dinosaur jr.A lead-in thump of the drums and we're in. Farm is the second album recorded by the reformed original line up of Dinosaur jr. All the familiar elements are here from the first track: the walls of fuzzy guitars, J Mascis' trademark half-asleep vocal delivery, the half-buried gorgeous melodies, the moments of strangeness and moments of rocking out, as well as the kind of extended guitar jamming that few people would even attempt on record, let alone manage to pull off. Nearly a quarter century after their first record (really!) Dinosaur jr. are still going strong. Time has knocked a few rough edges off the trio. It would be hard to imagine the demolition job that was Dinosaur jr.'s cover of 'Just Like Heaven', with its disruptive bursts of noise and screaming, appearing on this album. Instead Farm has the assurance and stripped down power of a band with nothing left to prove. Like Led Zepplin's fourth album, the songs here built for playing at big venues rather than tiny dives. The hooks are big and relatively simple, all the better to reach the people at the very back of the crowd, and the ensemble playing is awesomely tight. This is music that sounds better the louder it gets. In other words this makes no apology for being as straight-up a rock album as it is likely this band will ever make. And rightly so because, luckily for us, it's a damn good one. On 'Friends' J Mascis' guitar even riffs and roars like Keith Richards playing through a broken amp. 'Plans' is perhaps a Dinsaur jr. take on gospel, featuring the lyric 'Do you have some plans for me?/... I know you do Lord'. The punning 'I Don't Wanna Go There' is an almost-nine-minute-long epic, as J, Lou and Murph travel though a number of of different moods and styles, beginning with a wall of power chords and topping things off with lashings of soaring guitar. Everything you would expect, everything you might hope for. -- nick ilott.
:: Dinosaur jr./Farm - Jagjaguwar/pias/rough trade.
