Bring It On

Britpop didn’t just instil new confidence into UK guitar music, it gave something for the next generation of bands to push back against. On a debut that won the 1998 Mercury Prize, the questing spirit of these Merseysiders takes them—stylistically at least—as far as the Mississippi Delta and West Coast freeways. “Whippin’ Piccadilly” is a tale of a boozy day in Manchester set to electro-warped blues, a hypnotic, swampy groove cuts through the lo-fi, Beck-like “78 Stone Wobble” and hungover Mariachi ballad “Tijuana Lady” avoids pastiche by being inescapably gorgeous.