Roadtrips

There are two great songs on Four Great Points (Quarterstick/Touch and Go), the latest disc from Louisville sluggers June of '44. But in between "Of Information & Belief" and "Shadow Pugilist," a couple of spare avant-folk melodies, June of '44 ramble on indecipherably about chakras like disembodied Zeppelin geeks stuck in neutral (on "The Dexterity of Luck" and "Cut Your Face"), and later they zone out on dub and other narcotics (on "Doomsday"). It's ostensibly their most coherent effort to date, but our enthusiasm is wavering. See 'em with local followers Victory at Sea on Mother's Day, May 11, at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge, and May 12 at the Call (401-751-2255) in Providence.

By contrast, Modest Mouse got our full attention late last year with The Lonesome Crowded West (Up!). Like labelmates 764-HERO (whom they're releasing a split 10-inch EP with this month on Suicide Squeeze), they trade in a quirky mess of dissonance and melodies that makes them noisier, more tantrum-prone successors to the Pavement/Sebadoh indie axis. Expect scrabbling guitars, a little screaming, a little singing, even a little scratching when they play an all-ages gig at Amherst College (413-542-2000) on May 8.

Frank Black, the artist formerly known as the Pixies' Black Francis, has a new album (Frank Black and the Catholics) that's out overseas but has yet to find a home here. In the meantime, you can catch him as an unlikely reinterpreter of "Mother Popcorn" on Super Bad @ 65: A Tribute to James Brown (Zero Hour), or on the road at Pearl Street (413-584-0610) in Northampton on May 10, the Call on May 15, and Axis (617-262-2437) in Boston on May 16. Good luck trying to get tickets to the Foo Fighters/Rocket from the Crypt shows on May 12 and 13 at Avalon (617-262-2424) and Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel; both are sold out (401-272-5876). Tickets are still available, though, for the Crystal Method at Pearl Street on May 14, as well as for the Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll Party they're headlining on Lansdowne Street (781-595-1017) on May 13. And last but not least, just 'cause we thought you'd want to know, iconic teen author turned adult author Judy Blume (Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret) will be signing her new book at Rizzoli Bookstore at Copley Place (617-437-0700) on May 11, and at Borders in Framingham (508-875-2321) on May 12.

--C.C.