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

Review: Now you've stopped shouting "there's a new Nick Cave album" at everyone who walks past, comes near or might possibly be in earshot it's about time we dived into the contents of the legendary troubadour's 17th studio album. Be warned, though, what lies beneath is deep and immersive enough to drown in, and even the most effective divers wouldn't find a body. A suitably morose introduction, we think. Digressions aside, "Ghosteen" is a majestic, powerful, operatic experience that will change nobody's opinion of Cave and his band, The Bad Seeds. The works are just as innovative, poignant, graceful, melancholic, euphoric and inescapable as ever. Too many adjectives? We're making no apologies. Consider the title number, if that's not too obvious a focal point. Sparse yet grandiose, narrative driven but metaphorical, organic and earthy yet making incredible use of a theremin. Almost impossibly good, sit back and let it wash over your mind.

Review: Time marches relentlessly on as does the immortal sound of iconic Manchester band Joy Division. At the heart of Unknown Pleasures was the alarming vocal talent of Ian Curtis. His alien wails, echoed expressionistic vistas of urban alienation over No Wave tribal beats and Gothic guitar impressions. And despite the breathtaking intensity of the angular acid comedown "She's Lost Control", the soaringly depraved detachment of "New Dawn Fades" and the proto-slowcore "Candidate", opening track "Disorder" remained the piece years ahead of its time and most immediately enduring. This anniversary record arrives almost forty years to the day after it was originally released, splashed out on 180g ruby red vinyl with an alternative white sleeve to resemble the original and legendary cover design. Unquestionably authentic, Unknown Pleasures was a vision so uncompromising and haunting that each track was worth its length. This commemorative reissue, then, continues the celebration of one of the most important albums of our time as well as highlighting the record as a landmark in music-design crossover history.

Review: With the combination of band name and album title this one's always going to be a bit of a tearjerker, packed with self-reflection and self-loathing. No regrets, though, as Greg Gonzalez muses on sensuality, the loss of those we care about, the loss of self to another and the endless yearning of the human heart. Shades of Lord Huron and a wealth of gloomy shoegazers can be felt, but even though "Cry" represents a next step for Cigarettes After Sex - edging into more minimalistic territories - it's still immediately identifiable as this band, and so won't fail to instantly resonate with avid fans. Packed with an exquisite, opiate balladry at once heartfelt and heartbroken, it's hard to tell whether this is exactly what you need to hear when living through your blue period or precisely what you shouldn't listen to. Either way, it's quiet impact is immense.

Review: Having successfully spawned one of Kerrang! Magazine's "50 Most Evil Songs of All Time", you might expect everything from Ghost to sound a little, well, scary, packed with dread and ominous atmospheres. Those arriving at the band for the first time through this two-track, 7" should prepare for shock, then. Despite having a song entitled "Mary On A Cross", and therefore being destined for the worst reactions from hardline Christians, if you shut out the lyrics things sound twisted, but far from menacing. OK, so it would be pushing it to describe the band's psych-metal hybrid as friendly or comfortable. Again we're taken to occultist realms, places where sacrifices are offered at altars dedicated to Wurlitzer keyboards and driving rhythm guitars. It's strange and slightly unnerving if you spend too long focused on standard definitions of normalcy, but incredibly infectious if you give yourself over to the dark side.

Review: First released in 1998, the last album from the sadly missed Mark Hollis was originally set to be a Talk Talk album, scheduled to follow up 1991's "Laughing Stock". Described by engineer Phil Brown as "open, restful and at times fantastically beautiful", Hollis' only solo effort is quite the opposite of the dark and claustrophobic direction of Talk Talk's final album. Entirely self-produced, the record takes Talk Talk's pared back, emotive intimacy further into yet more minimal, private territory, of sometimes almost unbearable intensity. A complex, compelling last dispatch from an indisputable genius.

Review: There's a chance this Liverpudlian four piece will be familiar by now. This, their 11th studio outing, first unveiled as the 1960s slipped into the 70s, is a bonafide epic from an outfit that weren't lacking in epics; in many ways a culmination of their time together, marking the end of their active years and beginning of their legacy. By this stage, then, they've emerged from years spent on the inner journey and time on the outer, space cadeting to the hallucinogenic fuelled tones of "Sgt. Peppers" and "Revolver". Of course, there's still plenty of explorations happening, but the gritty blues rock of opening track "Come Together" really sets the tone. Five decades on, it still sounds great and maybe even better than you remember. Even if you own the original, this anniversary edition is worth having.

