Juno Recommends Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s Best of 2021

Review: It's the long-awaited, not to mention highly-anticipated album number three from Jungle - a duo that hit the common conscious back in 2013 with a clandestine approach to self-promotion that almost guaranteed viral success, and then backed up the hype with two wonderful records and consistent proof they also knew how to perform. So is it a case of third time lucky again, then?

In all honesty it's pretty clear now that luck has absolutely nothing to do with it. Not only is Loving In Stereo our favourite from the back catalogue to date, it's a great reminder of Jungle's knack for delivering the music we need, not just want. Still sitting in a world that's part-disco, part-house, part-soul, part-something you can't quite put your finger on, the pace has been upped on many tracks and the intensity increased too, making this ideally suited to the current era of live music re-awakenings.

Review: We've had many motherhood albums over the years, and, in recent months, plenty of pandemic albums, whether that's a direct musical response to the collective trauma or simply just records recorded during the crisis. Clairo combines both on Sling, which almost feels thematically like a direct reply to her beautiful debut, 2019's Immunity, which dealt with mental and physical hopelessness and the reliance on others.

Here the tables are turned, with Clairo positioning herself as the caregiver, or at least caregiver to be. Laid down at her home in Atlanta, Georgia, it's at least in part inspired by conversations with her mum, and thoughts of parenthood in the future. It's also inspired by the feelings of domesticity she centred on after adopting a dog. Musically, meanwhile, expect the same soft electric and acoustic folk-rock mastery as last time round.

Review:  2000's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea is a lauded set that many critics still cite as one of the singer-songwriter's greatest works. Famously, most of the songs focus on love and relationships and were written while Harvey was living in New York City at the tail end of the '90s. It remains a fine album that has stood the test of time well, with highlights including soaring opener 'Big Exit', jangling sing-along 'A Place Called Home', the sparse and haunting 'Beautiful Feeling' and full-throttle, grunge-inspired rocker 'Kamikaze'.

Review: RECOMMENDED
It's pretty much impossible not to get very, very excited about the prospect of a new Godspeed record. The outfit pretty much wrote the book on huge, epic, fantastical chamber rock with a punk edge when they first set about trying to soundtrack the decline of Western civilisation back in the late-1990s, and following reformation circa 2010 have only felt more relevant.

State's End! is a fitting addition to a back catalogue almost-entirely comprising landmark records, and while very much in the same vein as the band's previous, it's also original enough to confirm the group are still as incomparable as ever (albeit some have noted this album takes them one-step closer to a latter day Pink Floyd). Soaring, rousing, tense instrumental rock that also packs a vital message - the world needs to change tact before all is too late - it's likely this will be one of the year's most essential releases.

Review: During the 1980s, The Redskins became a celebrated English band. Next to their highly danceable indie output, they were also known for left-wing politics and a bold skinhead image. This new compilation, as the title suggests, brings together some rarities and hard to find tracks from their heyday. Elements of soul, rockabilly, pop and punk rock all inform their tracks and breath new life into the new wave and post punk forms they work in. Highlights include the strident 'Reds Strike The Blues' and fierce 'Young & Proud.'

Review: RECOMMENDED
You always feel like you've pushed through the other side of the mirror when it comes to CAN. A mysterious, groove-laden, funk-infused yet utterly lucid place where guitar hooks seem to come out of the walls, rhythmic hypnosis draws listeners ever-deeper into a place that, while perhaps not entirely theirs, is one which they helped build in the outer limits of late-1960s surrealist rock.

Laying the foundations for early progressive and krautrock with an avant-garde approach to songwriting, by the time this Stuttgart gig took place they had almost a decade of work to go at, and yet as the tracklist suggests the band always had improvisation at their core in a live setting. Concerts that would transport crowds far beyond the venue, into thick layers of melody, hooks and strange effects, every single recording of every show is a genuine moment in history never to be repeated again.

Review: It has been said before that Polly Jean Harvey's 1998 album, Is This Desire, marked a watershed moment in her career. A veritable coming of age record that failed to match the commercial heights of To Bring You My Love, but was actually a far more complete and personal thing. Less angry than preceding efforts, it painted a more balanced and accurate portrait of an artist whose formative years were pockmarked with media analysis and criticism of her visible powerful attributes - sexuality and fury.

