie’s distinctive vocals, even put through all the effects they are here, keep things in the SUUNS solar system but “The Breaks,” “Vanishing Point” and “Fish on a String” make for uncharted territory.

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Molchat Doma – Belaya Polosa (Sacred Bones)
Belarusian TikTok stars movie to L.A. and sound even more like their homeland now, somehow

Belarusian group Molchat Doma exploded beyond Minsk in the early days of the pandemic thanks to TikTok and have continued to gain a larger global presence. They’ve also continued to grow beyond their synthwave beginnings. “It’s a different band,” Molchat Doma say. “A different sound and context, but the same style and the same emotions.” Made in Los Angeles where the band now live, Belaya Polosa sounds hi-fi compared to their early viral hits and in some ways is also more connected with their homeland. Where viral smash “sudno (Boris Ryzhy)” is rooted in the early-’80s, Molchat Doma have gotten more operatic with their arrangements, especially vocally which takes things into knowing melodramatic bombast. That’s not a criticism and is a feature for this kind of stuff. Everything’s a little more 1989, from the EBM/industrial stylings of “Ty Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya,” to the title track which sounds like Black Celebration era Depeche Mode. If you’re willing to go over the top with them, Molchat Doma will make sure you have a good time.

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Tall Juan – Raccoon Nights (self-released)
Tall Juan gets help from MGMT, Mac DeMarco and more but its his songs that are the real star of this album

Tall Juan got his start in the early-2010s Brooklyn/Queens psych-garage scene centered around Captured Tracks but he’s clearly come a long way since then. Raccoon Nights is impressively produced, hooky guitar pop that doesn’t fit neatly into any single genre or era. It’s got glammy, synthy ’80s alt-rock (“Dark Hole,” “The Good Times”), funky tropical dance jams (“My Only Friend”), orchestral folk pop (“The System”) and ’60s-inspired sunshine pop (“Another Day”). All of it is good. The album also features an impressive group of collaborators: “Dark Hole” was co-produced by Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT, “The System” features his old friend Juan Wauters, “Fantasy” was made with the late Cola Boy, and “Talking to Myself” is a duet with Mac DeMarco. There’s a breezy charm to all of these songs, but underneath is a lot of skill and talent, and the features never outshine the songs.

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INDIE BASEMENT CLASSIC: The The – Soul Mining (Some Bizarre / Epic, 1983)
Matt Johnson’s first album as The The sounds as good, and relatable, as it did 41 years ago

The The’s new album is not the first Matt Johnson album to feature a little “soul.” In fact it’s his third. He made 1981 solo album Burning Blue Soul before adopting the The The moniker and released the project’s debut, Soul Mining, in 1983. And what a debut! Matt was just 22 when it came out, but the whole The The ethos arrived fully formed with it. The album also has some of his best-loved songs that sound just as good today as they did 41 years ago. Part of that was luck of the era:1983 was just before “’80s Production” ran rampant and while these songs are what you’d call synthpop, they were made with an army of real musicians, mixing electronics and traditional rock instrumentation for a sound that hasn’t really dated. (I’m not sure you can say the same about 1986’s Infected.) The accordion on “This is the Day,” Jools Holland’s amazing solo on “Uncertain Smile,” the tribal drum bombast of “Giant” — even a year later they might not have sounded like they do here. Soul Mining opens with the rocket blast of “I’ve Been Waiting for Tomorrow (All of My Life),” a club classic which couldn’t have a more The The title, representing that sense of alienation that he would be known for. The whole album is full of clever turns of phase, simple but effective lines that stay with you as much as the songs’ big hooks and clever, danceable arrangements. There’s not a bum song here, from the hits (“This is the Day,” “Uncertain Smile”) to the excellent deep cuts (“That Sinking Feeling,” “Soul Mining”) to the epic 10-minute closer “Giant” that remains one of The The’s finest creations that comes with another signature Matt Johnson line “How can anyone know me when I don’t even know myself?”

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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.