FRESH BAKED
Dinosaur Jr.
Farm
2009 | Jagjaguwar
B+

Dinosaur Jr.’s new LP, Farm, is hardly a new beginning for the alt-rock pioneers, but that is no reason to be deterred, as watching them cavalierly stroll the indie tightrope is as entertaining as ever. The only difference between Farm and their classic work, like 1987s seminal You’re Living All Over Me, is that some of the messier qualities (specifically the feedback) have been washed away – leading the effort to resemble grunge more than any Dinosaur Jr. album to date. This is amplified by J. Mascis’s age-eroded voice, which is beginning to have the timber of Eddie Vedder. But, man, does Mascis’s guitar still have that same glorious tone.

As languid as his groaning can be, there’s so much joy and excitement in Mascis’s lead guitar (searing, even). It’s clear he relishes each time he gets to show off just how much better he is at guitar than you. Case and point: “I Don’t Want to Go There,” Dinosaur Jr.’s stab at a sprawling, Neil Young-esque guitar epic, which is much in the vein of Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand.” The song isn’t quite as inspired as that classic rock staple, but the guitar work is arguably better, with more than half of its nine minutes dedicated to Mascis’s guitar wonderfully twisting and soaring above the hook’s grimy squalls.
More on Dinosaur Jr. | Farm

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compiled by Max Sebela