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 July’s best music, highlighting my favorite songs and albums, plus links to relevant features and news, a monthly playlist, and more.

July was the most bountiful month of 2025 yet for me, which is impressive as it includes a holiday week when almost nothing gets released. I had an overabundance of songs I loved, and I narrowed down my list to a baker’s dozen. Most of them are on the dancey side, but there’s also shoegaze and good ol’ indie rock. As for albums, I also had to make some tough choices, picking six, but records by the late Mark Stewart, Dot Allison, and Gwenno were close runner-ups.

There’s even more of my favorite stuff from the month in the Indie Basement Best of July playlist which I continue to make in Spotify, but it’s better on Tidal.

Enjoy these last lazy-hazy-crazy days of summer — August is historically slow — as September is going to be an overload of new albums, new album announcements and so many shows.

Until we get there, have a great August and head below for my July reviews…

INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF JULY 2025

The Charlatans – “We Are Love”

More than 30 years into their career, The Charlatans are bringing something new—at least for them: jangly guitar pop worthy of their onetime Manchester neighbors, The Smiths. The band tapped Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes to produce their upcoming album, and “We Are Love” doesn’t sound like anything they’ve done before. The breezy style is a natural fit for frontman Tim Burgess’ reedy voice. He describes the track as “like an open-top car ride in the credits of your favorite movie, driving along the coast to somewhere amazing.” It’s also The Charlatans’ best single in ages.

Automatic – “Mercury”

The new Automatic album, Is It Now?, is shaping up to be their best yet. After two albums of synthwave chill, the group are warming up just a little here. The layering of keyboard sounds—including a very fat bassline—is assured and makes for a nice contrast against their intentionally disaffected vocals. And I’m always a sucker for the breakbeat from Billy Preston’s “Uptight” (see also: Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is in the Heart”).

Soulwax – “Run Free”

Soulwax have been plenty busy since 2018’s From DEEWEE—making soundtracks, producing Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, and turning their Essential Mix into a kind of new album—but All Systems Are Lying will be their first proper studio LP in seven years. “Run Free” is all glittery glam strut, and while you might think you’ve heard this sort of thing before (raise your hand, Goldfrapp), the Dewaele brothers excel in the details. This thing sounds like a million bucks—from the sharp snare and hi-hats to the gurgling synth bass that glitches and goes wild when you least expect it. As usual, they just keep piling on layers as it goes, and by the end, this seemingly simple song is a swirling vortex in your stereo field.

Living Hour – “Wheel”

Is there such a thing as cozy shoegaze? That’s what Winnipeg indie rock vets Living Hour deliver here. Like your favorite sweater or a bowl of cacio e pepe, “Wheel” is warm and comforting, with perfect fuzzy guitar tone, a whispery descending chord progression, and a verse melody that gives way to a soaring, gloriously noisy chorus with twin leads. This really, really hits the spot.

Pynch – “Post-Punk/New-Wave”

Here’s a clever, hooky trip through British indie guitar music of the last 35 years. “It’s Post-Punk, it’s New Wave with a little bit of Shoegaze / I want it all, I want it all,” croons Pynch frontman Spencer Enock. “I sing about my feelings and the things that I believe in / Try to write them down, try to write them down.” Top-tier guitar pop with a wink—but also with heart.

Daniel Avery – “Rapture in Blue” (ft. Cecile Believe & Andy Bell)

Daniel Avery has long explored the shared space between techno and shoegaze, and this first single from his Domino Records debut leans heavily toward the latter—with an ear for pop as well. The album is full of guests, and “Rapture in Blue” features Andy Bell of Ride coating everything in cascading guitar shimmer, while Cecile Believe (aka Caila Thompson-Hannant of Mozart’s Sister, Think About Life, and Miracle Fortress) provides powerful yet dreamy vocals. If this is the rapture, I’m ready to go with them.

IDLES – “Rabbit Run”

IDLES pick right up from last year’s terrific TANGK with one of the songs they wrote for Darren Aronofsky’s new film Caught Stealing (they also perform the score, composed by Rob Simonsen). With a beat straight out of Tago Mago–era Can and a fuzzed-out, insistent bassline, “Rabbit Run” ratchets up the tension and dread from the get-go—long before the song really lets loose. The film looks like a lot of fun, with a deep bench of NYC character actors (Liev Schreiber, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane) alongside younger stars Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, and Bad Bunny. It’ll be interesting to see where this track fits in.

