Dinosuar jr. is primarily the realm of J Mascis. As a hard rock guitar band with plenty of popular hooks to grant accessibility, Dinosuar jr. remains in indie rock land. That's okay by me. The 2009 release of Farm marks the new traditionalist sound that defines their music, yet manages to stay fresh every album (almost every album; there are a couple of in-betweens after the brilliant Where You Been such as Without A Sound that put horribleness on a new level).
Scronk and Roll is alive and well on Farm. J follows U2's formula. Although production value increases throughout the years, they continue to make great albums without changing the angle too much. When Where You Been first came out, CD's and the digital production markets were starting to go big time. Bands like Dinosaur jr. recorded these in a way that begged that you play it loud because it didn't sound good at lower volume. After the years have gone by, you can record an album like Farm and it sounds loud and good at a low volume. Farm pretty much continues where the excellent Beyond left off. Both albums are a lot less about fuzzy guitars and more about hard lead guitars, epic drum beatings, and crunch. I like J as a singer but he's put away his longing angst for more adult singing. The band is truly on the foreground here. Maybe for the first time Dinosaur jr. sounds like a band and not a J Mascis side project. No where is this more evident than the fact that Lou Barlow contributes two great tunes. There's also bonus disc featuring a cover of The Zombies' Whenever You're Ready.
Took me a while to getting around to reviewing this album. Have had it almost all year and listened to it many times, but subsequent listens keep this album on my barometer of good tuneage for 2009.
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