Review: Where do you start with this epic collection? Arthur Russell should be no stranger to any music boffin, having been a tour de force on the New York underground during the 1970s and 80s. A maestro of disco, formative-era dance music, anything remotely avant-garde, despite having worked on some of the most iconic releases of the day, he only produced three albums before passing before time. "Iowa Dream" is what was left behind, or at least to some extent. Archived and - for years - never earmarked for release, thanks to the tireless efforts of composer Peter Broderick, this collection of demos, home recordings, and lost songs has been restored, edited and mixed, then carefully placed on this lovingly-conceived compilation. The result is a must-buy for fans and newcomers alike and will only serve to cement Russell's place in the pantheons.

Review: Is this pop? Is this experimental? These are the thoughts that will have crossed many minds when encountering the kind of baffle Jai Paul offers. A guy who seems intent on creating curveball works of art, "BTSTU" in many ways is minimalist stuff, save for the concepts behind the sounds. Or at least its structures give the illusion of minimalism. From the first waterfall of synth to the way in which vocals are allowed to (quite literally) speak for themselves - a multitude of characters with one voice - it's at once bound for the charts and your bookshelf of classic works.

Review: While he enjoyed a brief career as a musician in the 1960s, by the time he recorded debut album "Down On The Road By The Beach" in 1983 Steve Hiett was better known as one of the world's leading fashion photographers. In fact, it was at the suggestion of a Japanese gallery owner that he got back in the studio to record what has long been regarded as an impossible-to-find Balearic gem. Hiett's reverb and delay-laden Peter Green style guitar passages take centre stage throughout, winding in and out of languid grooves and ambient electronics to create what some have called "the ultimate desert island disc" - a record of such lazy, sun-kissed beauty that it sounds tailor made for drowsy days waking up on the beach.

Review: As Zach Condon prepares to embark on a mass trans-atlantic tour in support of this Gallipoli LP as Beirut, all the fanfare of his horns, bells and whistling croons are once again to be enjoyed in full for a fifth time. Debuting back in 2006 with Gulag Orkestar, Gallipoli adds to the band's stream of albums these past 15 years and presents the singer-songwriter's second appearance on London's great 4AD. Inspired by a chance encounter with a brass band procession on the fated Turkish peninsula which reminded him of the Italian films from his childhood, he named the album and title track after small, coastal town in Apulia, southern Italy. These influences can be heard across Gallipoli alongside the sweet screams of synths and chimes that adorn the others, to spates of bluesy tropicana and the sweet, melancholic and trumpeting tones the band are most cherished for.

Review: Like a slightly in-tune Nico from her collab with The Velvet Underground, Natalie Mering's vocals have a unique quality to them that shouldn't go unheard. There's an undeniable country music beauty to the notes and instrumentation in both tracks "A Lot's Gonna Change" and "Andromeda", with Mering hitting those high notes more like Father John Misty and Roy Orbison than Dolly Parton. It's here that it becomes obvious why she is such a trusted collaborator with Ariel Pink. Her album as Weyes Blood, "Titanic Rising", dips and dives through a sequence of emotions that from the halfway point soars like a bird in "Everyday" and the Enya-like "Movies" before making its own crescendo down again on "Picture Me Better" and "Nearer to Thee", closing the album with nostalgia-inducing tales.

Review: Singer-songwriting wrapped up in the dusty acid wash denim of Americana doesn't really get more authentic than what Bill Callahan of Silver Spring, Maryland, can deliver. His latest LP, a mass saunter through 20 tracks of smokey spoken word and lightly sung lyrics, falls upon a picturesque bevvy of humble and acoustic instrumentation. Callahan's songs croon with romance, metaphor, and folky yarns that find their place among fingerpicked guitars and light melodies that enjoy a contrast with the darker musings of Callahan's own world of experience and storytelling. It presents the artist with his first studio in some five years, and a sound that is looser than a typical Bill Callahan missive but full of melodrama that centres around life and death. Our pick, Callahan's cover of the Carter Family's "Lonesome Valley".

Review: Justin Vernon's voice has always been the people's main attraction to Bon Iver, and the fact his pseudonym even exists is certainly no coincidence. As fragile and heartbroken as it is forthright and experienced, when you're wearing a shredded heart on sleeve and confessing to all your deepest insecurities using a pen name can help immensely. Album number four perhaps proves this more than any of its predecessors. While the three previous chapters have all made his thoughts, feelings, insecurities and fears clear, this one takes honesty to new heights. Combining the frail electronics that have gradually slipped their way into his back catalogue with the acoustics of his earliest, rocket-to-fame efforts, it's a culmination of all that's been in the truest sense. Perhaps even more intimate than the breathtakingly personal "For Emma, Forever Ago", "i,i" is a striking work to say the least.

