The return of June of 44 is the big news this week for certain swaths of the post-punk world. And while these guys don't look like that (up there) anymore, they play just as well still. Revisionist: Adaptations & Future Histories In The Time Of Love And Survival, out today via Broken Clover Records, is a blast of energy, and a reminder of just how much life is left in this genre even still.
"A Chance to Cure is a Chance to Cut Your Face (MATMOS REMIX)" opens things with a mix of nervous energy and determined focus, as "ReRecorded Syntax" maintains a mid-tempo tension that's delicious. Elsewhere, "Post-Modern Hereditary Dance Steps" revs up to a brief frenzy, while "Generate" finds the players here circling each other with what sounds like bad intent. The instruments are all prominently featured in the clean mix from John McEntire (Tortoise), and there's a jazz-like submerged tension here that's nearly palpable.
While long-time fans are rewarded with "Paint Your Face", a Bob Weston-produced number from 1996 at the end of the album, Revisionist: Adaptations & Future Histories In The Time Of Love And Survival works best as a kind of collection of moods. Veering from a pair of remixes, to down-tempo work-outs, to (briefly) a more hyper one, the musicians here in June of 44 still maintain the skills to please the ears of attentive listeners, and lay down the sort of post-punk that fueled an entire scene here in decades earlier. The music's still relevant, of course, and the resilience in these forms is still apparent, at least when these players are on fire, and when a producer like John McEntire, and with recording help from Matt Schulz (SAVAK, Lake Ruth) is capturing the whole thing on tape.
Revisionist: Adaptations & Future Histories In The Time Of Love And Survival is out now via Broken Clover Records.
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