Since Britpop began, there have been endless arguments about the best Britpop band, the best Britpop album, the defining Britpop image. Choices vary, but it feels inarguable that Elastica – and Elastica – remain the coolest in all the above categories. The four-piece were cemented as elegant, eternal stars on their self-titled 1995 debut album: a collection of short, sharp songs, with equally short, sharp haircuts on the cover. Like the supernatural pop ideal immortalised in 1998’s Velvet Goldmine – a film they cameoed in – Elastica came from London but also seemingly arrived fully formed from another, sexier, less effortful dimension. Untouchable louche perfection. Exacting boy-girl androgynous tension. Post punk guitars arrived encased in…

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