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

Review: At the turn of the 21st century, Slipknot opted to take the newfound fame and success rewarded by their self-titled debut, and run it into the ground in, what has to be, one of the most intriguing examples of chaos and inner band turmoil lending to an integral work.

Named after their home state, 'Iowa', still remains an utterly frightening project, driven by addiction, depression, and encompassing negativity. Refusing to pursue a more accessible route regardless of the ensuing momentum around them, the collective would lash out with an extremely severe batch of material that remains challenging even by today's standards.

While the now iconic leads singles, 'My Plague' and 'Left Behind' remain embedded in the metal spectrum, deeper cuts such as the caustic 'People = Shit', nihilism rally of 'The Heretic Anthem' or the decrepit defeatism of 'Skin Ticket' offer the bleakest look into the band's psyche at their most temperamental of conditions.

The fact that frontman Corey Taylor has confessed that the 14-minute closing title-track was recorded while highly inebriated and cutting himself with a broken liquor bottle, should be all the background one could need when approaching this complex, unforgiving beast of an album.

Reissued after far too long an absence, this beautiful new rendering finally allows for a timeless endeavour to be rediscovered in all of its violent glory; rarely bridging the vast dichotomy between mainstream and extreme metal.

Review: Album number five from legendary British post-punk and New Wavers The Clash was first unveiled on 14th May 1982. 40 years on it finds itself the centre of attention once more, re-released both in this original version and an extended edition with bonus record The People's Hall. Sticking to this outing, fans will likely already know that the record as it was first intended remains the band's most successful of all time, outselling all that came before or after and charting higher than any other in the US and UK alike.

Respectively hitting number seven and number two in the charts of the day, and spending 23 weeks in the top 40 albums in Britain and a mammoth 61 weeks in the LP league tables Stateside, today it's a double-platinum testament to just how potent the combination of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon was. The last record to feature that iteration of the outfit, tracks like 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' remain utterly timeless.

Review: The Black Keys are back with more of that raw, bluesy-soaked rawk they do so well. The duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney wrote this new album in the studio, laying down initial ideas in Nashville before expanding the sessions to include collaborators such as Billy F. Gibbons, Greg Cartwright and Angelo Petraglia. Everything you love about the 'Keys is right here, and lead single 'Wild Child' has all the hooks and ear-snagging chorus lines you could wish for, with that dirty, overdriven guitar sound that has been their calling card since they first broke through 20 years ago.

Review: Beach House return with another inevitably washed out dream pop pipe-fantasy - and perhaps a magnum opus, being 18 tracks long - 'Once Twice Melody'. We can confirm the LP scales a more minimal and wondrous sound than their career-definer, 'Depression Cherry'. As ever, noir slow jams canopy an ever-ghostlier vocal palette on lead singles like 'Over And Over' and 'Superstar'. Even a live string ensemble was used in its recording. Stonkingly, it comes in various limited-edition formats. One, the "gold" edition, includes a gold and clear 2xLP record in a gold-embossed, hinged box. The "silver" edition is housed in a silver embossed black sleeve. Oh, and there's a cassette version too, for all you indie heads out there.

Review: Like owning a little piece of history with a bonus memoir, The Clash's Combat Rock was - is - the band's best selling album of all time and highest charting in both the US and UK. This was also the last time Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon would record together before the lineup changed, and the track list contains at least two of the outfit's most recognised songs - namely 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' and 'Rock the Casbah'.

The original version of the LP was less expansive than this special edition released to mark 40 years since the long-player went on sale. The addition of The People's Hall offers fans a chance to relish in no less than 12 extra tracks, including collaborations with the legendary Ranking Roger - 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Red Angel Dragnet' - the iconic late-frontman of The Beat more than ideally suited to the crew's sound.

Review: The story of Tia Blake is more than a little enigmatic. Apparently she was an American teenager in Paris in 1970, and she somehow ended up securing a recording contract for a small clutch of public domain folk compositions which resulted in this stunning album. Blake performed one concert in support of the album and returned to North America the next year, leaving behind any potential career as a folk singer. Mores the pity, because this album is an arresting trip through traditional songs guided by Blake's captivating voice, which calls to mind Vashti Bunyan's dusky fragility albeit in a lower register. It's not been in print on vinyl since 1971, so don't expect these gems to stay around long.

Review: For those of a certain age, the sound of The Cranberries is the sound of their youth. They were big when radio was limited to whatever you could get by twisting your FM dial, and they often featured on whatever station you ended up at. Their well writing alternative rock songs have sweeping arrangements, lush orchestration and of course the slightly winy main vocals that were so easy to sing back with grungy riffs perfect for aping in mid air. This bumper collection of their best bits will take you right back to the 90s with 'Dreams', 'Linger' and more still sounding great.

