Seattle band offers up intricate, melodic guitar rock that Radiohead or Foo Fighters fans should devour.

The Skinny
With studio help from Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel, Seattle's Juno has put together a melodic guitar rock record in "A Future Lived in Past Tense" (De Soto) that's notches above much of today's mechanistic emo-punk. Employing three guitars and some explosive percussion from Greg Ferguson, the band takes up a sound that mid-'90s punk heavyweights such as Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu pioneered. Powerful straight-ahead passages are broken up with delicate and moody sections that shine light on personal and complex lyrical critiques. Now and then ("When I Was In") Juno exhibits an anthemic pop sensibility that suggests that the Foo Fighters would be perfect tourmates. Most of all, the band furthers the tradition of technically sound underground rock craft. When the heavy guitars come in with evocative chords, the tunes really resonate with sincerity and intelligence.

The Crowd
Utility-panted, short-haired punk rockers that dig Fugazi, Foo Fighters and Jawbox.