Juno Recommends Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s: February 2022

Review: Emotional Rescue returns to early 1980s Manchester with the previously unreleased music of Michael James Pollard and his beautiful distillation of indie pop in Too Confusing and bedsit cover version of Ashford and Simpson's Surrender.

While studying photography at Manchester Polytechnic, (MJ) Pollard lived and played in a band in a ramshackle house in Walley Range. In the cellar studio he would write and record his own songs using their guitars, fretless bass and keys, as well as his own Casio VL-Tone VL-1 and Simmons Clap Trap to augment his drums onto a 4 track TEAC.

By 1983, and now solo, he was recording out of Dislocation Dance's studio (ERC111), had secured a Peel Session and via Factory Records' Lindsay Reade, was discussing with Fundacao Atlantica about releasing an album.

Working with singer Sioux Goddard as a duo, they put down 8 songs in 2 weeks in summer '84. However, Fundacao Atlantica's financial difficulties and soon closure meant the songs were lost until now.

Recovered off the original tapes and lovingly restored, Too Confusing captures the optimism of the sessions, a summer love melody of forlorn youth. Surrender accompanies, recorded back in that cellar in '81, with friend Stephanie Danziger on vocals, its lo-fi simplicity is a perfect take on an all-time classic, making this a newly prized gem of British indie pop history.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Tribal psychobilly blues, anyone? Welcome to The Gun Club, where the first rule is that everyone should listen to at least one album by the Jeffrey Lee Pierce-fronted, benchmark-setting, Los Angeline punk outfit. Well, actually, before that we should probably explain exactly why this lot broke the mould when they first landed in the very late-1970s.


At a time when everyone in the US was looking to genre pioneers like Iggy & The Stooges and the New York Dolls for inspiration, this team opted to roll time back much, much further, and start to bring elements of blues, country, and rockabilly to the punk party. The result was a blueprint which has, to some extent, had a huge impact on an array of later greats: Ezra Furman, Horton Heat, Jim Jones, BC Camplight... to name but a few.

Review: It's not hard to understand why John Peel called Movietone in for a recording, or rather three. Firstly, the results are far-reaching stuff to say the least, informed by folk, electronic, grunge, jazz, and some otherworldly oddness, a sonic tapestry that feels very much like a journey. A layered adventure packing the spectrum of emotions. Secondly, Kate Wright and Rachel Brook are hidden gems, beloved by those who know, and strangers to everyone else. The perfect act for tastemakers to really get behind.

These recordings were originally made over three individual visits to the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studio, in 1994, 1996, and 1997, and it's a case of being sucked into a beguiling universe very quickly indeed. There's so much mood and atmosphere here, suggestions of seduction, moments of calm, and deeply textured sections in which you can't remember where the front door is, or whether the door is actually a window. Talent defined.

Review: RECOMMENDED
The thing everyone needs to understand about the UK is the disparity between projected image and real life is almost as overwhelming as the rich-poor divide. On the one hand, there's posturing of pomp, pageantry, grandeur and decorum. Then you actually get here and realise there are really only two types of inhabitants of this island nation, and few of either have manners - those who only give a shit about themselves, and the often eccentric others who do want to help those they pass on the street.

Yard Act, arguably the best thing we've heard to come out of Leeds since the emergence of super-talented techno producer Happa, directly address the first category of British resident in this, their startlingly raw and delightfully off-centre debut album. From middle class trendies to Brexiteering belligerents, think Sleaford Mods providing a backing track to IDLES' observational poetry, with an added dose of Jarvis Cocker-esque theatrics, only less camp, much rawer.

Review: Bleach Lab are riding a wave of excitement they've fostered entirely on their own. Unabashedly dreamy in their approach, they conjure up some serious nostalgia for the sound of The Cranberries, Mazzy Star and other such heavy-hearted 90s strummers. After a string of singles and some knockout live performances, they've stepped up with this stunning debut album of emotional belters with a classic indie feel. It's no surprise to learn former Cranberries and The Smiths producer Stephen Street had a hand in the recording process, but the songwriting is the real magic here. For the melancholic, wistful and sensitive, don't let this one slip past you.

