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

Review: The preaching sirens of Deerhunter return, long has everyone been waiting, since the band's Fading Frontier LP of 2015. The group have moved on from the pinky-pop nostalgia they've described as their last album, and moved into and towards a darker and more intensifying feel. The Atlanta group's eighth full-length in total finds itself tripping out on klaviers and chant-like numbers as heard in "Element" and the rickety jingle of album opener "Death In Midsummer". While there's some crooked-eye positivity to be found in the James Dean referencing "Plains", the masterwork of the band's ambient and cinematic scope remains as strong as ever, and alongside Bradford Cox's undeniable haunt, vocal contributions and extra (subtle) hints of subversive nihilism come from Cate Le Bon and White Fence's Tim Presley.

Review: Crusading Rocker Sharon Van Etten returns from five years away releasing any long player, and, like her latest album attests, she's the come-back-kid. Full of jovial generation X angst and time-passing motifs - "I used to be 17..." sings the phrase in "Seventeen" - Van Etten has here successfully painted themes of '80s Americana & Nostalgia into a new kind or realism. There are heavier, more emotionally-laden ballads like "Jupiter 4", invoking a Melancholia-feel, of Lars Von Trier-esque persuasion, and with electronic production techniques entering her music more than heard before, alongside a bevy of warming but also haunting vocals, Van Etten's script for 2019 is here.

Review: If The Clash is the first thing you think when seeking out this cover then you're in the right place for this kinda music. An affiliate of Domino sub-label Double-Six since forever, About The Light presents Steve Mason's fourth studio album for the label and first in around three years. Mason channels positivity, stability since relocating to Brighton and the desire to reconnect through a dub-time album of acoustic, Brit-pop, and let's say even folky electronic ska. Classic drum machines act as micro-opening-monologues in some tracks, like "Rocket" and "No Clue", furthermore giving Mason some unneeded street credibility, on an album best suited for that 24-hour party person. Steve Mason calling.

Review: Legendary alt-rock group spearheaded by Robert Pollard delivers a massive 32-track double-album called Zeppelin Over China. Guided By Voices have released more albums than you can poke a fender at, and this whopper makes it 10 LPs in 10 years, straight. In a sentence, it's an album of balanced positivity avoiding the pitfalls of nihilism to a degree, and perhaps best suited for that whiskey drinking malaise. Deep inside the music you'll hear references (owing or given to) from the likes of Pearl Jam and David Bowie (most obviously), with nothing to be taken away from Pollard's songwriting and vocal presence, and along with the band's lucid technique, it's 75-minutes of the good stuff, neat or on the rocks.

Review: Straight outta shoegaze central, Oxford UK, since 1989, Swervedriver have been providing us with smoothly distorted guitars, vocals of refreshing reverberation and just those hints of angst and melancholia to get you through the decade. Future Ruins, like a lot of post and alt-rock to hit the shelves these days has touches of nihilism abound, although it's no secret Swervedriver have been offering this atmosphere for aeons longer than most. For fans of bands like Dinosaur Jr. yes, Swervedriver's latest effort remains firmly within the grungey and pastel confines of shoegaze, and with the genre's hey day missed so much but so many, it's never a pain to revisit the glory days of motion picture soundtracks.

Review: Shoegaze and krautrock project from Guadalajara, Mexico, Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, delivers the collaboration's first album since 2016. De Facto presents a fourth studio LP overall which sees them land again on the UK-based Sonic Cathedral Recordings. As you can imagine the album tempts its listener through a lo-fi world of haze and distortion but also sweetness with a touch of grunge. Highlights include end of the world epics like "Accion - Vaciar" to the icy waves of noise in "El Derrumbe", matched furthermore, yet brighter, in the 10-minute closer, "La Maga".

Review: FUNK! DISCO! FORMERLY CHILLWAVE? Super smooth, gliding vibes here from Toro y Moi that's cooler than Jamiroquai/Pharrell Williams with the hat on. Outer Peace presents a forgotten number of LPs the South Carolina-raised artists has released to date, though this presents his sixth in a decade. Without a hint of irony this album is superfresh, perhaps not as out there as SOPHIE's recent Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides - but it needn't be. Its temperament is mellow and easy going with a warm funky vibe: think Daft Punk post 2016 and you're almost there. Candescent pop, splashes of Parisian house and disco with a fresh cosmopolitan touch added on top too. Pure Wax.

Review: Introducing the dirty psychedelia rock of Seattle's Night Beats. At a glance you could be forgiven for mistaking them as a new formation of a swinging '60s inspired Arctic Monkeys. But, really, sometimes someone comes along that just does the old fashioned right, and after eight years of releasing a constant stream of music, Daniel Billingsley, the leading force behind Night Beats along with a host of other musicians who made the record possible can be held in a high regard. Let's say something in a spectrum somewhere between Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Tame Impala - Kasabian - and The Black Keys - contemporarily speaking of course.. With more mic techniques strewn across the album than a burgeoning sound student could bare to fathom, it's quality songwriting with subtle production graces to boot - and what more else can you say about a classic, rock, pysch, surf and funk album done well. Rock on man.

Review: Between 1988 and 2000, the shadowy crew behind the Strip label put out six volumes of "Las Vegas Grind", a compilation series celebrating sleazy - and usually undeniably obscure - rhythm and blues, rock and roll and novelty lounge records from the 1950s and '60s. Here the series returns thanks to Jazzman, who somehow managed to to track down the digger responsible - and his eccentric record collection. From skewed surf-rock and low-slung rhythm and blues to comedy big band swing, rousing proto-funk and "Rocky Horror Picture Show" style madcap stompers, the album offers a whirlwind romp through some seriously good - and not to mention especially silly - gems rescued from dollar bins, dumpsters and yard sales the World over. Do yourself a favour and check it out.