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 think this October was the busiest month for new releases in Indie Basement’s seven-year history, averaging around nine albums reviewed each week. With that, narrowing it down to five proved impossible but I got it down to six. Runner-ups included Underworld’s Strawberry Hotel, Mystery Tiime’s Maudlin Tales Of Grief & Love, Naked Roommate’s Pass the Loofah, Porridge Radio’s Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, PyPy’s Sacred Times, Field Music’s Limits of Language, Goat’s Goat, and Caribou’s Honey.

Likewise the October cup runneth over in the songs department and I reviewed 15 tracks this time, and probably could’ve included 10 more. I did include them and lots more in the Indie Basement Best of October 2024 playlist.

October was also busy with big shows, including: Air, Fontaines D.C., Pavement, The The, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Johnny Marr & James, and Duran Duran.

Head below for the Best of October reviews and playlist…

INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF OCTOBER 2025

The Cure – “A Fragile Thing”

When I saw The Cure at Madison Square Garden in 2023 I thought of all the new songs they were playing, “A Fragile Thing” was the obvious single. With Songs of a Lost World out now, it’s still the closest thing to a single, though no one would call this the new album’s “Friday I’m in Love.” It is, however, very classic Cure with Simon Gallup’s bass leading the charge, tom-heavy drumming, and lyrics that read like a letter from an ex-lover (“‘every time you leave me is a lie’ she said”). Featuring the album’s best chorus, this one could’ve been on Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me.

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DARKSIDE – “Graucha Max”

Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington have reconfigured DARKSIDE into a trio with the addition of drummer Tlacael Esparza, and the first taste of the new lineup is pretty enticing. “Graucha Max” is nice and grimy with a teutonic groove that recalls both Can and ’80s Tom Waits. (I’m still trying to figure out the song’s Graucho Marx pun title.) Darkside feel more like a band than a project now and I’m looking forward to hearing what comes next.

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Delivery – “Only a Fool”

Melbourne band Delivery hit a sweet spot for me between ’90s indie rock and ’80s angular new wave. “Only a Fool” is both tight and slack at the same time and that is a combo I don’t think I knew was even possible. Meanwhile, Lisa Rashleigh brings the perfect amount of detached sarcasm to her vocal delivery, making me think of the much-missed The Waitresses. Well done, Delivery!

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Heartworms – “Warplane”

Having previously released an EP and a few singles, London group Heartworms finally announced their debut album, which like everything else they’ve made so far, was produced by Dan Carey. First single “Warplane” sounds like a million bucks, danceable modern post-punk with a Wagnerian sense of drama that also highlights bandleader Jojo Orme’s interest in military history.

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The Horrors – “The Silence That Remains”

The Horrors have taken a few sonic twists and turns in their two-decade career (prog, shoegaze) but on their first album eight years they seem to have returned to their own True North: hazy goth rock. If you’re like me and you hold their 2009 album Primary Colours in high regard, “The Silence That Remains” is very much in the same orbit, with a killer, driving rhythm section, lots of atmospheric touches floating around it, and Faris Badwan’s ominous baritone.

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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Phantom Island”

Well they were bound to go orchestral sooner than later. Here’s the first taste of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s upcoming album with strings, horns, woodwinds, etc. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it’s more Love Unlimited Orchestra than Electric Light Orchestra, with lush, funky and just a little greasy arrangements. It’s all still very King Gizzard with lots of flashy performances, heaviosity, and musical left turns across its five-minute runtime. It’s a little Frankensteined together but bring on the orchestral tour!

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La Sécurité – “Detour”

Montreal band La Sécurité are at their catchiest on “Detour,” their first single for Bella Union. In addition to being a punky New Wave dance banger, they throw in just enough English to not scare away the Francophobic. But that keyboard hook and the beat are all you really need to want to stick around.

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LCD Soundsystem – “X-Ray Eyes”

We’re getting a new LCD Soundsystem album, did you hear? James Murphy doesn’t know when it’s gonna be finished but this is first single and it’s good! “X-Ray Eyes” feels like an early, pre-debut-album LCD song, with a bloopy synth hook over a minimal disco beat. There’s also also flute (recorder?) and, to quote The Fall, repetition repetition repetition.

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Naked Roommate – “Bus”

Fitting right in with La Sécurité and LCD Soundsystem are Oakland’s Naked Roommate and this standout from their new album Pass the Loofah. “Bus” is a danceable ode to public transportation that has a little early B-52s and Tubeway Army, a little late-’80s techno-house, and just a little ’90s Stereolab. “This song is about taking the bus as the upwardly mobile pass you by, but how that’s fine as long as you can enjoy the rhythm of the city,” says the band’s Amber Sermeno. “Especially when you have someone to share it with. It’s a love song.”

