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

I say this every November but how is this year almost over? October wasn’t quite as busy as September but it was close and between all the shows I went to see and bands I interviewed I listened to a lot of new music, and here we’re rounding up the best of it. I probably could’ve picked 10 album from October but I instead whittled it down to six that I think you need to listen to, but runner ups include Just Mustard, Tortoise, Living Hour, Jane Inc, Lorelle Meets the Obsolete, and Hollie Cook.

As for songs, I picked 12 this month, including covers, surprise collaborations, janglepop, shoegaze, dancefloor fillers, and good ol indie rock. I combine those, songs from my albums of the month and the rest of what I liked in October for a 55 song playlist that you can listen to below.

INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF OCTOBER 2025

Lankum – “Ghost Town”

Written in the early days of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister, The Specials’ “Ghost Town” paints a grim picture of England, with urban decay, unemployment, and race riots as its backdrop (Just Mustard’s Katie Ball recently told us it was “the national anthem of Ireland”). Lankum’s eight-minute version manages to honor — and possibly out-creep — the original while doing new and unexpected things with it, all while retaining the band’s signature droney, electronic-tinged Celtic folk sound. The accompanying video, directed by Leonn Ward and conceptualized by Oona Doherty, pays loving homage to The Specials’ original clip. This is how you cover a classic.

Sleaford Mods – “The Good Life” ft Gwendoline Christie and BIG SPECIAL

You may know Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones or the Goat People Lady from Severance, but did you know she could sprechgesang? She brings a whole new level of theatricality to her verse on “The Good Life,” and when she belts out “I’m the MAGA man with a severed hand / I’m Evel Knievel’s stunt cyclist in a nowhere fucking land!” it’s pure Lynchian horror. Christie goes toe-to-toe with Jason Williamson while BIG SPECIAL balance the darkness with a sweet, catchy chorus.

US Girls – “Running Errands”

As much as I’ve loved the last few US Girls albums — where Meg Remy worked with top-tier musicians like those on this year’s Scratch It — I’ve missed the project’s early, sample-based days. For those who feel the same, here’s a treat: a new two-part single that Meg calls a “musical ouroboros experiment.” Both versions draw inspiration from Annette Snell’s “Footprints on My Mind” but take radically different approaches. “Running Errands (Yesterday)” layers samples in Avalanches-like fashion, while “Today” reimagines the track in-studio with the Scratch It band and vocals from Dorothea Paas. Both are great, especially played back-to-back — proof that Meg can still have it both ways.

Lande Hekt – “Favourite Pair of Shoes”

Former Muncie Girls singer/guitarist Lande Hekt continues her promising solo run with this wistful first single from her upcoming album Lucky Now. She says she wrote this shimmering earworm — and much of the record — after listening to a lot of The Bats and The Chills. “It probably sounds nothing like any of that Flying Nun stuff, but that was what was inspiring me,” she says. Fans of The Beths will find plenty to love as well, but whether or not you know your Kiwi indie pop, this one grabs you within seconds.

SUEP – “The Rain”

Georgie Stott, formerly of Porridge Radio (RIP), leads London band SUEP who trade that group’s intensity for playful, danceable indie steeped in early-’80s sounds. Think dubby post-punk with soulful flashes of JoBoxers, Mo-Dettes, and Dexys Midnight Runners. “The Rain” — their first single in two years — pairs a slinky bassline and spy-movie guitar with a melody straight out of a classic girl-group tune. Terrific.

Ulrika Spacek – “Build a Box Then Break It”

One of my favorite bands of the last decade, Ulrika Spacek are constant shapeshifters. Following 2023’s fantastic Compact Trauma, the London/Stockholm group have once again dismantled and rebuilt themselves. “In an age of hyperindividualism, we are proud to say it is our most collective effort yet,” they say — and like US Girls, they’ve sampled themselves for upcoming album EXPO. First single “Build a Box Then Break It” lives up to its title: washes of synth sweep across the stereo field while jazzy, crashing drums recall Portishead. It all builds to a cinematic chorus, which is pure Ulrika Spacek style.

Weird Nightmare – “Forever Elsewhere”

I’m still a little broken up that METZ called it quits last year, but I’m glad frontman Alex Edkins is keeping his slightly less noisy solo project going. He calls “Forever Elsewhere” the most optimistic song he’s ever written, and it’s definitely one of his catchiest — a fuzz-pop gem with a Teenage Fanclub-worthy riff and sunshine chorus. “We nailed it in two takes,” Edkins says. “You can really hear the ramshackle energy where the wheels almost fall off.” Almost falling apart has resulted in some of the best music in rock and pop.

Sugar – “House of Dead Memories”

In a year full of reunions, few were as unexpected as Bob Mould bringing back his much-loved early-’90s band Sugar. Even more surprising: they had recorded new music. “House of Dead Memories” has all the snarl and bite that would’ve fit perfectly on Beaster. Sure, Bob’s reverted to ripping Sugar-style power pop in the last decade or so, but there’s something special knowing this came from the same trio behind “Helpless” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind.”

