Buried Treasure

"Formed in 1982 by brothers Martyn and Steve Young and later adding vocalist Lorita Grahame, Colourbox started life as an indie band"

"Looking back, I see now that I spent my mid-90s university years in Colchester buying excessive amounts of music as a defence against a largely miserable existence"

They were called Vidéo Aventures. They were French, they had links to the extreme Rock In Opposition movement, and in 1981 they released ‘Musique Pour Garçons Et Filles’, a superb example of underground electropop weirdosity

A proper best-kept secret, 1980s Edinburgh outfit WIN are the greatest band most people have never heard of

You might remember them as Scott 4, but it was as The Scott 4 Free Rock Orchestra that they released ‘E-S-P’, a record that flipped from electrofunk to chillout to weirdo reggae without missing a beat

We all like a bit of 80s influenced shizz, right? Listen and learn from New York’s Laptop whose cool as cubes 90s debut EP ‘End Credits’ was quite the ear-catcher

In 1991, Prefab Sprout frontman Paddy Mcaloon was struck down with serious illness that led to perhaps his boldest work, 2003’s ‘I Trawl The Megahertz’, a fever-dream of skittish longing that deserves ear time

Thick as thieves Beastie Boys’ compatriot Money Mark is perhaps best known for his eclectic 1998 album ‘Push The Button’, but his earlier debut, ‘Mark’s Keyboard Repair’, was really where it’s at

The late 1990s and early 2000s threw up a slew of Air-style ambient masterpieces – but Fragile State’s 2004 classic ‘Voices From The Dust Bowl’ was criminally overlooked. It may just well be the UK’s ‘Premiers Symptômes’ of the era

It was overlooked when it came out in 1997. It remains overlooked now. But Sluts’n’Strings & 909’s ‘Carrera’ album is the musical equivalent of an enormous chest brimming with sparkly and glittery things