Various Artists

In the early '90s, when guitar-wielding northwestern lumberjacks were taking over the alternative landscape with grunge, a quite different scene was brewing in the U.K. Dubbed shoegazers because of their oft-shy stage presence, a new crop of British bands (many on Alan McGee's Creation Records imprint) took their cue from the melodic, distortion-heavy guitar-pop blueprint forged by the Jesus & Mary Chain and crafted some of the most challenging and bewitching pop music of the past decade.

Packaged in a CD-sized 36-page hardcover book that includes an excellent and extensive article by Magnet scribe Corey DuBrowa as well as detailed bios, discographies, and great photos of the bands, Feedback to the Future is an essential time capsule. The only shortcoming is that there are only 11 tracks (by 11 bands), the result of compiler Heiko Hoffman's inability to obtain licensing rights for songs by the Boo Radleys, My Bloody Valentine, Curve, and Chapterhouse. What is included is an alternately explosive and dreamy set featuring Ride, Lush, Adorable, Swervedriver, and others -- among them one American band, the Drop Nineteens.