Crooked Man – “CUNTS”

Back in 2006, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker made his solo debut with “Running the World,” an anthem about the state of things whose chorus is “If you thought things had changed / Friend you’d better think again / Bluntly put in the fewest of words / Cunts are still running the world.” The song was also used perfectly as the closing credits music for Alfonso Cuarón’s brilliantly bleak Children of Men. Crooked Man, aka DJ Parrot aka Jarvis Cocker collaborator Richard Barratt, notes that not much has changed in the last 19 years and has turned “Running the World” into a dance track with a much more blunt, much more 2025 title.

Fcukers – “I Like It Like That”

Fcukers keep the heat on with another banger that nods to early-2000s dance music. Produced by Kenneth Blume (fka Kenny Beats, who also helmed Geese’s new album), “I Like It Like That” is pure earworm banger: skipping beats, big hooks, dubby undercurrents, and just enough sunny, tropical shimmer to keep winter away for a little while longer.

Depeche Mode – “In the End”

A meditation on mortality, “In the End” plays over the credits of Depeche Mode’s new concert documentary and is a previously unreleased track from the Memento Mori sessions. It’s peak late-era Depeche Mode — sleek, moody, and hauntingly melodic as they sing, “We’re weightless / Floating endlessly / We’ll be dust again / In the end.” How did this not make the album?

Dorothy – “50s Song”

Dorothy — the new London trio of Jude Woodhead (aka Saint Jude), Marco Pini (GG Skips, Sorry, RIP Magic), and Francesca Brierley (aka heka) — make music that sounds like nostalgia refracted through a dream. “50s Song” is a lovely, space-warped waltz that feels like a forgotten mirrorball slowdance beamed back from another galaxy — degraded, distorted, and more beautiful for it.

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INDIE BASEMENT – BEST ALBUMS OF OCTOBER 2025

Guided by Voices – Thick, Rich & Delicious (GBV Inc)

“I’m a student of hooks,” Bob Pollard says. “That perfect combination of a lyric and a chord pattern that gives you that chill up the back of your spine.” There’s no shortage of hooks on Guided by Voices’ 42nd album, which finds the indie rock stalwarts — sporting the best lineup of their 40+ years — in remarkably fine form on what almost plays like a greatest hits record. Actually, it’s closer to Greatest Misses, as Thick, Rich & Delicious is a mix of new songs and “a basket of unrecorded gems dating back to the band’s nascent years.” Bob’s “not good enoughs” would be most other bands’ biggest hits, and it speaks to both his quality control and prolific output that any of these songs could’ve been sitting around unused for decades. Seriously, some of these feel like all-timers, including “(You Can’t Go Back To) Oxford Talawanda,” the riff-forward “Phantasmagoric Upstarts” (another of Pollard’s many Who homages), jangle-pop gem “Lucy’s World,” glammy stomper “Dance of the Picnic Ants,” and the gloriously anthemic “A Tribute to Beatle Bob.” At 37 minutes and 15 songs, Thick, Rich & Delicious is nonstop hooks, riffs, and melodies — a master class in the Guided by Voices aesthetic. Rumors have been swirling that GBV might be done touring, or even retired as a project again. Hopefully neither is true, but if so, this would be one hell of a triumphant swan song.

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Ashes and Diamonds – Ashes and Diamonds Are Forever (Cleopatra)

Ashes and Diamonds — the trio of Daniel Ash (Bauhaus / Love & Rockets), Bruce Smith (PiL, The Pop Group), and Paul Spencer Denman (Sade) — have been together for nearly a decade but have only just released their debut album. It also marks the first new original music from Ash, who’s pushing 70, and he’s in fine form here, as are his bandmates. Like most of Ash’s music, these songs are pared down to the essentials, with lots of repetition — especially lyrically — and an enveloping sense of atmosphere. For fans of his guitar work, that inventive mix of noise, shimmer, and texture, this is a tour de force, showcasing his mastery of the E-bow and his signature fusion of electronics and acoustics. His voice also remains in great shape, and his distinctive blend of baritone croon and upper-register wail will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s loved Love & Rockets or Tones on Tail. In addition to a strong batch of songs, the interplay between Ash, Smith, and Denman really elevates Ashes and Diamonds Are Forever, which is also the best-sounding record Ash has made in decades. Ash has made a handful of solo albums over the years, but it’s clear he works best when he has a band to spark against. Let’s hope Ashes and Diamonds are indeed forever — or at least around for another album or two.

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The Belair Lip Bombs – Again (Third Man)

Australian quartet The Belair Lip Bombs call their music “yearn-core,” mixing indie rock with elements of country and power pop. If you like Waxahatchee, Wednesday, or — for readers of this column — Billy Nomates, I feel confident you’ll like the band’s sophomore album. Again opens with “Again and Again,” a jubilant ripper that’s got its hooks in you before singer/guitarist Maisie Everett even starts to sing. When she does, though, your ears prick up — she’s got a soaring, expressive voice that lifts everything a few feet higher. The rest of the record keeps that energy going, with memorable song after memorable song, all loaded with melody, personality, and serious musicianship. They’re not afraid to get ragged and loose, but they can tighten up on a dime, full of melodic shredding and riffs as catchy as the choruses. Everett ties everything together as Belair Lip Bombs glide from punky earworms that would’ve fit between Pixies and Meat Puppets on late-’80s college radio (“Another World,” “Hey You”), to twangier creations (“Don’t Let Them Tell You [It’s Fair],” “Back of My Hand”), ’70s-style pop (“Cinema”), and the bright, jangly modern sound of fellow Aussies The Beths and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (whose Joe White co-produced the album). Best of all is “If You’ve Got the Time,” a gossamer, tightly crafted pop song delivered like a bar-band showstopper. Again is a joy — a great pop record, a great guitar record — and one that’ll make you want to see The Belair Lip Bombs live as soon as possible.