Coupled with the fact that Harvey has never been one to pander to scenes in the hope of top ten chart success, and you can only imagine how happy she was with the finished product. And all this is before we start banging on about the musicality, from title track's subtle, hushed baritone blues to the garage rock-out of 'A Perfect Day Elise'.

Review: Demon Records have embarked on a project to put out four new vinyl reissues from Mark E. Smith and his cult band The Fall.The Infotainment Scan album landed back in 1993 on Permanent Records and went on to be the outfit's highest charting work, entering the UK charts at a frankly unbelievable #9. That said, it is the most accessible of all their records with its cover of Sister Sledge's 'Lost in Music' as well as tunes like 'Paranoia Man in Cheap Sh*t Room' and 'Glam Racket'. This is the first time it has been on wax in almost three decades.

Review: RECOMMENDED
You can gauge the scale of someone's famedom purely on whether or not they've appeared in South Park. Lorde didn't just feature, her animated stint saw one of the show's longest-running characters, Randy Marsh, admit that he was in fact the New Zealand pop sensation. If that's not recognition of global recognition, we don't know what is.

Seven years on and clearly Lorde wants her worldwide legions of fans to know something. Namely the fact that she's done with mainstream chart sounds and looking for something deeper, more personal and stylistically experimental. Enter Solar Power, the difficult third which she manages to make her most original and touching with apparent effortless ease. Of course there's still a lot of melody and accessibility involved here - 'Mood Ring' and 'Secrets From A Girl (Who's Seen It All)' are particularly number-one-friendly. But the surreal and dreamy 'Big Star', 'Leader Of A New Regime' - which almost feels like a quiet Queen number - and crystalline layered vocals on 'Fallen Fruit' tell a new story.

Review: To say that Drunk Tank Pink is a step in a different direction for South London pack Shame would be as misleading as mentioning how the record is a surprisingly quiet outing for a group that only ever had one foot in the 'post' bit of 'post punk'. Nevertheless, it is an altogether more thoughtful and weirdly delicate affair compared to previous outings, like thugs revealing themselves as easily bruised.

'Water In The Well', 'Great Dog' and 'Alphabet' offer some counterpoints - raucous, pulsating and sweat-soaked in equal measure. But on the whole this is as much about vulnerabilities as it is raw knee-jerk emotions. File next to, or at least in the vicinity of, Killing Joke and PiL, but expect a few shades of early Talking Heads and you won't go far wrong.

Review: The Killers have long-since divided opinion. Yes, tracks like 'Mr Brightside' will still fill dancefloors slick with WKD each and every Saturday night, beer boys and party girls and lost freaks and first-timers all joining together in one of the most memorable choruses of the century so far. But then their penchant for OTT pomp and pageantry has always been something of a stumbling block for many 'proper rock fans'. With that in mind, Pressure Machine could do wonders for breaking down barriers.

We're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure, but instead Utah, and the small town of Nephi, where lead singer Bradley Flowers grew up. The album effectively takes us on a tour of what was and what probably still is, by way of a more salt of the Earth, somewhat intimate and narratively-driven collection of rock 'n' roll tracks that invoke a timeless sense of American guitar storytelling, albeit with some theatrics still intact.

Review:  Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, Butch Vig and Shirley Manson formed Garbage in 1993 and went on to sell more than 17 million records around the world. Their second album came in 1998 and was a marked progression from their debut. It sold more than four million copies and was described at the time as "gloomy and sexual yet lively and introspective." It now gets a proper reissue on 2 x 12" double gatefold and is the first time the newly remastered record has been made available via BMG. Fans of the band who are close to 30 years deep in their career will no doubt be happy to hear this one as they also enjoy their new record on Infectious Records.

Review: It's pretty hard for people who bought a copy of Nevermind in 1991 to articulate to those only just discovering this seminal slice of perfection just how important it was as a record. Two years after the Seattle outfit helped guide rock 'n' roll in a completely different trajectory with debut record Bleach, they returned to unleash arguably the most significant album in the history of grunge.

At once angry, downtrodden, poetic, hopeful, disenfranchised, frustrated and filled with freshness, while major hit singles like 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and 'Come As You Are' have remained household tracks and rightly so, diving back into the blue waters of this staggering work really makes you realise how deep the quality goes. From the ferocity of 'Territorial Pissings' to the sedated heartbreak of 'Polly'.