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Pan Amsterdam – “White Ninja”

NYC rapper, trumpeter and producer Pan Amsterdam (real name: Leron Thomas) has appeared on a bunch of indie-related songs (Metronomy, Lol Tolhurst & Budgie, Doves’ Jimi Goodwin) and has now signed with Heavenly Recordings, which seems like a good home for him. His first release for the label is quirky and brief, comic but serious, and owing a lot to ’90s Boom Bap. The video makes good use of footage from terrible/hilarious ’80s martial arts film Ninja: The Protector.

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Panda Bear – “Defense” ft Cindy Lee

Noah Leger’s gift for melody holds strong on his new Panda Bear single featuring Cindy Lee on guitar. Patrick Flegel doesn’t spin off any of the dazzling leads found on Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee, but his chugging rhythm on “Defense” powers the whole song. The real star is Leger’s chorus and vocals. “Give me some” indeed.

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PyPy – “She’s Back”

This was unexpected. Montreal underground supergroup PyPy, led by Annie-Claud Deschenes (Duchess Says) and Roy Vucino (Red Mass, CPC Gangbangs), returned after 10 years to deliver their second album and it’s a total party, or at least the kind of party where The Cramps and The B-52s (2nd mention in this column) might show up. “She’s Back” is sure to set the DIY venue near you into hysterics.

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SORRY – “Waxwing”

“Waxwing,” SORRY’s first new music in two years, feels like a step up, with dark, gleaming synths, a searing solo, and production that feels both glossy and just a little grimy. It also finds inspiration in an unusual place: Toni Basil’s new wave cheerleader classic “Hey Mickey.” SORRY uses that song’s lyrics to their own devices, painting a brooding portrait of desire and obsession.

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Theis Thaws – “Fly to Ceiling” (David Holmes remix)

Theis Thaws, Tricky’s new collaboration with Parisian producer Mike Theis, is a little more dance-oriented than his recent projects. It’s still spare, but the rhythms are four-on-the-floor and with stronger choruses and Tricky more in the spotlight than he tends to be. David Holmes makes “Fly to Ceiling” even more of a banger with his fantastic remix.

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Tunde Adebimpe – “Magnetic”

TV on the Radio are back, but at the same time Tunde Adebimpe is forging out on his own. “Magnetic” sounds like classic “Wolf Like Me”-era TVotR: synthy, punky, and danceable with a real fire in its belly. Part of that is because a few of his bandmates are on it: Jaleel Bunton has both a co-producer and co-writer credit, and the band’s current drummer, Jahphet Landis, also gets a co-write. (Old friend Wilder Zoby of Chin Chin co-produced and also gets a songwriting credit.) Whether this was almost a band track or always a solo single, Tunde sounds rejuvenated and ready for a fight (or a party).

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INDIE BASEMENT – BEST ALBUMS OF OCTOBER 2024

MEMORIALS – Memorial Waterslide (Fire)

After releasing two terrific documentary soundtracks last year, duo MEMORIALS (Electrene’s Verity Susman and Wire/It Hugs Back’s Matthew Simms) have delivered their proper debut album and what a treat it is. If you miss Electrelane like I do, and actually remember what It Hugs Back (who were signed to 4AD) sounded like, MEMORIALS is a very satisfying synthesis of both. Memorial Waterslides starts with a bang: “Acceptable Experience” is a groovy, psychedelic blast featuring a propulsive rhythm section, droney/Doors-y organ and amazing harmony vocals from Susman. Having her sing again is the biggest appeal for this group, in my opinion, and it’s wild to think she hasn’t done so on record for over a decade before this group. Musically, MEMORIALS are in that Stereolab/Broadcast/Soundcarriers world of dark, swirling psychedelia but Sussman makes it unique and decidedly more human and approachable. She and Simms are definitely left of center musicians who hold Can, Neu!, and The United States of America (the ’60s band) dear, but they are pop songwriters at heart whose songs deliver relatable sentiments like “I want to be the one still dancing when the lights turn on.” That’s from “Lamplighter,” the album’s giddiest, most approachable earworm, but also one that features a homemade tape machine mellotron that Sussman and Simms built just for this song. (It’s also a song where the very next lyric references 17th century British satirist Fanny Burney.) And that’s this album, and MEMORIALS, in a nutshell: they take the unconventional path to a friendly destination and the music is better for it every time.

