As per usual there are a couple Lou Barlow contributions as well. Sweep It Into Space comprises 12 guitar-powered tracks that range from sludgy to fuzzy to jangly, mostly topped off with J Mascis’ unmistakable vocals and spiraling guitar solos. Relatedly, if you love this band, you already know exactly what you’re getting here. If you love this band, the half-decade wait was worth it. lineup reunited for 2007’s remarkable Beyond, they’ve been taking longer and longer between albums: two years for 2009’s Farm, then three for 2012’s I Bet On Sky, then four for 2016’s Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not, and now a five-year gap leading up to Sweep It Into Space. And while it may not have any of my favorite songs on it, as an album it still feels like a decent entry in a career of decent entries.Ever since the original Dinosaur Jr. Like I might listen to this album before some of the early reunion records merely because it’s easier on my old-ass ears. But it is a true mish-mash of old and new that is remarkably solid for a late-career entry. And as an acolyte of Mascis, I’m sure he wanted to hit it out of the park.Īll in all, this album isn’t going to break any new ground (save a swinging tune, “Take It Back”) or add any new twists to the music and legacy of this venerable group. Whatever you think of his music, the dude can make stuff sound good. And that may be because of the involvement of Kurt Vile on the album’s production. It’s not cleaner per se, but more balanced. This album, however, provides more separation between the instruments and just sounds better to my ears. It seemed blown out or overly compressed or something. Interestingly, one of the things I’ve found annoying about some of their more recent stuff is the production.

Those tunes are way more Sebadoh than Dino Jr., but I suppose even J needs to give up a little control every once in while. You even have a few Barlow tunes, including “Garden,” which I heard him play in a backyard solo tour a couple months back. Of course there is still nothing like a skyrocketing guitar solo from the man, and they are here in spades. His cadence has been the same since Green Mind. But if you’re looking for something different out of this band, you are going to be disappointed. Honestly, the album comes out of the gate rockin’ not like a bunch of 50-somethings, but with loud, brash classic rock chugging that made them the world’s loudest band three decades and counting. The second track, “I Met the Stones,” sounds right out of the old days, complete with wailing guitar shredding and road weary vocals. To be fair, though, Mascis and the boys, Lou Barlow and Murph, definitely do it up on their fifth album since reuniting the original lineup un 2005. is arguably a much cooler hang than the legions of PJ hangers-on. than PJ, but their status as an active legacy act has cemented them in the annals of old-guy rock ‘n’ roll.

But people will line their asses up to watch them live. In the sense that they put out albums every half decade or so to very little notice or care. Yet it feels kind of like they’ve become Pearl Jam. have been with me longer than time itself.

Dinosaur jr sweep it into space