Juno Recommends Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s: April 2023

Review: Five years after they released their first EP, Cigarettes After Sex delivered their self-titled debut album in 2017 to a wave of anticipation. Tapping into our insatiable thirst for slow, melancholic music to melt away to, Greg Gonzalez's songwriting is steeped in American noir, all sad, twanging guitars with lots of reverb, barely there drums and an undercurrent of unease. It's not hard to see why they caught on, offering something a little more accessible than the languid whispers of early Low, but keeping haunted romanticism at the forefront of the sound. Now Partisan have repressed their debut album, so get busy and grab a copy if you haven't got one already.

Review: The Software Slump remains a high-watermark of turn-of-the-millennium slacker indie rock. Jason Lytle's flagship project tapped into a kind of techno-unease which seems quaint in the face of the big data moment we find ourselves in these days, but he was certainly asking big questions about the encroachment of technology into our lives. These themes are dressed up in broad-sweeping tunes so expansive they decided to revisit and re-record them in 2020, but let's not forget how magic the original album was. Here it is, unadulterated and as captivating as it sounded when it originally came out, pressed up on green wax for your retro-tech listening pleasure.

Review: Public Image LTD's first album - the fittingly entitled First Issue from 1978 - was about as good as debut albums get. Light In The Attic have secured full rights to this reissue and have pressed it up on to gatefold red vinyl, making it all the more of a collectors' piece. Featuring bassist Jah Wobble, drummer Jim Walker and guitarist Keith Levene, the band were noted for their experimental approach and the way they drew from dance, Krautrock and dub to come up with their idiosyncratic sound, marking a radical departure from the raw punk of singer John Lydon's infamous previous band the Sex Pistols. At the heart of each tune is a real fondness for proper rhythm which his why the album did so well.

Review: Legendary singer-songwriter Nick Drake has been a huge influence on countless artists and many of them decided to make that official by getting involved with The Endless Coloured Ways, a collection of songs of his performed and recorded by over 30 artists from a whole mix of backgrounds, genres, age groups and audiences. each of them brings their own perspective and a timeless take on the original material with the likes of Fontaines D.C to Guy Garvey making the cut and now having theirs pressed up to this 7".

Review: Melkweg is a legendary venue when it comes to the music scene in the Netherlands. It has latterly become more well known for its raves but back in the day it hosted huge rock bands such as The Sister of Mercy. They played this Acid on the Floor set live in 1984 for radio broadcast. It's a breathtaking listen that takes you right back to the times when Andrew Eldritch and his gang were on very top form. This show came not long before their now legendary and critically acclaimed album First And Last And Always.

Review: Grammy-nominated artist M83 is a famously prolific producer and as such new long player Fantasy is his ninth over the course of the last 20 years. His music is not about escaping but about transporting you to whole new worlds entirety. He can do soundtracks, stage compositions, studio records and plenty in between, always with a rare grasp of time, space and emotion. This one was written with live performance in mind so it finds him very present both vocally and lyrically with plenty of dazzling musicianship and exuberant grooves.

Review: Boygenius is the collaborative project of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, and 'The Record' is their next album, scheduled for March 2023. Combining pristine indie pop gloss with melancholic lyrics and experimental production, highlights such as 'Emily, I'm Sorry' amount to paeans for the death of relationships and braving extreme weather for the sake of love. Masterful harmonies dart and glide across each production mix, cementing the bandmembers' vocal abilities.

Review: ACR have returned to post-punk-electronica megalabel Mute for a new 'partnership', ensuring that the entirety of their catalogue gets reissued. That being said, the unlike-anything-else-ever-heard-before band are also looking to the future, not shying away from releasing new LPs. Don't get confused; the LP '1982' was not made in 1982, it was made in the last few years, and will be released in 2023. Says it all really. Were the 80s simply better? We don't know, but perhaps a deep-dive into the album's themes can provide an implicit answer. Macuncian rapper Chunky appears throughout the moody industri-funk ensemble's new reverie, giving a present-day voice to a haunting spectre. Overall, though, you've got instrumental styles from Afrobeat, jazz, cosmic, disco, and of course, industrial post-punk, coalescing into a certain ration of wild, wild music - perfect for austere times ahead.

Review: Independent radio institution NTS has a lot to answer for. Not least introducing its legions of loyal listeners across the world to the mighty (or, perhaps more appropriately, curious Staalfagel). The result of some serious crate digging, as per usual for the platform, the Swedish post punk and New Wave outfit - Erik Fritjofsson, Petter Brundell and Micke Kjell - reflect how broad the digital station's music policy can be, and how important it is for things to be rediscovered and saved from obscurity.
Forming in 1980, the three piece only released two full length records in their time, alongside a handful of singles and EPs. Utan Rymddrakt Pa Uranus is among the most enigmatic and delightful, here presented in two parts with an edit by Gary The Tall. As early adopters of synths and drum machines, the cosmic dance-pop sound here might be rudimentary today, but also has this real sense of adventure and breaking new ground about it.

Review: bWhile they're generally associated with the Madchester scene, Inspiral Carpets were far more than pill-friendly indie dance music as the tag might suggest. An extensive compilation like this one is just the ticket then, gathering together the band's stellar run of singles in one handy package and making a case for the band's deserved legacy as all-time greats of British indie. The swirling, shoe gaze-sized reverb and driving rhythm of their organ-charged production is cut through by the clear focus of the songwriting - something which was apparent even back in the late 80s on their first EPs.

