Elbow

Elbow's first cache of awe-inspiring experimental rock crystallised from a cloud of uncertainty at the dawn of the 21st century — their Mercury-nominated debut, Asleep in the Back, was released after two collapsed record deals, but since then the Bury outfit — championed by the likes of Blur and U2 — has exceeded all expectations with every new release. We begin with bookends of the band's career to date: 2001's "Newborn" and 2008's "Grounds for Divorce".

Follow Elbow's arresting development, in Deep Cuts.

Here, among Elbow's finest EP and album tracks, are the seeds of the fierce loyalty that unites aficionados — "Vum Garda", from early EP Red manages to be simultaneously abstract and clearly defined; "Ribcage" from 2003's "Cast of Thousands" sets up a similar opposition between frontman Guy Garvey's fragile sibillance and jolts of tangled percussion; and "Strangeways to Holcombe Hill in 4:20" lays down a fog of zither that confirms the band's commitment to breaking new ground.

Dedicated to the creation of highly original sound (they started out with a manifesto of "prog without the solos") and brain-energising lyrics (2005's Leaders of the Free World mixes the personal and the political to stunning, surreal effect), Elbow has emerged during the century's first eclectically crowded decade as a major player. Led by the gruffly benign Guy Garvey (who campaigns against landmines and takes on the occasional radio shift as DJ), the five-piece became Glastonbury sing-along legends in 2002, toured Cuba in 2004, and look set for great things on the back of 2008's The Seldom Seen Kid. "Switching Off", by the way, appeared on the Desert Island Discs list selected by former Velvet Underground lynchpin John Cale.