The Wave Pictures

British indie rock band the Wave Pictures combine the scrappy D.I.Y. aesthetic of the C-86 school with the tongue-in-cheek confessionalism of the Smiths, bringing their own distinctive stamp to a prolific catalog dating back to the early 2000s. Throughout their career, the Wave Pictures have been associated with numerous labels, most prominently Moshi Moshi, for which they recorded albums like 2008's Instant Coffee Baby and 2012's Long Black Cars. They have also been aligned with like-minded indie artists like Darren Hayman, Herman Düne, and the Mountain Goats, with whom they have also collaborated. The group hired U.K. underground icon Billy Childish to produce 2015's Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon, then kept up their prodigious output through the end of the decade. After 2022's ambitious double album, When the Purple Emperor Spreads His Wings, the Wave Pictures signed with Bella Union to release 2026's Gained/Lost.