Factory Floor – “Tell Me”

Seven years since their last release, I thought Factory Floor were done—but they’ve made a strong return, now on Erol Alkan’s Phantasy label. “Tell Me” features their signature blend of hard-pounding techno made using organic instruments alongside drum machines, sequencers, and assorted electronic whatnot. It’s extremely propulsive and rhythm-forward, full of constant fills and wild sonic manipulation—plus great echo-laden vocals, as always. They’ve mellowed just a smidge, though, so this isn’t quite the panic attack that some of their earlier music could be.

Fcukers – “Play Me”

After self-producing everything they’ve released so far, NYC duo Fcukers team up with Kenny Beats—who’s worked with everyone from Vince Staples to IDLES—for their latest single. There’s just a little more complexity to “Play Me,” with some great turntablism on display, but the band’s minimal, all-hooks style remains firmly intact. If I had a car with an obnoxiously loud sound system, this is what I’d blare in Brooklyn on the hottest day of the year.

Dub Narcotic Sound System – “When Boys Cry”

As much as I enjoy the lo-fi indie of Beat Happening and the Halo Benders, K Records founder Calvin Johnson’s baritone sounds best as part of Dub Narcotic, his disco/funk project. They’re still pumping out the jams, too: the title track from their upcoming When Boys Cry EP is a sophisticated club track that still has edge, thanks to Calvin’s awesome, freak-flag-flying vocals.

Hot Chip – “Devotion”

“I don’t feel emotion,” Alexis Taylor sings on Hot Chip’s new single. “It completely takes over me.” One of the most appealing aspects of Hot Chip’s music—going all the way back to their debut—is the genuine emotion Taylor and Joe Goddard convey through their lyrics, vocals, and melodies. They may have come up during the ’00s hipster bloghaus era, but they’ve always been the real deal, and are at their best when they’re at their most sincere. “Devotion” is another great addition to a catalog that now spans more than two decades—and a rare example of a new track on a greatest hits album that actually deserves its spot.

Shit Robot – “No Cigar”

Speaking of Hot Chip, Joe Goddard and Al Doyle co-wrote and co-produced this excellent new single from their longtime DFA pal, Shit Robot (aka Marcus Lambkin). “No Cigar” is about as minimal as you can get—The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” is clearly an influence—but they throw in plenty of fun little touches over the distorted drums and basic synth riff to keep things interesting over its five-minute runtime. Also worth checking out: a great dub mix by the legendary Adrian Sherwood.

Water From Your Eyes – “Playing Classics”

It felt like Water From Your Eyes were hiding their many hooks and melodic tendencies behind willfully obscure production and arrangements on their first album for Matador. Not so this time. “Playing Classics,” one of their most immediate and fun songs to date, apparently started as a guitar piece by Nate Amos that he reworked after Rachel Brown requested a disco song for the album. “I was focusing on the idea of dancing in a club despite the world falling apart outside,” Brown said. “It was written during Brat Summer, so Charli definitely had an influence.” With a strong beat and sticky hook, WFYE’s quirks only make this more charming. Watch your back, Charli.

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INDIE BASEMENT – BEST ALBUMS OF JULY 2025

Cory Hanson – I Love People (Drag City)

With his band Wand, Cory Hanson makes widescreen rock packed with spectacular shredding solos, proggy dynamics, and mind-bending tempo shifts. But he also has a more pensive, gentle side—one he explores on his solo albums, which are still rich with subtle flash. (Elvis Costello might call it indoor fireworks.) I Love People is his fourth solo record, and while it’s almost a Wand album in terms of personnel—Evan Backer on bass, Evan Burrows on drums and percussion, Hanson on everything else, and Robbie Cody behind the board—it’s still a record Wand would never make, even if it shares some of their 2024 album Vertigo’s understated elegance. I Love People is Cory’s most lush creation yet. These songs draw from the early ’70s: singer-songwriters like Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman, twangy rockers like America, Little Feat, and CSNY, and country-adjacent outliers like Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry. The arrangements—rich with strings, horns, and woodwinds—are impeccable, and perhaps the most perfect vehicle yet for Hanson’s warm voice, dulcet and velvet-toned, usually layered in gorgeous harmony. I’m not sure Cory fits into the New Indie Country Boom—and I love Wand being Wand—but he may have found his true calling.

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Wet Leg – moisturizer (Domino)

“I… I… I… I… I… I’M IN LOVE!” If Wet Leg’s debut album was about dealing with social anxiety and early-onset midlife crisis via detached irony and withering put-downs, their second album finds Rhian Teasdale head over heels. “I melt for you,” she sings later, “I liquidize.” The thematic pivot helps avoid the sophomore slump — a very real danger for Wet Leg, whose debut single, “Chaise Longue,” caused a tidal wave of hype in 2021 that flooded into 2022, reminiscent of the mid-’00s days of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. It’s a lot to live up to. But Teasdale, co-founder Hester Chambers, and the rest of the band took time to decompress from their whirlwind rise and nonstop tour before starting work on the second album. Working again with producer Dan Carey, Wet Leg have crafted 12 extremely catchy songs, cleverly produced and arranged for maximum hook-delivery potential. Second albums from buzz bands used to line the used CD bins at record stores, but moisturizer is a keeper.