Review: Striding into their fifth album with an ever-growing fanbase, The Wombats are poised to conquer all. Fix Yourself Not The World has been hotly anticipated since it was announced back in August 21, not least since it was headed up by standout lead single 'If You Ever Leave, I'm Coming With You'. Huge synth hooks, breezy indie guitar chops and pristine vocals from Matthew Murphy a hit doth make, despite the band members being split between LA, Osla and London while recording the album through lockdown. Clearly their crack team of producers had no difficulty in pulling together the component parts and making it shine like the brightest slice of chart-busting pop since Hooch made a comeback.

Review: The Dream Syndicate's 1986 album has been absent from CD for almost a quarter of a century. Now, after 24 years in the wilderness, it gets reissued on triple pack complete with a hard back book sleeve. This is delightful pop from Steve Wynn who can be both moody ad intense and more carefree and abstract. Plenty of his bets work is contained in here and all have been perfectly remastered with 51 songs in, including a previously unreleased live album. It has a higher energy than the rets of the songs that wasn't captured in studio takes and the alternate version on disc three also offer a fresh raw sound.

Review: New Musik is a band well known to deep diggers and synth music lovers. They dropped their debut album From A to B in 1980 and a CD version with extra tracks followed din 1984 as did a reissue in 200. This latest repress comes across two slabs of translucent vinyl and charts the earliest sounds of the South London school friends. At this point the band had already appeared on BBC Top of the Pops but shunned major offers to instead hone their craft first. It paid off, as this is a fantastic debut.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Originally founded in 1992, Boris have absolutely nothing to do with the mop-headed World King currently refusing to leave the No.10 party like that guy who nobody really knows at 7AM. Suffice to say, at some point soon we'll all have to pretend to go to bed and then reconvene in the back yard. The gate is always open.

Digressions aside, this particular Boris represents the vanguard of underground Japanese experimental rock. Tracks that can easily help you escape the reality of a world where even the leaders can't be bothered anymore. Staggeringly, W is the band's 27th studio album, and this doesn't include another 15 collaborative long forms, many with fellow Far East noise legend Merzbow. If that name means anything, but Boris doesn't, you should still kind of know what to expect here. Thick bands of guitar scuzz, subtly developing disharmonies, atmospheric drones, and discordant refrains.

Review: The Reverberation Appreciation Society are onto a winner with their LEVITATION series, pulling classic performances from the considerable archives of the Austin-based psych festival and giving them a carefully crafted pressing. Next in line is Primal Scream, a band with a dizzying spectrum of sound to boil down to a classics-loaded live show. Recorded in 2015, the band sound vital as they blaze through 'Jailbird', 'Kill All Hippies' and of course close out on their eternally anthemic 'Movin' On Up'. Packaged in style and sounding great, this is a must for Scream fans wanting some of the band's best captured in the moment, packaged on to one disc.

Review: Looking Back, the new album from Los Retros, was written sometime between 2017 and 2018. It is as such a window into the artists earlier sound, with seven of the tunes coming from the same time at which he wrote his biggest hit, 'Sometime to Spend Time With,' and debut EP Retrospect. As both a songwriter and a vocalist band leader Mauri Tapia has real skills that shine through here - the grooves are breezy and effortlessly carefree but also direct. The Mexican-American artist's own heritage informs the music as it take in left of centre South American pop to soft rock, hip hop and plenty more.

Review: To the uninitiated, 'We Should Be Together' could easily lead you down the wrong garden path when it comes to what to expect from The Wedding Present. One of the UK's best-loved and most longstanding indie outfits, forming in 1985, this A-B single outing kicks off with the title number and it's very, very nice. Perhaps a little too nice, in almost every way.

The twangy guitars, male-female vocal duet, words perfectly judged to speak directly to where are hearts were when the track was unveiled: deep in the heart of a corona-riddled 2020-21 winter. Of course, anyone familiar with the band will know they tend to do things a little darker, or at least a bit edgier. And that's exactly what we get on the flip, 'Don't Give Up Without A Fight'. Driving drums, rolling, garage-y guitar rhythm, hints of kraut and post-punk just audible on the distant aural horizon.

Review: Chan Marshall is back with a third brilliant album of her now well loved reinterpretations of songs by classic and contemporary artists. Better known as Cat Power, Marshall shows her real and genuine range with these records which span styles, scene and sounds with ease. Artists such as The Replacements, Nick Cave, Lana Del Rey, The Pogues and Frank Ocean all get her unique treatment. This version on heavyweight gold wax comes with a sticker and bonus 7" featuring a fine cover of 'You Got The Silver' by the Rolling Stones.

