June - If You Speak AnyFaster

Thu 22nd Sep, 2005 in Music Reviews

The press release for this record includes a quote from Music Emissions that says “Beautiful, emo style melodies that would make The Get Up Kids jealous.” It is very hard not to draw parallels between The Get Up Kids and June because this could have been a record that The Get Up Kids made.

Simply, June sound like The Get Up Kids and not just a little bit but a lot.

The melodies are the same, the harmonies are the same, the guitars sound the same, the vocals are remarkably similar, even the little piano bits sound the same. This is a band that has heard The Get Up Kids and decided that they should make a record to sound like them.

But to clarify The Get Up Kids were an amazing band (let’s pretend they never did those truly horrible Beatles covers), they had great pop hooks, great melodies, amazing amounts of energy (ever see them when they toured?), and a hell of a lot of punk attitude. It was emo when emo meant something, not just a generic term for indie pop as played by former punk/hardcore kids.

This is not a good record because it derives so much from The Get Up Kids – go buy the The Get Up Kids record Four Minute Mile and you’ll thank yourself later. On the other hand if you don’t give a shit and enjoy bands like Taking Back Sunday or Dashboard Confessional I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.