Oh to restate the changes in Victory Records between the good old days and those of now in which it seems as if every band with some “market potential” makes the roster. Those days when the same label was an anchor in the entire scene with the flat-footing required to keep the music alive. If it weren’t for those days, it would be a lot easier to listen to some of these buzzin’ bands without a skeptical glare. Bands with potential, even on bandwagons are not necessarily bad, but without something new, they cannot be held in a high regard. That said, JUNE on this EP has managed to jump on the emo-pop-punk bandwagon and play everything safe… too safe in fact. The June EP rides the cookie cutter pop-punk formula of limp, sing-along standard songwriting. JUNE actually released this EP on Vinyl Summer Recordings, but has since been signed to Victory Records. What the band brings to the table is the typical stop-and-go upbeat pop-punk music that comes off as polished and professional. Nasal, high pitched vocals dominate JUNE’s sound with many times repeated choruses obsessing around relationship based lyrics. The music is not bad, the singing is better than par, but nothing new is brought to the table, and you’ve likely heard a band like JUNE hundreds of times before. The frustrating element with JUNE is that there is nothing that would be at fault with the band had this EP been released a couple years ago. Unfortunately, at this time they are not stirring any passion in their music as it all comes off as calculated and routine. There is potential for a big single in future works, but JUNE’s popularity (there’s popularity? Ed.) is riding on a trend that is wavering and unsteady. To be honest, the band is good enough that they would receive a marginal pop-punk recommendation, but I just hate to see another band land on a bandwagon and try to ride it to the top with nothing unique going for them.

Vinyl Summer

www.thevinylsummer.com/