Review: New Zealand-born, Portland-based Ruban Nielson is well known for mixing up lo-fi, indie rock, psychedelic sounds and plenty of trippiness into unique and beguiling sound worlds. V is said to be the band's most definitive album yet and it was written between the dry freeways of Palm Springs in California and the much more lush coastlines of Hawai'i. As such it is drawn from a world of West Coast AOR, classic hits, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. This is the first double album in the artist's discography and it is well worth the extra playtime.

Review: Recorded live at U4 Club in Wien, Austria on April 10th, 1987 The Edge of A Knife is a recording of a band at the very top of their game. This limited edition version comes on coloured vinyl and is of excellent sound quality as it was done via soundboard. The set list is none stop and packed with breath-taking jams, exhilarating musicianship and of course plenty of the famous feedback which defined their sound and turned a generation onto its charms in their wake. A fine bit of history from a still revered band.

Review: The Town That Cursed Your Name is a welcome return from Glenn Donaldson aka The Reds, The Pink, The Purples. The LA-based artist says of the record that "I realised as I was piecing it together that it's a song cycle about trying to live while also feeling called to make music. The album addresses that duality ably with wry observation and a mix of the micro- and macroscopic realness Donaldson is so well-loved for. This record is heavier than the last with more fuzzy guitar textures and heavier lines throughout. From lo-fi to college rock, the influences here are varied and the songs are both beautiful and dazzling.

Review: Bubblegum Perfume is a newly reissued album from cult 80s indie outfit Felt. It goes on a nice pink coloured vinyl and is a perfect primer for anyone looking to get into this band and its vast back catalogue. It first came on Cherry Records in 1990 at a time when guitarist Maurice Deebank quit and rejoined the band multiple times. He had always planned to release 10 albums and 10 singles and they are all drawn upon for this compilation which captures those peak years perfectly.

Review: Joy Division sure do sound great on record but they were also one of those bands that really nailed their live shows. One such occasion was on 19th April 1980 at Derby's Andante Theatre. The band was already well known and widely loved by then but they still insisted on playing what you might call shit-hole venues around the UK. This show was broadcast on the radio and it includes classics like the melancholic rawness of 'Insight' and other gems such as 'She's Lost Control' and a cover of Factory labelmates' Section 25's 'Girls Don't Count.' A live album well worth having.

Review: Felt were formed at the end of the 1970s by Lawrence Hayward as a shining emblem of the burgeoning indie pop movement. The majority of the Warwickshire band's early music came out on Cherry Red before they eventually signed to Creation for the second half of their tenure. There's a brittle fragility to the sound of their breakout years which is beautifully captured on this compilation, gathering together works recorded and released between 1981 and 1985. If you're unfamiliar with this nugget from the UK's indie legacy, then this is the perfect way to familiarise yourself.

Review: CAKE are a stalwart alternative rock band haling from Sacramento, USA, known for dealing in an all-American identity yet throwing something of a curveball with it. First released in 1998, 'Prolonging The Magic' carries such greats as 'Never There', 'Satan Is My Motor' and 'Comfort Eagle', locking in a mix of electronic beats and alt-rock. It's somewhere in the central intersection of the venn diagram between The Smashing Pumpkins, Fatboy Slim and Lambchop, if you will. 'Short Skirt/Long Jacket' sums up the band's humour value nicely, with sampled drums and an optimistic funk backing laying claim to a slick and dry sound. This reissue cements the band's legacy and remarketability for the present day.

Review: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Cole, Blair Cowan, Lawrence Donegan, Neil Clark and Stephen Irvine - were formed in Glasgow in 1982, where Buxton-born singer-songwriter Cole was studying Philosophy and English at the University. A paragon of 'well-read pop music', this might be considered an form of art pop, being the debut that cemented Cole's intellectual reputation, and perhaps a prototype of the popular 'softboy' trope from the early 80s. Crisp soft proto-indie rock and haunting, near gothic synths underlie hits such as 'Forest Fire', sure to rouse emotions even in the coldest and most book-shy of listeners.

Review: A group with a legacy and a half. Fishbone may feel pretty easy on the ears in the early-mid-21st Century, but they're also a resolutely uncompromising, incredibly forward-thinking, and musically explorative outfit whose influence on US metal and rock cannot be understated. Truth & Soul, first released in 1988, was their second album, and is a marvellous case in point.

Formed almost a decade earlier, Fishbone were disparate people united in their musical mindedness, but not necessarily influences. They took the heat and creativity emanating from Los Angeles at the time and mixed up their own strange, intoxicating tonic. A breath of fresh air, by the time this record came along they'd perfected the ska-punk-metal-reggae-soul hybrid, and the results are powerful, danceable and impossible to forget.

Review: Heartworms are brand new outfit releasing under Speedy Wunderground - one of the few contemporary imprints giving fresh faces a fighting chance. Their debut EP 'A Comforting Notion' embeds the dystopian vision of one Jojo Orme into our minds - the frontwoman is a grandiose performer, giving tired tropes of delicate female bandleaders a run for its money through means like gritty post-punk and dark synth instrumentation, and a macabre sense of humour. The band's name references a heart-defecting parasite that is commonly found in dogs and is spread through mosquito bites - but don't worry, this EP will make your heart feel nothing but joy (permitting, at least, that you're a fan of bleak music!)

Review: Hong Kong five-piece Lucid Express aim for something between dream pop, shoegaze, washed out, and electronic downtempo, producing a glitzy and emotional sound produced with the utmost quality. Their first-time album 'Floret' is a 500-copy exclusive, and while it marks the band's first commercial LP, is still packed with something of a DIY spirit. Just like the band's expression of intent - 'lucidity' being something that sounds bright and radiant - tracks like 'Venture' and 'Lime' are packed with muted emotions and uncontrollably ecstatic arpeggiations.