June Of 44 Anahata CD

An indie-rock supergroup if there ever was one, June of 44 consists of members of Rodan, Lungfish, Codeine, and Hoover among others. Genre-defying prog-rock at its most intrepid and surprising, the band's third record, ANAHATA delivers a wide variety of styles. There's sometimes a total absence of standard rock & roll song structures or time signatures and, consequently, much of this is compelling stuff.

On "Boom," twangy reverb guitar, mantra-like singing, a forlorn trumpet, and a galloping tribal beat take the fore, whereas "Southeast of Boston," a slow, dreamy tune, resonates with vibraphone and soft harmonies. The vocals evoke unabashedly off-key punk/post- punk singers like Mick Jones and James White, and the reigning musical approach is fairly loose jams built around syncopated rhythms. In fact, the single thread truly connecting the songs on the album (sans the free-for-all space-out at the last track's end) is the tight, steady drumming. From reggae to jazz-funk to slightly skewed rock, each cut is firmly grounded in groove.

Recorded at Electrical Audio, Chicago, Illinois in January 1999.

June Of 44: Sean Meadows (vocals, guitar, bass); Jeff Mueller (vocals, guitar); Fred Erskine (vocals, trumpet, keyboards, bass); Doug Scharin (keyboards, vibraphone, drums, percussion, samples).

Additional personnel: Chiyoko Yoshida (vocals); Julie Liu (viola).

5th Rel

Alternative Press (9/99, pp.101-2) - 3 out of 5 - "...June of 44 consistently exhibit a vibrancy that is rarely found in this [post-rock] genre....a feast for those with a taste for variety to grow fat on."
Magnet (8-9/99, p.79) - "...it stinks like roses....upgraded are the experimental structuring and flowery ideas....A change in course for sure, but a damn smooth one at that."
The Wire (8/99, p.59) - "...something of a revelation....ANAHATA is the sound of a group reaching maturity without comprimising their basic energy."
CMJ (5/31/99, p.26) - "June of 44 peddles intensity, melancholy and introspection on ANAHATA by using sustained notes, precise timing and lengthy tracks....[they are] concerned with acheiving atmospheric density by the most sublime means possible..."