Juno Recommends Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s March 2019

Review: A connection that perhaps didn't seem obvious at first but makes sense when you think about it, space rock titans get the niche reissue treatment on Emotional Rescue with Chuggy's ever prolific stable picking two deep cuts from the band's frankly intimidating back catalogue. Originally released in 1976 on "Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music", "The Aubergine That Ate Rangoon" and "City Of Lagoons" are both examples of Hawkwind at their cosmic best, and not afraid to hold down a groove either. Alongside the originals, we're also treated to some wild remix versions from wayfaring astral traveler Cherrystones - lucky for us!

Review: The unveiling of an Apparat album is always cause for commotion with the artist influence enough to push radio stations to stream his music 24/7 upon release. Long passages of streaming synth-textures underline the loose and sparse percussive effects of Apparat's jazz and minimalism. The artist's signature bass pulses hit the sweet spot throughout the albums entirety, always inspiring a well of heavy feeling when they do. Touches of the artist's Bpitch Control days remain as does Apparat's always inspired approach when merging instrumentation with outboard gear and technology, beat making and sound design. A sound to cherish once more.

Review: Kickin' about in the construction sites of Perth's suburban neighbourhoods for some years now the Australian singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly's lands a debut album on Secretly Canadian, spelling her first full length record following her Thrush Metal EP from 2017. Beware Of The Dogs presents 13 fully fledged tracks with Donnelly's shoegazing vocals accented even more by her idiosyncratic Australian demeanour; Moody, bluesy, cutesy and cool, Donnelly's lyricism, while lamenting shitty tattoos, infidelity and patronising a-social behaviour, buffers a zone between tongue-in-cheek pop music, melancholic folk, to other subdued country and guitar styles. Beware of the bite.

Review: It's been more than 10 years since Foals first ignited indie spirits with their Antidotes LP and following Total Life Forever and Holy Fire, the Oxford-founded group have held firm in purporting their fully fledged sound. The band's aesthetic has grown in size and stature over the years with this LP looking at what seems to be the large scale arena. The lighter, melancholic and finger picking techniques of their surf rock and synth subtleties appear nonchalantly in tracks "On The Luna" and "Exits" - with 80s UK synth and George Michael-styled vocals to boot - while its stadium ecstasy for the chorus humming "Sunday".

Review: Forty years ago a yet unknown cult band was to release a LP that never came. Interesting enough, Rema-Rema - made up of former members of The Models and Siouxsie & The Banshees - delivered 4AD one of its first releases: Wheel In Roses (1980). All tracks from that EP, in their new wave, post-punk glory, feature on this Fond Reflections LP, a compendium of sorts detailing across 17 tracks the band's raw and unplugged sound. Collected, re-mixed and engineered by band member Gary Asquith and mixing technician Takatsuna Mukai, the result is an archival, patchwork collage of a lost but not forgotten trip down the lanes of UK folklore. Get to grips with "Fond Affections", "Feedback Song" and "Why Ask Why".

Review: Post irony has no place in the music of Ex Hex, a three-piece duo bringing together leather jacket riffs of rockin' roll barn fightin' blues from down the highway. Guitars are huge and the glam modest but real. "It's Real", their second album, sees them on Merge Records once again after debuting with the label in 2014. That first album saw more of the Sex Pistols come out in the band than The New York dolls, but lashings of punk and re-amplified strings brought it where it needed to be, while this time the sophomore album pitches a roaring post punk sound with the subtle art of stadium rock.

Review: With a slew of releases for Dirty Hit, it was only a matter of time before Amber Bain's project, The Japanese House, would find its debut album release. Good at Falling presents Bain's vocal talent at its fullest, with vocoder work to rival the best of pop to come out of Istanbul's studios or Kolkata's streets - see "Went To Meet Her". Ethereal and poppy, there's comparisons to be made with the music of Ladyhawke in an album that subtly dabbles in genres likes post-dubstep (see "Wild") to cosmic disco and emotional electronica (see "Everybody Hates Me") across an album that's proud and steadfast in its folky, singer-songwriting form.

Review: It's business time. Alongside Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Simpsons, references or refrain for New Zealand comedy act Flight of the Conchords are never far off. And with the pair garnering even more notoriety with their cameo songwriting appearing in shows like Rick and Morty, it's no surprise to hear they've delivered a special. Recorded live in London, and released in deluxe triple vinyl form via legendary Seattle label Sub Pop, if you can survive the raucous laughter between the punchlines across the night's setlist than you'll appreciate classics like "Inner City Pressure", "Mutha'uckas - Hurt Feelings" and "Bowie" that much more, and with live adlib commentary between the scenes too, "The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)" curtails this mega release with a most classic closer and encore! Happy Birthday.

Review: Communion artist Lucy Rose has no more words left. That being said, her album, of song and siren, manages an ode at least for the lost and crestfallen. With light jazz and choral motifs providing the LP with its eloquent interludes and moments of passage, mood swings in the album's climax hits notes that sets things off like the clapping thunder between clouds. A songwriter's call, no less, Lucy Rose delivers an album full of resilience and praise that's just that bit west of the bible belt.