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Dinosaur Jr. (Photo by Cara Totman)
For nearly 40 years, Dinosaur Jr. has established a reputation as one of the best, most innovative alternative rock bands — and one of the loudest. On Tuesday evening, they lived up to that reputation when they appeared at a sold-out 9:30 Club, with Chicago guitarist Ryley Walker opening.
Dinosaur Jr. (Photo by Cara Totman)
Dinosaur Jr. return with Sweep It Into Space, their new album out April 23 on Jagjaguwar, and a new single, “I Ran Away.”
J Mascis performs at City Winery on Dec. 5, 2018. (Photo by David LaMason)
J Mascis blurred the line between acoustic and electronic performance in a recent performance at City Winery. J played an acoustic guitar, but he used extensive effects, such as distortion and looping for an exciting evening of guitar rock.
J Mascis (Photo by Cara Totman)
Guitarist J Mascis began making music with Dinosaur Jr. While the trio remains active, J Mascis, born Joseph Donald Mascis, has been going solo more often lately, recently releasing Elastic Days, his third full-length solo album, via Sub Pop Records. He’s taking the opportunity to tour, and he’ll perform at City Winery in DC on Wednesday, Dec. 5.
J Mascis performs with Dinosaur Jr. at Best Kept Secret Festival on June 18, 2016. (Photo by Kmeron)
Dinosaur Jr. took the stage in front of a sold-out 9:30 Club on Thursday night. Two hours later, I sat in my car and could hardly hear anything over the ringing in my ears. This is not a bad thing (although I have rethought my stance on wearing ear-plugs) because it was a result of J Mascis’ roaring guitar solos!
J’s Jazzmaster screamed as Emmett Jefferson “Murph” Murphy III (drums) and Lou Barlow (bass) provided a heavy and steady rhythm foundation. I had read about J’s ability on the guitar and seeing it for myself backed up everything I read. It’s no surprise Rolling Stone ranked him 86th on their list of 100 greatest guitarists.