by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
No matter what your opinion is about J Mascis and about his music solo or with Dinosaur Jr., you have to hand it to him - he's an artist with a vision which he has fulfilled from the moment he came up on the scene back in the mid-eighties. His often-shambolic combination of big guitar noise and sweet melodies never left him, and he keeps that flame up until today. Luckily for him and his listeners, in most cases he came out on top, rarely slipping, but never dipping below 'just good.'
With such a concept, he's been one of the progenitors of grunge and quite a few other things in the world of indie and rock in general. He continues to go on, even with stories circling around his fans that he's practically deaf in one ear from his never less than fierce guitar playing, particularly live. It is a live album that Dinosaur Jr has to offer, now, Emptiness at The Sinclair, recorded recently at the Boston venue of the same name, The Sinclair.
After releasing a new studio album in 2021, (Sweep into Space), and a documentary (Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr), this live album represents sort of a Dinosaur Jr and J Mascis career overview so far and is probably complementary to the film. You got it all here, form absolute classics like “Just Like Heaven” and the always inspiring “Freak Scene” to tracks from the latest album like “I Ain't” and “I Met The Stones.”
All of it is high quality. As fans might expect, the ferocity and devotion of a Dinosaur Jr live show is still there, and as usual, sometimes you cannot make out the difference whether it is a live rendition or a studio version. Fans will certainly grab this one, and for the uninitiated, this just might be the entry point they've been looking for.