A brilliant fusion of the Beatles, Squeeze, Guided by Voices, and some less obvious influences, Austin-based power poppers Cotton Mather were one of those rare groups who transcended their inspirations to create powerful and original music of their own. The band's early releases were the Squeeze-influenced Cotton Is King (1994) and Kontiki (1998), the latter of which was rapturously received in the American pop underground; another fan was Oasis' Noel Gallagher, who talked up the band to the British press. In 2003, after Hotel Baltimore (1999) and The Big Picture (2001), the members parted ways, then reformed in the wake of a 2012 reissue of Kontiki, releasing Death of the Cool in 2016. ~ Stewart Mason