Review: One of history's prominent art punk, post punk, experimental and alternative rock groups, at least one Wire record should sit on everyone's shelf, their richly detailed and deeply atmospheric sound helping lay foundations not just for all the outfits that have picked up the mantel and took the aforementioned styles forward, but also genres such as noise and drone. There really is just so much going on in the often chaotic crescendos and pared back moments alike.

As the title suggests, Not About To Die takes early studio demos from the crew and also correctly makes it clear that, when all these were recorded, the troupe still had decades of creative output ahead of them and weren't going anywhere. That said, by the end of the decade they would disband, before regrouping again, disbanding again, and regrouping. Those details aside, dive in and soak up the unbridled and unapologetic raw creativity at play here.

Review: Much like the Sex Pistols, Bow Wow Wow were as much a product of Malcolm McLaren's commercial nous and love of provocation as they were a band, but with the passage of time you can hear their music in a different light. Made up of former Adam & The Ants members and teenage singer Annabella Lwin, they whipped up a powerful twist on the new wave template in which Burundi-style drumming, twanging Americana and post-punk scratchiness collided with pop hooks. If you can't get enough of that era of music, you will surely love discovering or re-discovering this breakthrough album from one of popular music's true curios.

Review: This sixth studio album by Arcade Fire is as anticipated as any in the seminal indie band's long career. It was produced by esteemed Radiohead associate Nigel Godrich in many different locations around the world from El Paso to New Orleans. The band say it was the longest they have ever spent writing together and is focused on the forces that threaten to pull the world apart and how we must resist. WE has a big narrative arc that makes for a real rollercoaster of seven tunes that go from light to dark and back and with plenty of joy expressed amongst the tensions.

Review: The River Thames is long, long way from Liam Gallagher's normal Manchester stomping ground. In fact, we're surprised he would use something so decidedly southern as a title for his album. Anyway, this one came about during lockdown when he couldn't play to a live audience. It was inspired by the Sex Pistols and The Clash who played gigs by the London landmark and finds him play with a fine live band featuring Oasis man Bonehead. Many of that band's biggest moments were recaptured with hits like 'Supersonic' and 'Cigarettes & Alcohol' next to his solo tunes like 'Wall of Glass' and 'Once'.

Review: You can always expect to get excited by anything on Sub Pop. The imprint is shorthand for 'extremely consistent and satisfying' and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, known to some as Rolling Blackouts CF, are a case in point. The Australian indie rock, jangle pop and punk revivalists have always released on the label, and while perhaps not yet reaching the heights of international fame have done nothing but create excellent music since forming in 2013.

Enter Endless Rooms, a COVID-19 quarantine production effort (although given Australia had one of the longest-lasting and extreme responses to the virus that's hardly surprising) it's also now their second LP to arrive in the pandemic era, following 2020's Sideways to New Italy. Continuing with the same surf-slacker sound that has already won over a sizeable loyal following, it's a very fitting soundtrack with which to remember the days when vast swathes of the global population had nothing to do but find something to do.

Review: There are seemingly no limits to the music Emotional Rescue will put out. This time they look back to the post punk scene of Bristol in the early 80s. Mouth was a short-lived outfit that put out just a couple of releases, but each one blazed a trail though leftfield percussive sounds, wave, weird jazz and electronics. Andy Guy and Rob Merrill were the main members with the likes of Nellie Hooper also in the band's orbit. This record is packed with tribal drumming and floating horns, broken dubs and avant-jazz but all with a proudly DIY attitude. It's packed with heady moments and wild steppers that havent aged a bit and still sound future.

Review: Stranded is the third album for Roxy Music, and most notably it was the first after Brian Eno had departed. It was also the first album on which Ferry shared songwriting duties with Andy Mackay and Phil Mazanera, and so it captures the band in that moment of transition away from synthesiser sparkle towards a fuller, more rockist sound. The pianos and guitars pile on, creating a more driving sound even on the softer tracks like 'Just Like You', but there's still a thread of the unusual tucked away in every track - that curious magic which made Roxy Music such a vital force in 70s music.

Review: 'What A Waster' was the first single from The Libertines's self titled album back in 2002. It was a firm favourite with fans even though it had little airplay because of all the naughty words in it. There is a renewed interest in Pete Doherty and co of late, with people realising once again their song craft and catchy hooks should always be admired even if they were a rather chaotic outfit. This limited edition 7" repress is backed with the equally short but potent 'I Get Along.' Both tunes are British indie at their finest.

Review: Faust fans will rejoice at the arrival of this record. If that's not you (why the hell not?!) then allow us a little time to explain. The Krautrock band are the most mythologised from a scene which, in many ways, is one of the most mythologised of the 20th Century. Uncut magazine perhaps put it best, citing Kraftwerk as the technologically driven, Can as striving for liberation through improvisation and Tangerine Dream as purveyors of sweeping expanses of space. In comparison, Faust are simply "so difficult to pin down".

