Released by Play It Again Sam, 22nd of June 2009
Dinosaur Jr are one of those bands which really do inspire fear in the music critic. Their reputation as untouchable noise punks is second only, it seems, to that impossibly revered lot, Sonic Youth. Their signature aesthetic of burning electric guitar is firmly intact here and singer J Mascis sounds like he couldn’t give a shit what the other band members think of the stuff, let alone any piddling “critic” that might, god help me, turn their nose up at it. Read your history. Mascis is infamous for his perfectionism. There are accounts (yes, on Wikipedia) of his need to absolutely control almost every aspect of drummer Murph’s contributions. Mascis ousted bassist Lou Barlow shortly after the release of their third album, 1988’s Bug and Murph departed a few years later.
Whether or not their issues of creative balance have been resolved is not clear, what is clear is they are back to making music of the most ferocious kind. It therefore gives me unusual pleasure in declaring Farm an absolute beast of an album. Despite the resolute dulcetness of Mascis’s singing these songs pack a punch so decimating that few critical ears can withstand their onslaught. What screams through is the intensity of Mascis’s soloing, the wild abandon with which Murph thrashes the cymbals; the way he pummels the snare and beats the shit out of the kick, and the badass, bludgeoning thickness of Barlow’s basslines, somehow equal both in girth and harmony.
Mascis only really lets his guard down on the seven minute album centrepiece “Said The People”. Earnestly singing “Save me” over a classic sequence of C, G, D and Am, he sounds both wearied and pleading –not always winning qualities but here they absolutely work. Of course the slow ballad rock setting is perfect for a big long solo: the song has two. The best rock soloists literally take flight, the chords become gusts beneath the wings and the (in this metaphor, apparently winged) lead guitar soars high above them, imperiously wringing every ounce of emotion and melody from the notes. J. Mascis is one of those soloists.
Criticisms? Well, having spent 350 words or so praising Jr as much as possible, I suppose I could venture out on a couple of quibbles. 60 minutes is a bit too long for an album made up, after all, of about two colours, and, given that the pacing is a pretty constant 130-140 BPM, it can wear a little on the inattentive listener’s patience. Though I’m not usually the biggest advocate for excessive distortion I must say the production values here really do make everything sound ten, fifteen times better than they could with any other tone or effect. In fact I’ve rarely heard guitars sounding more red-raw and boisterous as they do here. Their reunion has been only slightly more incongruous than when Pixies got together back in 2004. But the Pixies only toured, almost no new material was put out or written and we’re up to album number two for the reformed Dinosaur Jr, and the quality still is high. They’re one of those bands which accede to the glory of rock, totally sidestepping prog wankery with their direct melodiousness and wisely negating miserly punk minimalism, while still soloing utterly shamelessly. Indeed there is no room for shame with a band as prodigiously gifted as this one; they blast shame into touch with super powers possessed by only a precious few power trios.
Posted In Album Reviews, Jun 19 2009.
Words - Richard