It’s almost surprising to see the release of June 2009. However, in the realm of a chillwave movement dominated by Chaz Bundick, the artist behind the album, a decent amount of criticisms have been drawn. June 2009 isn’t some new album designed to generate huge sales and further propagate his vast popularity, but rather to justify himself from claims of unoriginality.
June 2009 is exactly what its name sets itself up to be: a collection of Bundick’s early works. Here, we can clearly see his influences, especially Ariel Pink. These early works fall into the great masses of lo-fi artists. Despite this, we see just how much Bundick refined his style, lyrics, songwriting, and production quality in order to garner the popularity he has today.
This album was never meant to collect new fans. Toro Y Moi has reached popularity enough to appeal to fanatics and collectors to listen to June 2009. The album is somewhat of a before-and-after showing the changes and improvements that Bundick had to make in order to stand apart and make his own sounds. Despite the criticism that this music can’t compete with his more current work, it’s still worth a listen if you like his current sound. The music isn’t necessarily bad, just a little generic, and the insight is worth the time.