Review: Riding SCORCHING hot on the heels of their recent self-titled debut, fans could be forgiven for expecting more of the same from Champyun Clouds' second long player of
2021. A hodgepodge of cutting-room-floor-fodder and experiments that would've been b-sides or Japan-exclusive CD bonus tracks in those halcyon days of physical formats' golden ages is not what we're getting. Let's save those for a deluxe anniversary reissue
one day. Nah - sheer, unabashed creativity fuels this album; and weirdly enough, they've managed to branch out in interesting ways while also creating an album that is more immediate and banger-centric. Although Nail's eclectic psych-lounge tendencies and
Asa's irreverent poetry and broad Nottingham lilt remain the key touchstones of CC's sound, opener "Check For Silt"s rough drum'n'bass beats offer an immediate and clear sonic progression for the Nottingham duo. The LP ultimately plays a bit like a haunted
jukebox in outer space - with elements of dub, britpop, early house, trippy, blissed-out sunshine pop (reminiscent of mid-90s His Name Is Alive at their most Beach Boys-aping), William Orbit-esque 90s psych-pop electronica, distorted glam rock shuffles and
garage-y funk. There's a particularly great moment of sequencing at the end of the first half where I got lulled into a state of near-euphoria with the Air-like "The Flowered Crown" before getting slapped 'round the face by "I'm Not Right For You", which sounds
like Nile Rogers producing a demo for Sheila & B. Devotion, except he recorded it at the bottom of a well. Sophomore slump? Never heard of him, mate.

Review: London's latest answer to the timeless conundrum that is alternative rock, Palace, come through with their latest album 'Shoals'. This modern alt-jangle take on the sublime is an attempt to answer life's great existential questions in album form, diving into themes including the Jungian unconscious, dreams and rapture, all through the lyrically aquatic lens of the lapping ocean. Fittingly, this one comes to limited edition oceanic blue vinyl as well as a standard black edition, for all the collectors out there - it'll be shore to impress!

Review: Polly Jean Harvey broke into the common conscious with her unique and individual approach to alternative rock, and she's managed to maintain that aural autonomy throughout a storied career that has simultaneously found favour in the musical mainstream and refused to stray far from the leftfield. A difficult balance to strike, this, her eighth solo studio album, is indicative of that point. There's nothing here not to enjoy, but there's very little here you could predict.

Not least given where it sits in her back catalogue. Production began as the seminal but decidedly hushed White Chalk was released, and this record couldn't be more different from the preceding LP. Doing away with introspect, for the most part anyway, and refocusing attention away from pianos, it's a rousing indie collection that further cements the artist as one of Britain's national treasures.

Review: Fu Manchu provided the whole soundtrack for this film by legendary artist and photographer Glen E. Friedman. A Look Back - DogTown & Z-Boys was his first short documentary and was a retrospective look at one of the most important periods in skateboarding history. The original award winning documentary had a big impact on the surviving members of the gang and all who saw it. The music from Fu Manchu is taken from all across their career, from 1994 up to their most recent album Clone Of The Universe. Single like 'Il Mostro Atomico' and 'Free And Easy (Summer Girls) all feature on this nostalgic record.

Review: Miles Kane's fourth album came together after a chance recording session with "no frills" with psych-rock pair Sunglasses For Jaws in their Hackney studio. Taking inspiration from those collaborative hours, the record is a real joy, not least when the unexpected guest and Grammy-nominated singer Corinne Bailey Rae pops up for a duet on 'Nothing's Ever Gonna Be Good Enough'. Kane himself is full of his usual swagger and lyrically draws on the intense period of self reflection from which the record was born. Motown, soul, and original R&B all colour the tracks next to hints of glam and classic rock.

Review: Despite being at the centre of one of rock's tensest social media dramas in recent history - having been called out by Fat White Family for being too middle-class for their own image - Idles are back on top, thanks to their new album 'Crawler'. Taking a chance on their own criticisms, this album is more introspective than 'Ultra Mono', revealing the band's various wrestlings with addiction and desperation. In true post-punk fashion, it's an emotive sophomore development from lead brain Joe Talbot, spanning plod-rap grungers ('Car Crash') and dark disco-rock ('When The Lights Go On'), all giving off his signature brand of hopeful nihilism, with the ultimate message that 'the show must go on'.