Hefner

Part Jarvis Cocker’s libidinous bookworm swagger, part Woody Allen’s nattering neurotic, Darren Hayman led Hefner through a world of human frailty and ecstasy over the most jaunty alternative pop since the Violent Femmes.

The British band first gained cult popularity in the late 1990s with a series of albums, on the Too Pure label, honoring minor vices and women both available and unobtainable.

While the four-piece band’s deliberate esotericism pretty much precluded a wider audience, their bratty brand of indie pop ensured them a place in the modern rock canon.