June Of '44
Four Great Points

1990s. Grunge was spreading its roots immensely, post-rock was being born, and hard rock had always been present. Obviously, the United States led the way. Speaking of the United States, I mention Kentucky. City, Louisville. Let's set aside Bourbon Whiskey for a moment. From here come the four young men who decided to form a band at the time with the name June of 44, the subject of this review. The name was coined based on important historical events that occurred during that period, with letters by Henry Miller being pivotal. What these events are, I don't know, boh.

This album titled Four Great Points, in my opinion, the best and most captivating, sees the light in 1998 after the previous works Engine Takes to The Water and Tropics And Meridians. After this, Anahata will come. The enormous flames have been extinguished, and from the ashes of Codeine, Rodan, and Sonora Pine in 1994, the ones present here were born. We no longer speak of early Hardcore and Slowcore hand in hand with Slint, but the four, Erskine, Meadows, Mueller, and Sharin, decide to structure a sound that for the years in which it was born is a fusion of Grunge, Post-rock, Hardcore, and Rock. And let's add Jazz influences. I can only compare it to Iceburn or Jesus Lizard. But it’s an affront. I can define it as the music of June of 44.

In this album, more than ever, one gets involved in pieces of absolute compositional beauty, sharp sounds, countertimes, and restarts, the voices of Mueller and Meadows alternate moments of calm and lucidity of excellent ballads with others of schizophrenic visceral intensity. This is noted in tracks like The Dexterity Of Luck (Quiet) and Cut Your Face (Hallucinatory and Sharp, blades for guitars and blades in the throat, tough timbres, tragic singing). In this work, there is also a skillful use of the trumpet, played with clarity by Erskine, as well as keyboards, mood, samplers. They are highly skilled in constructing unpredictable plots, always filled with tension, always loaded with distorted guitars just enough and pieces of cosmic transport with a muted trumpet and plucked guitar as in Air 17. The June of 44 would then disband in 2000. With this album, they have reached the culmination, a work of absolute beauty that marked a style and an era. A must-have!!!