Five new artists keeping the spirit of Britpop alive

Posted On September 5, 2024September 5, 2024

As Oasis make their comeback, Britpop is the word on everybody’s lips. After a 15-year-long feud tearing Britain’s most beloved band apart, the reunion of the Gallaghers right as the country gains a new Labour government is making 2024 look a lot like the 1990s. But rather than concentrating on artists of the past, there are plenty of incredible new acts modernising the spirit of Britpop.

However, the spirit of Britpop is a difficult thing to pin down. In its essence, the 1990s era was a resurgence of British rock music, bringing the most attention to the country’s artists since the British invasion of the 1960s. It was a moment when guitar music shone, live music was blessed, and listeners everywhere wanted the energy and excitement of rock music.

There was also an edge to it. With acts like Pulp especially, Britpop took on a cutting yet humorous political voice. The class aspect of the era that was brought up by people like Jarvis Cocker or the Gallagher brothers gave the moment a vital voice when it came to social and political issues. It was a voice for the people as they had the same stories of small-town life, normal people, and accessible scenes, writing glory into them rather than seeking glory elsewhere.

But mostly, the Britishness of Britpop is as hard to describe as Britishness itself is. It’s a unique mix of boisterous energy, self-deprecating humour, intellect and community. It was a moment that delivered arms-in-the-air anthemic tracks but still had a sharp voice for storytelling and social commentary.

The definitely of Britpop has always been best explained through the acts that defined the era, like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Elastica, Sleeper and beyond. So, to determine the sound of the modern take on the moment, these five acts are a good place to start.

Five artists keeping the spirit of Britpop alive:

Flat Party

Flat Party’s latest single, ‘Shotgun’, frontman Jack Lawther describes it as “an ode to hedonism”, and if that’s not Britpop, I don’t know what is. Packed with self-deprecating quips, it looks at heartache through the deeply British lens of humour, where every emotion is given a swaggering and silly makeover.

Instrumentality, there’s a healthy dose of Suede in Flat Party’s work. Their anthemic indie has a seductive edge that’s matched with a shot of darkness. It doesn’t hold itself back as the London-based troupe always goes full-force with their more maximalist rock stylings. There’s no foot-dragging or embarrassment when creating big sing-along moments like those in ‘I’m Bored, Give Me Love’. But they also don’t back away from more confronting topics as they imbue tracks like ‘Hindsight’ with messages of political and social injustice.

Really, it’s a merge of three of the biggest names in Britpop: Pulp’s humour, Suede’s swagger and Oasis’ boisterous choruses.

Welly

What is Britpop without distinct and in-your-face Britishness? Welly more than deliver that as they’re singing about local town shopping complexes, suburban cul-de-sacs and English girls heading off on gap years. They take the Jarvis Cocker approach to cultural commentary, meaning that nothing gets past them without a joke or a sarcastic comment added for good measure.

Free from the hyper-masculine energy that plagued the original Britpop days, Welly delivers the vibes without hooliganism. Instead, it’s more gobby than growling. Rather than Football fans throwing pints, the band’s shows offer good, clean, yet silly fun as they take to the stage in their PE kits for a high-energy display. There are still the singalong moments and chants to get on board with, still sweeping you up in the community energy that all good Britpop tracks have, but Welly’s approach is both more wholesome and more self-aware of what it is they’re mocking.

Master Peace

“I wanted to make an album that’s a cultural reset for Gen Z kids of the current day and age,” Master Peace told NME of his debut, How To Make A Master Peace. “I want them to say, ‘When this album came out, it changed the way we all thought.’” That desire to make a phenomenon and shake up the scene into something new is the same energy that powered the moment back in the 1990s, and with his hi-octane sound, he’s going the right way about it.

Inspired by indie icons from every era and moment, from The Smiths to Bloc Party to Arctic Monkeys, Master Peace has always been looking towards the leaders of the pack who were pushing guitar music into new places. Initially starting out in a rap group, his pivot to indie means he’s approaching the rock world with a complete defiance of the rules, building from the ground up and following no method other than his own. When you add together that DIY approach and his love for the genre’s greats, you get the same sum of parts that powered the likes of Oasis.

Stone

Hit play on any one of Stone’s songs, and within seconds, the Britpop influence will smack you around the face. Perhaps that comes from the fact that frontman Fin Power is the son of The La and Cast’s John Power, meaning that Britpop is in his blood. Or perhaps it’s the fact that Power, along with his bandmates, are completely and utterly obsessed with the raw energy of live music and the vibe of a good crowd.

“It’s not corporate with Stone. You know?” Power told Far Out, sounding like a 1990s Gallagher, “There’s never a moment in our story where we feel like we’re having to force ourselves to do anything to do with our music. The music comes first, and that’s the part we’ve signed up for and we love.” Delivering exactly the kind of anthemic, singalong vibes that Britpop did best, packing their songs with sharp social commentary and lyrical wit and taking instrumental notes from Oasis and The Stone Roses, Stone have the modernised formula down to a tee.

English Teacher

Sonically, English Teacher feel very different from Britpop. Their music is trickier. It’s built of intricate layers and rhythms that purposefully trip listeners up and lead them down the wrong path as they turn towards something new. It’s complex and defies the easily understandable, easy-to-singalong style that the 1990s moment is remembered for.

But lyrically, English Teacher’s work feels like a vital spearhead for a new moment of British rock music. When breaking Britpop down to its core, it’s merely British acts singing songs with a distinctly British edge, whether that be in the stories the lyrics tell, in the accents they’re sung in or in the messages they send when it comes to social and political commentary. The new Leeds troupe do all of that as Lily Fontaines’ northern accent comes through beautifully on the record as singing songs about class injustice like on ‘Broken Biscuits’ and ‘Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space’.

From start to finish, their debut This Could Be Texas is rooted in their identity as a grassroots northern band, reminiscent of the role that Pulp played in the scene. And much like how Cocker and the Gallaghers became important working class figures in music, English Teacher’s work to bring awareness to the financial strain and inaccessibility of music is so necessary for the modern scene.

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