Juno Recommends Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s: March 2022

Review: RECOMMENDED
And the story is complete. Well, sort of. Ninja Tune has been a label of many labels for many people, depending on where they're listening from, for some time now, but with Ants From Up There it's journey from imprint grounded in relatively specialised forms of sound to just an all-round music institution is finally done.

Black Country New Road make music that's a million miles from the techno that shouts so loud from the Ninja roster right now. Nor are they comparable to the platform's downbeat, hip hop, nu-soul, and electronica roots. Instead, this is truly commanding, powerhouse indie rock 'n' roll that's likely to find favour with fans of everyone from Pixies to Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire to The Clash. Proof, if it were needed, that in 2022, and for some years already, all-over-the-place output isn't just fine, it really works.

Review: Laurel Hell is a superb statement of intent from Mitski which confirms the artist is in a place of real power. Her talents work alchemic charms on listeners from the off despite being couched, ostensibly, in pop music. It features her channelling plenty of personal life experiences into cathartic music with which we can all connect. I wrote what I needed to hear," Mitski has explained o the album which follows up her availed last LP, Be The Cowboy, itself building on her breakout debut Puberty 2 in 2006. This one proves she remains a vital talent.

Review: The second solo album from Andy Bell of Ride and more latterly Oasis fame. The lead track 'Something Like Love', suggests a lean much more towards the spangly, hazy sound of his former band rather than the Mancunian legend, with Bell explaining that some of the songs date back to the '90s, meaning the process of making 'Flicker' was almost like exchanging ideas with his younger self.

Review: The wondrous solo folk stylings of Japanese multi-instrumentalist and singer Ichiko Aoba have now made themselves widely available, thanks to the generous work of US label Ba Da Bing. Formerly, they were only available as expensive imports. But 2020's 'Windswept Adan', by far her most well-developed LP, has kindled an explosion of foreign interest. This reissue is a repress in larger proportions, contrasting to the short run of records on Ichiko's own Hermine label. A beautiful concept album telling the story of a young girl banished to the fictional isle of Adan, you can expect a naked, honest and tactile auditory experience showing off Aoba's musicianship across choice folk songs like 'Hagupit' and 'Easter Lily'.

Review: A reissue of Beach House's fifth studio album 'Depression Cherry', without any extra fanfare - these dream pop dramatists don't need it. Originally released in 2015, the 2021 edition is a lightweight silver vinyl edition, housed in a deeper red velvet sleeve with a printed inner housing. There's no extra fluff on this one, either. It's simply the original 9 songs, which we are now reminded are enviable in their hazy, Christmas-jingly, shoegaze blur. It's no coincidence that this is the album that elavated Beach House to a new level of prominence and acclaim; their sound is fittingly uplifting and maximal, as Legrand and Scally's ghosted vocals whirl like a flying carpet or sonic geyser, come to propel us towards higher altitudes. Besides, it's a sign of a great 'ethereal' band to call an album of this beauty, grandeur and subtlety "aggressive". This is your chance to remember it.

Review: Beach House's eight studio record Once Twice Melody is a brand new double album presented across four chapters with a total of 18 tunes in all. The band experiments widely across them, with many different structures and styles including some tunes without drums, some hooked round acoustic guitar and others that are mostly electric with meandering melodies. Of course, the signature organs, drum machines and keys that fans know and expect from Beach House aka Victoria Legrand, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist, and Alex Scally, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, are also present and very correct.

Review: When Scottish alternative rock heroes Teenage Fanclub first dropped this, their third full length outing, it was something of a milestone. Arriving via the world famous and universally (well, we think so anyway) revered label Creation Records certainly never does anyone any harm, but in this case all the stars aligned in such way to offer the band what every British guitar act aims for - US success.

American tastemaker title Spin magazine even crowned it Album of the Year for 1991, a sure sign of its impact over the other side of the Atlantic. Whether you'd agree with that accolade or not, it's a classic example of jangle-noise-power pop indie that really helped define what those words actually mean for at least two generations to come. A landmark release.

Review: Echo & The Bunnymen's first ever best-of compilation, first released in 1985, gets a reissue. Accruing all the hits, we begin with the seminal 'Rescue' before careening through 'Never Stop', 'The Killing Moon' and 'Seven Seas', recalling the new wave band's emotive drawl and gushing instrumentals, coinciding with the time in which their contemporaneous album, 'Songs To Learn and Sing', was released.

Review: Appearing as both a standard edition and purple-coloured 'Nightmare Edition' - going for a trademark 'corona effect' with variant artwork - Alt-J here present their most emotionally harrowing and difficult album yet, dealing directly with a series of traumatic experiences experienced by the band's members both in childhood and over the course of the recent pandemic. Hooting, flatuing and honking comes the lead single 'U&ME', in which Joe Newman sings of personal oppression and stress - "pressing down on my face" - to the tune of woodblocks, metal pangs and strong bass licks. Watch out for this Blood Records exclusive edition.

