by Amy Hanson 　　While Brit-pop was still finding its feet and the mark from which to take its bow, Luke Haines' subversively smiley Auteurs were already there, effectively writing a how-to guide that would become the genre's white heat beat for nearly half a decade. Their 1993 debut, New Wave, was a glorious combination of snappy beats, sexy guitar, and retro vocals which sounded as much like the Beatles shot through the Pet Shop Boys as anything else. Little that had come before sounded even half as invigorating as this, but thanks to the Auteurs, almost everything that came after followed the blueprint page by page. Even better, the whole package was a sonic masquerade that cradled a remarkable intelligence and even more perverse wit. From the opening "Show Girl," which sets the scene, to the hazy, paisley thrift store morality epic "Junk Shop Clothes," the band set itself firmly apart from most of the slathering up-and-comers. "Starstruck" drops one fey line after another as it threatens to reignite the forgotten glam era across both guitar and vocals, a process that's repeated, albeit with a little more menace (and cello), on "How Could I Be Wrong." That just leaves the biting punch of "Early Years" to pipe the band down the road to superstardom. Except it didn't. As is so often the fate of true pioneers, the Auteurs were inexplicably shunted aside by the U.K. press in favor of sundry others' simpler sounds while the U.S. relegated these leaders to followers -- assuming it even heard the band at all. It's a sin, and a shame, but one that wasn't without a silver lining, as the Auteurs were ultimately able to follow their creative heart, bypassing the corporate marketing chart completely.