Punkt! is unquestionably the most mythologised chapter in the band's story. Recorded in Munich, it would remain unreleased but widely discussed in dedicated circles for five decades, only seeing the light of day via a recent special edition box set covering the years 1971 to 1974. Translated as 'full stop', after this there were no more gigs, let alone records, from the band, and its contents define everything we know about them - veering from masterclasses of percussive build to freewheeling jazz to kosmische to ambient.

Review: Florence and the Machine's Dance Fever is the fifth studio album from the much loved indie outfit and as ever it is a broad and widely infused rock sound. From pop to baroque, prog to indie, folk, dance, industrial and even spoken word, these adventurous sounds add up to a 14 rack fairytale. Originally planned to be recorded in New York, that was scrapped because of Covid and all recording was moved to London. Lead singer Florence Welch has cited Iggy Pop as a huge influence on the record, and the title and album concept came after Welch's fascination with choreomania.

Review: It's hard to imagine just how big T-Rex were at the time of this record's release. Having turned heads with their early work in the late-1960s, their development from psychedelic folk darlings to psyche rock dons and, finally, glam rock rebels is woefully overlooked in the common conscious today, despite the fact any self-respecting history of English guitar music has at least one chapter dedicated to Marc Bolan and comrades.

By the early-70s, their status was comparable to The Beatles, as was the prolific track record in the singles and albums charts, something made all the more impressive by the fact this was their seventh LP in just five years. Listening back to it now, and all this seems completely understandable. The Slider is packed with jams that ooze cool, swagger, and a strange kind of hallucinogenic sophistication, jangling, stomping, and crooning from one anthem you may not have even known this band made, to another.

Review: You really struggle to name a better outfit than Pixies, especially when it comes to their live shows. If you've been lucky enough to catch them, memories of incredible, chaotic nights in sweat filled rooms immediately spring to mind whenever anyone even whispers their name in the close vicinity of your ears, and for very good reason.

This live album isn't really along the same lines, given it was recorded at US super-festival-cum-unofficial-influencer-conference Coachella, but the same level of energy certainly comes across (and it's also worth pointing out the event was quite a different place to be in 2004 compared with 2022). Times change, but Pixies will always know how to turn out and turn it up, here channelling the raw, alt-garage-rock roots to deliver more than 20 tracks at breakneck speed with little by way of an intermission. How it should be done.

Review: Just Mustard's second album is her first for Partisan Records. It is a coherent but widescreen exploration across 10 tracks that all add up to a great whole. Her magic vocals, scything guitars and brooding rock drums all make for intense and scintillant listening. Tracks like 'Seed' roll up and down on lumpy drums with gauzy guitar textures, while there is a more ethereal sound to 'Early' which floats up amongst the stars. 'In Shade' has a catchy post punk rhythm and 'Sore' is dense and caustic shoegaze style rock that drags you with it into a world of questions.

Review: Ah Liam Gallagher - a man who never seems to grow old or fully out of touch. Well, depending on your opinions on absolutely everything, of course. The Manchester icon and former-Oasis enfant terrible has spoken from his heart on a range of subjects, from "dance music can fuck right off" to "I am not an entertainer", and understandably his off-the-cuff honesty resonates with both the die hard disciples and sceptics alike. Simply put, nobody can accuse him of not wearing heart on sleeve.

In many ways, that approach guides his latest solo offering, C'Mon You Know. Back in February 2022, three months before this record's release, he told NME "I'm quite happy with the formula... I look cool. I sound good. I talk from the heart." If that's not evidence we're not ranting rubbish we don't know what is. As for the record's sound, think timeless British indie that has one foot in a 1990s glory era of British rock 'n' roll, and another in li-fi contemporary noise, all delivered with operatic drama.

Review: Suede first released Sci-Fi lullabies 25 years ago. This special 25th Anniversary Edition comes on 180 grams of nice clear wax and stands as the band's definitive collection of vital B-sides. As many music lovers know, white often the flip side jams are the best on any record, even if you don't know it at first . As well as the b-side besties and fan favourites like 'Suede', 'Dog Man Star' and 'Coming Up' are 'Europe Is Our Playground', 'My Insatiable One', and 'Killing Of A Flashboy' amongst others.

Review: Here comes a special double vinyl box set edition of Beach House's latest album, Once Twice Melody, which was the first one the band themselves have ever produced in its entirety. It was recorded in three different locations - Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, United Studio in Los Angeles, and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore. The band used a real and full live string ensemble for the first time, too, and David Campbell took care of arrangements. It is a double album that features 18 songs presented in four chapters that take in many different sound and structures centred around acoustic guitar, some around drums, and some around electronics.