Review: A well-deserved gold vinyl reissue is given to Midlake here. Despite their relative obscurity, it's testament to them being a seminal band that this album's lead song, 'Roscoe', landed a top 100 greatest songs spot in Rolling Stone; even more so that the album was later described as paving the way for the future success of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Beirut by Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde. A happy US precursor to what BC,NR are doing now, blended with post-punk, folk and emo, choice bits like 'Bandits' and 'Van Occupanther' still sound fantastic in their stereoized guitars, emotive 6/8 strums and melancholy themes from Tim Smith. Cop this gold plated reissue while you still can.

Review: RECOMMENDED
There has always been something delightfully different about Spoon. There's a garage-y, grunge-y, shot of whiskey between each track on a beat up stage in the back room of that bar kind of edge to their overall sound, and yet their tracks somehow still sound polished. In a granular sort of way. Oxymoronic? Perhaps. Accurate? Definitely. And it's this unique ability to exist at all ends of the spectrum, simultaneously, that allows them to consistently deliver work that's theirs, but not theirs.

Shapeshifting, but in very subtle ways, Lucifer On The Sofa marks some three decades of doing just that, and across the ten albums unleashed in that time you'd struggle to find a dull moment. It's certainly not here, anyway - a record that references commercial rock 'n' roll, scuzzy rockabilly, and timeless indie across another ten exceptionally well written and crafted songs.

Review: Neil Hannon's curious take on the British pop tradition exists in its own bubble, but it's made of the very stuff we've all grown up with. After 30 years of The Divine Comedy, it's a fine time to celebrate this most evergreen of projects which somehow bridges the gap between 60s ballroom bombast, 90s indie swagger and the pervading oddball demeanour of this funny little island. Gathered together on this double pack are the finest songs from The Divine Comedy's oeuvre - sonorous ballads, quirky singalongs and plenty more in between.

Review: Released in 2008, this isn't the album that landed Durutti Column in the unofficial hall of indie music fame, but it's certainly one that helped lead them to become a key reference point for every young band with an ounce of self-conscious flare to their guitar sound. 'Sunlight To Blue...' finally sees a reissue via Lotta Continua almost 1.5 decades on from its original CD release, and hears the plectrum-gazing tones of Vini Reilly in a new spangly, vinyl tinged glory.

Review: Los Bitchos are barreling out of the London underground with a deadly focus and a sound which is sure to take them far. The four-piece place tequila and cumbia at the top of their interests, which should tell you plenty, and to date they've put out a few furtive 7"s which showcase their twanging, surfy psych sound. It's also got a sizable dub throb to it thanks to the heavyweight b-lines and plenty of reverb, and this debut album drop on City Slang is the perfect intro into their world of good time intoxication and serious musical chops. Every player is on point, and they sound like they know exactly what they're aiming for - expect to be shaking down to their sound in any number of festival scenarios this summer.

Review: This marks the first time that Chameleons Live At The Camden Palace has ever made it onto vinyl. As well as all the tracks from the original concert - which was recorded for an independent Catalonian local satellite TV channel back in 1985 - there are four bonus cuts included making this an essential collector's piece for fans. The tracklist includes songs taken from Script of the Bridge' and 'What Does Anything Mean? Basically' Original Chameleons guitarist Red Smithies designed all of the official artwork for the band's albums and also stepped up for this one.

Review: Johnny Marr is of course best known as having been a part of The Smiths, still one of the UK's most influential and acclaimed bands. But since then he has gone on to be part of various other bands from The Cribs to Modest Mouse to The The and work with soundtrack composers like Hans Zimmer. He has also had a fine solo career which has seen three of his albums make the charts. His latest studio full length reflects his multi-faceted past and has an expansive sound that takes in all different aspects of everything he's ever done across four sides of vinyl.

Review: Melt Yourself Down have hit the motherlode with this album title. That is if you like titles that tell you everything there is to know about the contents. If you're new to MYD, the outfit have strong ties to London's resurgent modern jazz scene, with saxist Pete Wareham formerly playing in Acoustic Ladyland and members of Sons of Kemet having ben involved with this act in the past. But, let's get one thing straight - jazz this ain't. More so, it's pretty difficult to figure out what it actually is.

Of course, it's much easier to understand why they've moved in those circles. Pray For Me I Don't Fit In feels loose and, at times, freeform, or at least freewheeling. It's random, but infectious, and clearly born from about a million ideas distilled into masterclasses of instrumentation. Touching on breakbeat, ragga, ska, two-tone, electro, funk, Afro and so much more, it wins this month's Variety Award. Or it would, if we had one.

Review: Los Campesinos made a big move for pop success with their album, Hello Sadness, which was reocrded in 2011 in Catalonia. It is a pure and perfect pop sound too, rather than one coloured with punk or indie, but with plenty of amusing lyrical ideas such as the tragic-comedy opener and sarcastic and hard hitting 'Songs About Your Girlfriend' with a big, braggy chorus. Musically there is plenty of power in the tunes and bandleader Gareth does a fine job of telling tales of break ups with new members Kim, Jason and Rob. Raw, honest, characterful, Hello Sadness is another fine work from this crew.