Review: It only seems like yesterday when Nick Cave delivered his wonderfully captivating joint piece with fellow-Australian Bad Seed Warren Ellis. In fact it was early March, and since then we've all likely been through the kinds of highs and lows this record reflects so accurately. There's a lot of space to Carnage, but it's also an album of intensity, in a refined and sophisticated way.

Packed with incredibly cinematic, theatrical and dramatic moments, at its loudest 'White Elephant' is bordering on a genuinely euphoric religious experience, one rousing and hugely emotional crescendo of chorus and big stage notes after another. At its quietest, 'Shattered Ground' sounds like one man alone with a piano and eternal sadness. Meanwhile, the title track is classic troubadour business. In summary, a grand, mesmerising and personal voyage.

Review: Originally bestowed upon fans and newcomers alike in 2007, Riot! is Paramore's second album and represented a real evolution in sound for the band at the time. While never straying from the emo-punk-pop blueprint that first garnered them love and attention, this iteration saw the troupe explore more experimental and abstract ideas, while still giving us all plenty to pogo-on-about.

Hence the high chart ranking, in the US at least, and multiple gold records from sales in global territories. Music aside, it may or may not have been at this point when many ears began to realise that - even in the most angsty and immature moments - Paramore's lyrics are well and truly a cut above most of the rest. The combination being an irrepressible power that can't help but go straight for the emotional heartstrings, whether that means creating positive energy or inward reflection.

Review: Delta Kream is the 10th studio album from now well established Ohio rock outfit The Black Keys. It is one that distinctly looks back to their pre-formation roots as the group play eleven Mississippi hill country blues standards that they have loved since they were teenagers. The songs were recorded at Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville with musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton - who played with bands who were involve with many of the original songs - also included in the sessions. Songs by R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others, are included to make this a lovely listen.

Review: There aren't many musical collectives who can genuinely claim to boast a unique, impossible-to-pigeonhole trademark sound, but GOAT is certainly one of them. Incredible live and even better on wax, their intense and intoxicating sound offers a genuinely mind-melding fusion of acid rock, psychedelia and African music. The shadowy Swedish band are at their unique, cacophonous best on Headsoup, a genuinely thrill-a-minute trip whose highlights include the hypnotic funk-rock of 'Stoneoat', the low-slung, flute-laden mysticism of 'Let t Burn' (edit) and the riotously brilliant 'The Snake of Addis Ababa'. This edition, which is pressed to translucent green vinyl, also includes a bonus seven-inch with two more insanely good cuts.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Talk about expert branding. The 21st Century is likely to be remembered (if we make it out the other side) as the immersive revolution, with everything from restaurants to retail looking to offer us experiences. On her latest, Annie Clark - better known as St Vincent - has hit the motherlode in terms of realising this in an album. Daddy's Home is both an overt reference to her own father's release from prison after time served for stock manipulation, and a decadent, glassy-eyed trip into all things 1970s.

Critics have already pointed to stylistic similarities with a plethora of musical names from that era, a list that reflects how broad the LP's palette is. References range from Pink Floyd to Randy Newman, but let's not get bogged down in this part. Daddy's Home is a vivid work of highly original art comprising, among other things, pop opera, funk, progressive rock, surreal soul and more. Triumphant, then.

Review: You don't get to call your band Amyl & The Sniffers if the music is anything short of corrosive, in the best possible way. Launching at a serious pace from the off, this is punk at its modern best - a juggernaut of sweat, swearing and uncompromising songwriting that's only rival for your attention comes in the form of riffs and gritty chord instrumentation.

But the Melbourne, Australia band's second LP is far from a simple rehash of the first, which we could have also described in similar terms to those you just read above. This time round things feel more thoughtful, perhaps even patient in certain moments. Of course they still wear 'weirdos' on their sleeves, tongues often firmly placed in cheeks. But there's a depth here to the songwriting, a retro and introspective feeling that reveals far more than the debut album let us hear.

