Juno Recommends Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s July 2020

Review: Like any good pop album, Lorely Rodriguez's third is a personal work that tells compelling stories, allowing fans to step into her world and gain a better understanding of who she is, and where she's coming from. It's also ridiculously catchy and packed with polished, single-worthy tracks that make you wonder how we've survived since her last effort. 'I'm Your Empress Of' is certainly a different beast to its predecessors, not least 2015's jarring noise-pop debut, 'Me'. Here things are more accessible and perfectly formed, hanging on immediate beats and a clubby vibe. But it's no less innovative, introducing everything from samples of Rodriquez's mother to fleeting moments of idle chatter. The end product is a real work of art that should - if all is right with the world - prove to everyone the lady in question is among our era's foremost pop innovators.

Review: Between 10th and 11th, the second album by The Charlatans, was s certified classic at the time and has fared well over the years. Beggars Arkive's newly expanded reissue contains the original full length plus remastered tracks from the frequently bootlegged live show the band played in Chicago in 1991. It is a real Holy Grail amongst fans and next to the original record, which landed in 1992 with huge and standout singles like UK Top 20 hit "Weirdos" plus other singles "Tremolo Song" and "I Don't Want To See The Sights", it is a vital purchase for fans old and new.

Review: Attraktors originally surfaced back in 2015 with the Future Systems EP. Made up of members of Six.By.Seven, Bivouac, The Selecter and more besides. Now this eclectic group of coldwave connoisseurs fold that initial EP into a raft of new songs to make up a sterling debut album for Vivod. It's brittle, homespun stuff that opens up a wormhole to the bedroom studio explosion of the 1980s, when lo-fi new wave was king. But there are other dimensions to this record, like the dreamy synth pop of "Mensonge Et La Chute" and the cosmic rock stylings of "Theme From Unknown". For all lovers of the early to mid '80s era, this is an album you won't want to miss.

Review: Here we go again, then. Studio album number eight from Ray LaMontagne is doing him no disservice in terms of that formidable reputation. Taking on the roles of producer, engineer, singer, songwriter and every-instrumentalist for the purposes of this record, words like 'auteur' certainly make sense when talking about 'Monovision'.Enough preamble, onto the main event - 'Monovision' is the perfect reflection of a musician in peak form. When that iconic, throaty voice roars out over the slight-of-hand acoustic guitar plucks of opener 'Roll Me Mama, Roll Me', you're immediately captivated. Tracks like 'Strong Enough' set the tempo much higher, stomping a way through old timey rock 'n' roll tones, standing in complete contrast to the tender refrains and more mournful (or at least reflective) atmospheres of 'Summer Clouds' and 'We'll Make It Through'. To be honest, we're barely worthy.

Review: It's not everyday you find psyche rock that sounds like it is genuinely going somewhere with purpose. The sense of urgency on tracks like the chugging and propellant 'I'm Not Living In The Past Anymore' jump off the record and grab you by the scruff of the neck, impact slowly increasing as the waves of synth and harmonised vocals build towards ever higher heights. There are certainly plenty of dreamy moments to counterbalance some of that energy - opener 'Schmetterling' feels lighter than air, 'R&B' nods to the ethereality of Spiritualized. But this Austin, Texas outfit seem altogether more rooted in the physical rather than trippy world, with tracks like 'Hell Bastards' belonging to a rawer end of the spectrum, owing as much to early prog prototypes as woozy, hazy, blissed out business.

Review: Alice Go, Bella Podpadec and Rakel Mjol make up Dream Wife, a band with a penchant for playfully riotous, outspoken and immediately infectious indie rock-pop, served with a side dish of punk attitude. The sum total placing them somewhere between The Long Blondes and Tom Tom Club, or at least those are the references that immediately spring to our mind. Don't think that suggests the London trio are simply a Frankenstein of personality traits borrowed from different groups. Go's vocal delivery juxtaposes the sweet and innocent with the sardonic and indignant, guitar hooks can either conjure images of tropical beaches or the hard asphalt of the UK's unkempt city streets. Tracks are infinitely danceable ('Old Flame', 'RH RN'), or emotionally crushing ('So When You Gonna'). Album two down, it would be stupid to pretend we're not already waiting with bated breath for what comes next.

Review: 'Mordechai is another blissed-out record from Texan party-chill-psyche trio Khruangbin. It's also among the outfit's most defined and driven, a smooth, sticky hot funk odyssey made for hazy afternoon soirees. Leader Laura Lee is, as ever, unfathomably siren-like on vocals, her bass grooves aiding the process of seduction no end. Even at the most upbeat and anthemic, 'Time (You and I)', it's hard not to feel woozy and intoxicated by the pared-back breaks and guitar lick combination. Dance floor ammo for sure, as is Pelota. Overall, though, it's an album best savoured slowly, allowing you to fully appreciate every lackadaisical moment of opiate goodness, with tracks such as 'Father Bird, Mother Bird', 'One To Remember' and 'Shida' summoning stunning sticky, heavy, deep atmospheres.

Review: Brenda is thought to be the late Brenda Lee Jones from Ohio and the subject of the b-side here, which is the biggie, "Big Mistake," is thought to be her adopted son and mistakes his real mother made. It's a super sweet affair that will swell your heart with its lush soul sound. This reissue has been cut from the original master tapes and will help out anyone wanting to cop it without paying the L800 it cuttingly goes for online. The flip of record, "Super Stoke" is lit up with big fuzzy guitars and raw funk that never lets up.

Review: You can almost feel the California sun reflecting back off 'Los Angeles', the opening track on HAIM's third album. An unapologetic ode to their hometown - as is made clear with straight-shooting lyrics like "New York is cold/I tried the winter their once/Nope" - it's also an unapologetically smiley and smile-inducing slice of strutting pop. While first appearances can often be deceiving, and books shouldn't always be judged on their covers, in this instance the first bite is a fitting preamble for what follows. There's plenty of variety, for evidence just compare the reflective and damaged air of 'I Know Alone', and its razor sharp shimmering production, with the back-to-basics acoustic build of 'Leaning On You'. Ultimately, though, it's all sophisticated and intelligent pop, celebrating the genre's breadth by showing how capable of matching that scope this lot are.

Review: Here's something you don't come across that often: a "live" album that captures straight-to-tape (literally) studio recordings rather than a performance in front of the paying public. In Parcels defence, the results are impressive, in part because their chosen location, legendary Berlin institution Hansa Studios, boasts the kind of analogue recording and mixing equipment that neatly fits their warm, mixed-up trademark sound (think West Coast rock, blue-eyed soul, funk-ruck fusion). Many of the songs segue into each other as they would during a live performance, with new interludes and previously unheard songs adding a frisson of disco-fired dancefloor goodness to proceedings. It might not be a pure live album, but it's a hugely enjoyable listen.

Review: A decade has passed since The National made their commercial breakthrough with fifth album, "High Violet", a set which many critics still believe is the Ohio-based band's finest full-length to date. To celebrate the anniversary, the band's label 4AD has decided to press it on vinyl for the very first time, packaging the marbled purple and white vinyl in a triple-gatefold sleeve. It's an awesome package, but what will excite fans most is the third slab of wax. This features a mixture of rare, hard-to-find and previously unreleased material from the period, including a trio of live recordings, the near-mythical "Wake Up Your Saints" and "Walk Off", and a fine alternate mix of "Terrible Love".