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The Hard Quartet – The Hard Quartet (Matador)

“This is not a project—it’s a band,” Stephen Malkmus told GQ of his new group with seasoned players Matt Sweeney (Chavez), Jim White (The Dirty Three), and Emmett Kelly (Ty Segall, Cairo Gang). “We’re all jazzed.” Listening to their debut album, it’s hard to argue with Malkmus. While all four had previously collaborated with other members of the group, The Hard Quartet marks the first time they’d collaborated as a unit. They say there was instant chemistry, though, and with three songwriters they had nearly an album’s worth of songs after the first week of playing together. They wrote so many songs, in fact, that their debut is a double, but it’s one that sails by thanks to the variety and quality on display here and all four bring something unique. They are a cohesive unit, this Hard Quartet, a real, very good band, who hopefully will continue beyond this great record.

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La Femme – Rock Machine (Disque Pointu)

La Femme have been making tres French pop since forming in Paris in 2010, with the title of their 2013 debut album, Psycho Tropical Berlin, nicely summing up their sound. (Surfy, krautrocky, psychedelic.) They’re one of the few Francophone to bands make a dent in the US, and in recent years they’ve reached beyond their country’s borders, making a Spanish language album, and another based on Hawaiian pop. With their sixth album, they’ve finally decided to give English a shot and given it the blunt name Rock Machine with song titles like “My Generation,” “Yeah Baby,” “I’m Gonna Make a Hit” and “I Believe in Rock n’ Roll.” Is this a too-late-to-the-party move in 2024, or is Is this La Femme playing dumb and giving America their Freedom Fries? Neither, mon frere. Rock Machine has almost no guitar on it, or, as far as I can tell, much of any organic instrumentation. While using rock n’ roll song structures and melodies, this is pure synthpop of the early-’80s variety, full of ticking vintage drum machines, arpeggiated keyboard chords, and bleepy, bloopy, bouncy basslines. And it’s awesome. This is La Femme’s best album — with the biggest hooks and melodies, and delightful arrangements and production — since their debut.

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High Vis – Guided Tour (dais)

High Vis titled their debut album Blending, mixing hardcare punk with ’90s Britpop and baggy into a winning combination. But they’ve gotten better with their Vitamix and album #3 is an even tastier cocktail that refines their unique combination of roaring guitars, soaring choruses, shouty bits, and delicate jangle. Guided Tour‘s title track might be the best thing they’ve ever done, and “Mind’s a Lie” takes them into new territory they should definitely explore further.

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Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness (B2B Records / Virgin Music Group)

Amy Taylor comes out swinging on Amyl and The Sniffers’ third album and her opponents are many, though they all have one thing in common — they’re all trying to bring her down. In the case of “Jerkin‘,” it’s Twitter trolls and reply guys who Taylor quickly puts in their place: “Keep jerkin’ on your squirter / You will never get with me!” (It’s not necessarily just about dudes; Taylor happily notes that almost everyone has a “squirter.”) On Cartoon Darkness, she’s also fighting Big Tech, AI, music industry executives, and all manner of icky men who she attacks with caustic wit, fiery delivery and a crack band who are still delivering the pile-drivers and barn-burners Amyl are known for, while switching things up a little, too.

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Silverbacks – Easy Being A Winner (Central Tones / Cargo)

Dublin band Silverbacks’ third album begins with a little riff created from high-pitched guitar harmonics before cracking open into the lightly twangy groove of “Selling Shovels.” It’s a perfect, memorable way to start off a record that swerves left and right, often within one song, but never loses control. Silverbacks are almost two bands in one: songs sung by guitarist Daniel O’Kelly are decidedly more diehard record nerd indie rock, recalling Yo La Tengo, Pavement, The Dream Syndicate, Sonic Youth, or current Dutch band Lewsberg; while songs sung by bassist Emma Hanlon are poppier and prettier. It’s all done via lots of guitars — this band has three guitarists — and their instrumental interplay is one of the most pleasurable aspects of Easy Being A Winner, be it drones, twin leads, or skronky noise. There are also lots of vintage organs, the occasional woodwind and electronic touches, and a couple diversions into dark post-punk and DFA-style dance-rock. If this sounds like an album or band that doesn’t know what it wants to be, Daniel and Emma’s differing styles not only compliment each other but hold it all together and keep things interesting.

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Here’s the Indie Basement Best of October 2024 playlist in both Spotify and TIDAL form:

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

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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.