Review: One of the most hotly anticipated releases of 2020 was arguably served well by the by now all so usual Covid delays. It certainly feels like the stars have aligned for Sydney Minksy-Sergeant and his band, and the good news is that the substance of this album is easily strong enough to live up to the growing snowball of hype that has preceded it. Every classic album needs a classic opening line, and "trapped inside a town, inside my mind", the first words you hear on the LP's opener 'Valleys', speaks volumes about who WMC are representing here - the lockdown generation of teens and 20-somethings left behind tom contemplate their existence in the bedrooms and bus shelters of smalltown Britain. Musically, it's the sound of a band who have grown up with club and indie and exude both, more by instinct than design, straddling Italo-disco and Fall-like lyrics on 'Valleys', sublime, sunny guitar pop on 'White Rooms & People', 'Angel' and 'Tomorrow' and darker, heavier industrial beats and crushing electro pressure on 'Teeth' and 'AAAA'. Believe the hype, at the very least this is one of the albums of the year and quite possibly much, much more.

Review: The 7" from Third Man Records features two previously-unreleased takes of the song 'Blind Willie McTell' with the a-side being totally exclusive to this Record Store Day Special. The b-side will also, in time, be included on Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 16 (1980-1985). Session musicians Mark Knopfler, Mick Taylor, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare all play on the tune which was the first one worked on during the Infidels album sessions. Bob Dylan's voice is at its whiny and idiosyncratic best here as his harmonica rings out, rolling drums set a slightly country-sousing groove and electric guitars flesh out the track.

Review: RECOMMENDED
While New York Dolls are widely considered one of the earliest names on the Big Apple punk scene, revisiting tracks like 'Personality Crisis' proves just how much change took place between 1973 and the later years in the decade. The original version is rooted in a traditional barroom rock 'n' roll aesthetic which, at the time, would definitely not have sounded so traditional.

Breaking from this, dons of wall-of-sound stuff Sonic Youth opted for a lo-fi garage-y interpretation that successfully breathed new life into the song when this interpretation landed in 1993. Flip it to find 'Lonely Planet Boy', which back in the 70s was a piano and guitar workout defined by a somewhat laidback vocal delivery. A wonderful contrast to the A, in 1987 The Pastels offered up a much bigger take on said track that still retained the original's air of cool. Proof, if it were needed, that great music evolves in the right hands.

Review: Billy Nomates is coming off the back of a hugely acclaimed album in 2002. That was the self titled work on Invada Records and now she follows it up with a new EP that has already had heavy plays on BBC 6Music. Billy even stepped in for Iggy Pop on his show and impressed with her selections. Here the artist develops her unique sound and unflinching lyrics and says of the music that it is "predominantly about communication breakdowns; personally, mentally, physically. A strange thing to happen while communication has never had so many channels. Perhaps we need a direct line."

Review: Foo Fighters might be as old as time itself and their sound hasn't changed much over the last 30 plus years, but they are still loved far and wide. This is their 10th studio album and is another very accessible alt rock record - like a punk and American version of Oasis, if you will - for angsty teens or overgrown kids. But that reliability is what makes them such an enduring presence and here all the big tunes fans will want are present and correct. Next to pop rock anthems like 'waiting on a War' are the likes of 'No Son of Mine,' a rework of Motorhead's Ace of Spades riff that is said to be intended as a tribute to Lemmy.

Review: Who needs commercial success, anyway? At least not in the Big Apple during the early-1970s - long before Manhattan became a millionaire's enclave and most of Brooklyn out-priced normal people. The New York Dolls certainly didn't seem to mind that their rowdy and raucous take on rock 'n' roll, somewhere between The Who in full meltdown mode and Jimmy Hendrix and the seedlings of punk, didn't capture mainstream imaginations when they first started out.

Through countless lineup iterations things would slowly and slightly change, with the band's first two LPs considered two of the most sought after releases in cult guitar-dom (The New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon). Actress predates all that, taking its name from the outfit the Dolls grew out of, but the blueprint for critical recognition is clear already - part psychedelic, party sweat and blood and tears, part lager and fighting, all befitting one of modern history's most hedonistic eras.

Review: For the third album from these loveably cheeky additions to the Perth scene that gave us Tame Impala and King Gizzard, mainman Jack McEwan has turned back to the sounds of the 70s and re-routed them back through the band's trademark spaced out, stoner rock. The likes of 'Glitter Bug' and 'Hats Off To The Green Bins', then, are like hearing the excesses of early Queen or Gabriel-era Genesis being adopted and corrupted by a biker gang with questionable concern for their own cerebral protection. It's still widescreen and adorably catchy, just with more twists and turns than before and - possibly thanks to lockdown - impossibly packed with sonic detail. For a while, ardent followers of the band have been waiting for them to match the intensity of their widely lauded live show. Here, it feels like they do it and some, surpassing it even.