Pick up moisturizer on clear vinyl.

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Poor Creature – All Smiles Tonight (River Lea Records)

Anyone who has seen Lankum live knows they’re a force to be reckoned with, taking the drone of traditional Irish folk into darker territory with electronic elements. Members Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody—along with Ruth Clinton of the almost a cappella group Landless—are pushing that even further with their new group, Poor Creature, who have just released a stunner of a debut. Irish folk and harmonies are at the core of All Smiles Tonight, but the arrangements and production pull from a variety of downtempo styles, including trip-hop, Four Tet–style euphoria, and the foreboding atmospherics of The Bug. This could’ve been a recipe for disaster—a cheeseball Pure Moods–type record—but the skill and taste of everyone involved really elevate it. Working with regular Lankum producer John Murphy, this is stirring stuff, taking familiar Irish folk sounds and sending them into outer space. All Smiles Tonight is a record you didn’t know you needed… until the first time you hear it.

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Gina Birch – Trouble (Third Man)

It took Raincoats co-founder Gina Birch 45 years to make her first solo album, but only two to make her second. It’s clear she’s caught the music and performing bug again—Trouble is playful, angry, and a more cohesive album than I Play My Bass Loud. She’s once again worked with Killing Joke’s Youth as producer and this time incorporated her live band (Jenny Green and Marie Merlet) into the mix. Trouble leans into dub and electronics, a natural evolution of the Raincoats’ style, and benefits from its sonic focus. She’s also experimenting more with modern production, which suits her: pitch-shifted autotune adds to the slippery, sinister vibe of “Keep to the Left,” “Train Platform,” and “Sleep.” The darker direction of much of the record works like gangbusters, but she also makes time for fun. “Causing Trouble Again” is a banger that doubles as a tribute to the many women who’ve inspired Birch, from Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, and Yoko Ono to Kathleen Hanna and Stormy Daniels. “We’re rising up / Creating, taking up places in your spaces,” she sings in the chorus. “And we ain’t going to stop.” Gonna hold you to that, Gina.

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Luke Haines & Peter Buck – Going Down To The River… To Blow My Mind (Cherry Red)

One of the more unexpected, out-there pairings of this decade—Auteurs/Black Box Recorder founder Luke Haines and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck—continues its reign of gleeful terror. Following 2020’s Beat Poetry for Survivalists and 2022’s especially awesome All the Kids Are Super Bummed Out, they’re back with another overflowing blotter of acid-fried fever dreams. Like the first two, Going Down To The River… To Blow My Mind was made with Peter’s Baseball Project bandmates: Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, R.E.M.) on bass and Linda Pitmon (Filthy Friends, Steve Wynn) on drums. Haines has once again populated the record with terrorists, hippie conspiracy theorists, hot artists, nervous breakdowns, burnouts, and all manner of other weirdos. I have no idea what most of these songs are about but, like the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Haines’ brand of vivid, twisted phantasmagoria is undeniably compelling.

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Billie Marten – Dog-Eared (Fiction)

Billie Marten is just 26, but she’s already a music industry veteran. She found viral fame at 12 by sharing her songs on YouTube, signed to a major label not long after, and released her debut album at 17. But after four albums, the UK artist began to feel pigeonholed and was desperate to break out of the “singer-songwriter” mold she’d been poured into. To do so, she enlisted producer Philip Weinrobe—who worked on Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future—and decamped to his Figure 8 recording studio in Brooklyn, working with a band of indie and jazz ringers who were also skilled improvisers. Among them were multi-instrumentalists Sam Evian and Shahzad Ismaily, guitarist Núria Graham, drummer Vishal Nayak, bassist Joshua Crumbly, guitarist Michael Haldeman, and keyboardist Michael Coleman. Recording live, her songs took on new shapes. The resulting album, Dog-Eared, doesn’t sound like anything Marten has made before. It has a warm, loose ’70s feel that brings her into Weather Station or Bedouine territory. It’s a hang, as they say—but one that’s still led by a very accomplished songwriter with a keen eye for lyrical detail.  With Dog-Eared, Billie Marten leaves the nest—and soars.

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Here’s the Indie Basement Best of July 2025 playlist (click here for the better-sounding, less-war-mongering TIDAL version):

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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.