The Pastels

The Pastels have proven themselves to be one of the greatest guitar pop bands of the 1980s and '90s, yet these Scots still reside somewhere north of obscurity for most of the music-buying public. Stephen Pastel and Aggi Wright have been interweaving broken harmonies since the mid-1980s, leaving a trail of beautiful, lovelorn weariness and shambling guitars in their wake. Part of the Creation label's early roster and included on the lionized C-86 compilation, the band has excelled at putting the emphasis on guitars and leaving shadows of harmonies and creaking off-key vocals in the background. Through the years, the Glaswegian band has only become more cohesive, releasing a bounty of glorious pop records with tracks that near perfection ("Nothing to be Done"), while having the distinction of being one of the few bands whose remix record, Illuminati (1999), actually did them justice.