June Of 44
Four Great Points
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June Of 44
Four Great Points
Quarterstick, 1998
RiYL: Shellac's At Action Park, Rodan's Rusty |
Staffed by current or ex-members of some of the most intriguing underground bands of the decade (Rodan, Codeine, Hoover and Rex), June Of 44 draws equal influence from these groups for an angular and often confounding heavy guitar sound that's right at home on Chicago's Quarterstick Records.
On Four Great Points, the quartet has gussied up initial versions of songs that were part of its live set for the better part of 1997. Opener "Of Information & Belief" has benefited the most from studio experimentation, dipping and swimming through Doug Scharin's crashing drums, Fred Erskine's imposing bass lines, Julie Liu's haunting violin work and Jeff Mueller's understated vocals.
But Four Great Points fails to connect on any kind of personal level and, at its worst, sounds like an exercise in redundancy of music that Rodan and its many offshoots have already done much better. "The Dexterity Of Luck" is six minutes of the same shrieking riff and ranting lyrics, and the vocals on "Does Your Heart Beat Slower," originally an instrumental, totally emasculate this potentially explosive song.
Rugged, highbrow music is no easy listen. But it is one June Of 44 has certainly made more inviting on its earlier albums than on Four Great Points.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"