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The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Ghost Nation (Full Time Hobby)

Besnard Lakes albums are always different but always kind of the same. The album titles are full sentences that begin with “The Besnard Lakes Are,” the covers are hazy paintings often featuring fire, horses, or other apocalyptic visions, and the songs are space-rock epics informed by The Beach Boys, shoegaze, and Hawkwind. Much like their Montreal neighbors Godspeed You! Black Emperor, even though the motifs repeat, there are fresh ideas and sounds with every new record. The Besnard Lakes Are the Ghost Nation is another stellar creation. One new element this time is more emphasis on Sheena Ko’s keyboards, which along with the layers of guitars and Jace and Olga’s harmonies, give the album a more playful, euphoric feel. While The Besnard Lakes only ever sound like themselves, there are moments here — “Give Us Our Dominion,” “Chemin de la Baie” — that lean just a little in Beach House’s direction. “Chemin de la Baie,” by the way, goes directly into The Besnard Lakes’ Amazing Epics Hall of Fame with its masterful use of dynamics, slowly building to an incredible climax of guitars, drums, keyboards, and a knockout vocal from Jace working in blissful unison. It’s is the kind of song most bands would kill to have as their closer, but The Besnard Lakes’ discography is filthy with them — every album an embarrassment of riches no one should feel guilty indulging in.

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bar italia – Some Like It Hot (Matador)

London trio bar italia say they “never meant to be mysterious,” but when your albums come without credits, your press photo looks like this, and your shows are played in near-darkness, the aura of enigma feels deliberate. Not that that’s a bad thing — a little mystique is a good thing in these days of oversharing — but the band began to open up on 2023’s The Twits, and now, with their fifth album and third for Matador, they’ve fully stepped into the spotlight. You can tell right away Some Like It Hot is a leap forward. The toy piano that opens the album quickly derails, like a warped tape reel, before snapping into place atop an irresistible bassline. “Fundraiser” is the most immediate and hooky song bar italia have ever made, pairing a taut new wave riff worthy of early XTC with a melody that nods to The Cure. Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi, and Sam Fenton still trade off on vocals, but this time the interplay feels intentional and kinetic, not a musical version of Exquisite Corpse. The swaggering, glam-infused “Cowbella” finds all three weaving around a shared riff, their parts colliding and feeding off one another. Self-produced, Some Like It Hot is also their best-sounding record to date — the rhythm section snaps, guitars cut cleanly, and the vocals are clear and direct without losing atmosphere. Alongside infectious indie rock anthems like “Omni Shambles,” “Eyepatch,” and “I Make My Own Dust,” there are smoky, jazz-tinged slow burns (“Marble Arch”) and lush, cinematic ballads (“Bad Reputation,” “Plastered,” and the title track). These three have been evolving quickly, but with Some Like It Hot, bar italia have arrived.

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Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying (DEEWEE)

“I want to run free when I choose it, play the wrong chord, say something stupid,” Soulwax sing over a bed of gurgling synthesizer arpeggiations on “Run Free,” the opening cut on their first album in seven years. If you know anything about the immaculate, layered electronic music Stephen and David Dewaele make as Soulwax, the word “mistakes” doesn’t come to mind, but they have stressed that All Systems Are Lying is their attempt to make something less cerebral and more intuitive. It’s also their attempt to make a rock record — albeit one with no guitars but lots and lots of synths. Soulwax used to be a more traditional indie band, but in the 2000s they transformed into the group they are now: making live-band albums with a DJ’s sensibility, a concept that also plays out more literally with the Dewaeles’ wildly creative 2ManyDJs alter ego. All Systems Are Lying is their most “rock” record since 2004’s Any Minute Now, but it’s rock in the way Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army were. The rhythms are made with real drums — they currently sport a three-drummer lineup including Sepultura’s Iggor Cavalera — but almost everything else here is electronic: thick, woozy low end, synthesizers that sound seasick with Doppler-style effects, and tightly interwoven lead lines. As usual, the whole thing has been crafted into one long, continuous set with flawless, seamless transitions between songs. The best moments, like “Gimme a Reason,” let the Dewaeles stretch out their grooves and get wild while keeping the lyrics simple and hypnotic. All Systems Are Lying also plays like a live set, and if you’ve ever seen Soulwax in concert, you know how that translates — they may rarely hit a wrong chord, but they absolutely run free.

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Here’s the Indie Basement Best of October 2025 playlist in TIDAL (better sounding, less morally problematic), Apple Music, and for those who haven’t left it yet, Spotify :

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.

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.