Review: By her usually prolific standards, it's been a long time between albums for Angel Olsen. "All Mirrors" is her first album for three years - an epic gap given that she used to average an LP a year in the early stage of her career. As usual, Olsen has redefined her sound once more, offering up impassioned songs that come backed by bold, wall of sound style production from John Congleton. There are many moments of stirring intensity, where swirling strings, eccentric electronics and low-slung indie-rock grooves join forces to create stunning and arresting musical works of art. The more contemplative moments often sound a little like "Mezzanine"-era Massive Attack or Portishead, though Olsen's voice and Congleton's production are always unique enough to make comparisons with those bands moot.

Review: There's plenty of anticipation around Big Thief's third record U.F.O.F., and we can say with confidence that it delivers on every front. A solid expansion of their last record, Capacity, U.F.O.F. for the most part goes deeper into diverse sonic territories that's emotionally raw and rich, calling to mind Elliott Smith, Joni Mitchell and various other accomplished singer songwriters especially in songs like "Contact" and "Cattails". Elsewhere, "Strange" and "Orange" provide a backing that seems more upbeat on the surface, yet the varied vocal technique of Adrianne Lenker, ranging from a whisper to a vulnerable bellow keeps us firmly captivated. The album really shines through when it reaches for slightly louder soundscapes, best heard on "Terminal Paradise" and "Jenni" (with the latter reminding us of "Washer" by Slint). All in all, U.F.O.F. will be a record that entrances you with its subtle yet haunting charm.

Review: Jessica Pratt's third solo album is a blessing from the start, with opener, "Opening Night", setting the album's tone as a sojourn through a fresh but solemn memory, like strolling through a mist swept pasture. With Pratt's unique vocal ranging tied up in a mix of space, crackle and forgotten reverie, her vocals at times sounding as if they're lost somewhere in a wireless ether. With softly played chords and delicate strumming sitting in tune with dreamy interludes and folky motifs, City Slang have arguably dropped their best record for 2019 first.

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: "Hyperspace" sees Beck venture further down the pop road, drafting in a wealth of high profile, stadium-filling collaborators to realise what's arguably his most synthesised work to date. Full marks to anyone who, upon blind taste test, immediately jumped to the conclusion this was indeed Beck. Fear not, that's less a result of his iconic and infinitely listenable voice not shining through, and more down to what else is in these arrangements. Working with legendary studio genius Pharrell Williams (who co-produced and co-wrote), you'll also find Coldplay's Chris Martin and Georgia, US rapper and drummer Terrell Hines involved here, amongst others. Together with these names we're taken into a soaring, immersive and glittering world of sophisticated but chart-friendly anthems, from clap-a-long number "Die Waiting", to the epic space-rock closer "Everlasting Nothing".

Review: This 1972 classic has been cited as a major influence by the likes of Beck, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and even Kanye West. The fourth album from the group, its release came at a time of growing exposure with lead single, '"Spoon", topping the German Top 10 and selling over 300,000 copies. It was this success that offered the opportunity to record the remainder of the album in their makeshift "Inner Space" home studio, an old former cinema. With bassist Holger Czukay on engineering and producing duties, several daily chess games between vocalist Damo Suzuki and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, and a frantic recording process, Can delivered their piece de resistance - a dense, sprawling work of wild imagination, where their psychedelic adventuring intersected most perfectly with their pop sensibilities.

Review: There has been plenty said about debutants L'Epee since their single "Dreams" turned heads back in spring. Combining the talents of Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), French artist Emmanuelle Seigner, and polished-to-a-sheen pop outfit The Liminanas, it's one of the most refreshing (and French) things you're likely to hear all year. That's more of a reference to the cinematic feeling that defines the album, owing much to the femme fatale vocal delivery, rather than the language each line is sung in. At once evoking the smoky cool of Serge Gainsbourg and the opiate moods of The Velvet Underground, "Diabolique" feels born in a time when psychedelic experimentation and chart topping music weren't mutually exclusive. At once sophisticated and hedonistic, it's a sexy, sensual and overwhelmingly seductive effort everyone should turn themselves on to.