Dinosaur Jr - Farm
There’s a part towards the end of the new video for Over It off Dinosaur Jr’s new album “Farm” where J Mascis puts his hand on Lou Barlow’s shoulder for support. At the time, J is riding a skateboard and Lou a BMX. It’s a quick shot really. Nothing special. But it’s the one part of the video that I keep coming back to in my head. Here you have two guys (in their 40s nonetheless) that hated each other for years and wanted nothing more but to distance themselves and their music from one another. But you also have two childhood friends, two hardcore kids who have probably been through more shit together, good and bad, than most people. It’s just such a touching moment in an otherwise silly video of the band (and their stunt doubles) shredding up the city streets on skateboards and bikes while good friend Mike Watt watches on laughing and hooting. The more I thought about it the more I got excited for their new album. Rock and Roll and male camaraderie don’t require one for the other to exist. But when the two come together there’s really nothing like it. Look at me and Brother P. Friendship is the cornerstone to any great rock band (except maybe The Ramones, those guys fucking hated each other). I mean how else can a band travel the country in the close quarters of a small van for months and not kill each other? And it just snowballs from there as Rock brings people of all kinds together as one. As friends. There’s nothing quite like enjoying a show or a great album with your friends. And when music brings people together it’s different than when other common interests do. People that like the same music have similarly hardwired brains. They think, feel, and experience the world around them in similar terms. Something as simple as a guitar solo or line in a song will hit all the same synapses and conjure up all the same emotions. As corny as it sounds all this is such a big part of the rock and the punk culture (and community) that I felt it needed mentioning. That being said, Farm is Dinosaur Jr’s ninth album and their fifth with the original J, Lou, Murph lineup (which is incidentally the second since these three friends got back together a few years ago).
This album comes in three varieties; a standard CD, a Double LP, or a Deluxe Double CD. Content wise the only difference being the Double CD comes with 4 bonus tracks (a Zombies cover, an instrumental, a noise jam freak-out, and an odd 1960s cover ditty by some Canadian named Elyse Weinberg). The sticker on the album had some praising quotes from Pitchfork about how Dinosaur Jr are the only band “able to do what they do”. I disagree with those Pitchfork snobs more often than not but will take their sentiment a step further and say that this is also what makes Dinosaur Jr the punkest of the Post-Hardcore bands to me. The one thing they’ve always been is decidedly Dinosaur Jr… marrying classic rock, hardcore, noise, slacker vibes, stoner jams, and proving that 8+ minute songs don’t have to be boring. I think “Farm” is an album that will please long time fans and new listeners alike. And after their last release “Beyond” it’s further proof that the reunion wasn’t a “filthy lucre” cash-in.
The overall theme of the album is love and friendship. But also how for J, at least, the two are one in the same. Most times I can’t tell if he’s singing about a woman or his relationship with bandmates Lou and Murph. Maybe it’s a little of both. And even if it is all just about a woman, J’s emotional guitar solos and gut wrenching lyrics rely so much on the backbone of the rhythm section that it’s all intertwined one way or the next. When he asks questions like “Can you help me face it?” on I Don’t Wanna Go There I have a feeling it’s his friends he’s asking this of. One thing for sure is that J is one unsure dude, presenting more questions than answers in his lyrics. “Can you bring a smile that makes me forget I don’t know” on album opener Pieces for example. I should also mention that J is and remains my favorite guitar player of all time. He’s also one of the few people that can start a song with a solo and not be done until the first verse is halfway through. If you’re a fan of long emotionally resonating guitar solos, J is your man, and “Farm” is your album.
J wrote the greater majority of the songs, however there are two Lou Barlow songs on this album. Your Weather and album closer Imagination Blind. Both have that sorta stoner hippy quality you’d expect from Barlow. But they also go to show that J and Lou are no longer sovereign states. As much as Lou is doing his thing, J is still there by his side with some soloing helping the song out where he can while not taking it over at the same time. In many ways “Farm” is the sound of renewed friendship. The aforementioned Over It seems to spell things out pretty clearly speaking of what they “almost lost”, “commitments long over due” and how “when I needed you came through”. The next song on the album, aptly titled Friends, echoes these sentiments with lines like “I need a hand”, “I been away, I‘d like to stay”, and “hope it’s not too late”.
Some albums too are like old friends. They help us through the tough times by expressing the same emotions we’re feeling so we know we’re not feeling them alone. For some people, bands themselves take on this role. Did you ever feel like you were in a Dinosaur Jr mood? You can’t quite put it into words but you just know that the soundtrack to this very moment in time belongs to one band or one album? This is the best time to listen to them. For me Dinosaur Jr will always be one of those bands that I go to. And even though I’ve only had it for a few days now, I can already tell that “Farm” will be one of those albums.
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