Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Showing posts with label J Mascis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J Mascis. Show all posts
Monday, August 24, 2026
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
2024 Look Ahead – Music
Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2024/01/02/2024-look-ahead-music/
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Friday, April 16, 2021
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
J Mascis - Elastic Days - Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/10/30/j-mascis-elastic-days-album-review/
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr - Farm
Dinosaur Jr's 2009 album Farm is very much business as usual. What sets them apart from other bands is J Mascis' guitar. The rough-hewn riffs hit that bit harder and the solos really take flight. Opening one-two Pieces and the bouncy I Want You To Know are perfect examples of this. The man has the ability to make guitars convey real emotions, the guitars on Plans sound almost wistful.
Bassist Lou Barlow pitches in with Your Weather and Imagination Blind, however these and many of the others - Over It, Friends and See You have melodies that aren't really that memorable. There's No Here is a strong Neil Young & Crazy Horse type thing. I Don't Wanna Go There is a decent penultimate track, but does it really have to be nearly NINE minutes long?
What they do really isn't complex, just heavy-riffing pop tunes groaned along to by J Mascis. This album is not a must-own Dinosaur Jr album, it's more of a next tier purchase.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
Pick Me Up is basically a long lead-in to a hugely satisfying guitar solo, and, so long as you aren't looking for much depth to the lyrics, Barlow's Back To Your Heart is a swaggering stomp of a song. Mascis and co sound revitalised on some of the heavier tracks like It's Me and Barlow's Lightning Bulb.
The one weak spot is the plodding acoustic strum of I Got Lost. Here Mascis sings falsetto, and though it's a rare instance of proper 'singing', it doesn't help matters. Much better in a mellow vein is We're Not Alone, which bobs along amiably, evoking the Lemonheads. The album is definitely up to scratch with their older work, ushering in a great Dinosaur Jr second act.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Album Review: J Mascis + The Fog - Free So Free
Soft acoustics have their place here too, at least for the opening 2 minutes of If That's How It's Gotta Be, before the band drag the track out of its slumber into a satisfying conclusion. Further introspection is evident with the lumbering title track and the paychedelic-tinged Someone Said. Less satisfying are poppy rockers Tell The Truth and Everybody Lets Me Down. J Mascis has always ended his albums well, and here is no different with the blissed out solos of Outside.
So in short: you like Dinosaur Jr? Give this a go.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Album Review: J Mascis + The Fog - More Light
In 2000, J Mascis released what ostensibly was his first solo album but in reality followed on from his Dinosaur Jr work, which saw him progressively take over more and more responsibility for the music. The album features Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard on vocals on a few of the tracks, and also, thrillingly, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine.
Despite the personnel involved, it's pretty much business as usual for Mascis, from the moment he slams into opener Sameday, which is in the vein of vintage Dinosaur Jr ie heavy riffs and Mascis charmingly half-arsed drawled vocals. Where'd You Go has an almost 70s classic rock riff at its core, while Back Before You Go and All the Girls have a kind of Lemonheads-gone-heavy feel.
The album is not without its fine mellow moments - the swirling keyboards of Waistin', the summery, acoustic picking of Ground Me To You and the blissed-out, what can only be described as 'wibblyness' of Ammaring. Later, Pollard makes his presence on the call-and-response grunge of I'm Not Fine. As for Shields? Most prominent on the title track, the final song on the album. He pours his own particular brand of magic over a complete headrush of a track, equal parts MBV and Primal Scream's Accelerator, and the tracks collapses in a sea of distortion and effects. It's a great way to round off a collection of songs well able to stand alongside Mascis' Dinosaur Jr material.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr - Hand It Over
Elsewhere, Can't We Move This has a noisy guitar part and Screaming Trees style melody, while I defy anyone to listen to the entire eight minutes of Alone. The second half of the album picks things up, Sure Not Over You and Mick have a relaxed groove, while I Know Yer Insane (some sort of theme?) sees Mascis try some Johnny Marr-isms on guitar and Gettin' Rough features over-perky banjo.
But I can't imagine this is any Dinosaur Jr fan's favourite album.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr – Without A Sound
Dinosaur Jr’s
sixth album released in 1994 opens with the sound of a cork being pulled out of
a bottle before opening track Feel The Pain starts. In common with much of the rest of the
material, J Mascis is in laid-back mode, this track drifts along nicely till
the chorus, where all of a sudden it’s as if somebody lit a match under it and
the track bursts into life.
As much as any
of their other albums, this one is about Mascis and his guitar(s). He is in wistful, dewy-eyed form, I Don’t
Think So has the warm, fuzzy glow of the Lemonheads, while the acoustic Outta
Hand is practically horizontal.
Elsewhere,
Yeah Right and Get Out Of This are like prime slices of 70s riffing, while Grab
It is the heaviest thing here, all squalling guitars. The album is really like pop music played by
heavy guitars (especially On The Brink), tracks like Even You and Mind Slow accompany
Mascis’ croak with a pleasing early 90s attitude.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr – Where You Been
By 1993, J Mascis had recruited Mike Johnson,
and after the somewhat underwhelming Green Mind, Mascis took centre stage to
make what was a far more enjoyable album.
It opens with the riff-heaven of Out There,
a real guitar hero track superior to anything on Green Mind. Mascis’ vocals are still a real strain as he
croaks “I know you’re oouuuttt theerrre” but it’s really about his guitar
playing, along with Murph’s fine drumming.
The bouncy, almost funky Start Choppin follows, with more powerful
guitar and the introduction of Mascis’ goofy falsetto.
Many of the tracks, What Else Is New, Get
Me and Drawerings are showcases for J Mascis’ guitar soloing, straying closer
and closer into ‘classic rock’ territory.
A couple of mellower moments produce mixed results. Mascis’ falsetto on Not The Same is too
distracting for the track to work.
Later, Goin’ Home is more relaxed, carried by a very pleasant organ. Punkier moments like On The Way and Hide
still have their place also, giving the album a fairly diverse sound. Not quite an essential Dinosaur Jr album, but
a very enjoyable one.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr - Green Mind
1991's Green Mind was the first post-Lou
Barlow album. It starts in a 'business-as-usual' way, rather abruptly with J
Mascis riffing away on The Wagon. This track comes across as a little
Dino-by-numbers, it's not as strong as their previous openers. However the rest
of the album settles into a mellow groove. Tracks like Puke + Cry, Water and
the Mellotron-dominated Thumb have a less urgent, more melodic feel than
previous albums.
Mascis does a Barlow-style, 'sensitive'
acoustic number Flying Cloud, and stripped of the electric bombast his voice
sounds weedier than ever. It's not all mellow gold, How'd You Pin That One On
Me barrels along but leaves little impression, while the choppy guitars on Muck
and the title track don't really convince.
It was hard to identify what Barlow added
to Dinosaur Jr. But on this evidence there's definitely something missing here.
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