Record Rebound: Dinosaur Jr reissue ‘Farm’ on its 15th anniversary
After forming in 1984, Dinosaur Jr became a prevalent force under the wing of fellow noise rock innovators Sonic Youth. With the debut album, Dinosaur, under their belt, they entered the studio with engineer Wharton Tiers to create a more accomplished and productionally refined follow-up, You’re Living All Over Me. Maintaining momentum into the 1990s, Dinosaur Jr established a potent sonic identity with the popular records Where You Been and Without a Sound.
The band dissolved in 1997 following a precarious period. However, the original line-up reunited in 2005, and J Mascis, Murph and Lou Barlow remain a solid trio to this day. Since reuniting, the band has released five studio albums, each bringing a nuance to the fore while remaining faithful to Dinosaur Jr’s trademark sound of high distortion and grunge-inspired rhythms.
Of the five new-age Dinosaur Jr releases, 2009’s Farm is probably the best. Though all five have their moments, such as the soaring single ‘Garden’ from 2021’s Sweep It Into Space, none feel quite as complete nor as representative of the band’s original sound as Farm. Throughout, Mascis brings his distinctive drawled vocals to the fore, doing justice to some compelling and often dour lyrical themes.
As fans have grown accustomed to, the album is mostly led by Mascis’ introspective lyrical whims, which are juxtaposed by energetic and anthemic chorus breaks. Highlight moments like ‘Pieces’ and ‘Plans’ benefit hugely from melodic lead work that adds a little order to the fuzziness, a characteristic that boosted the appeal of the band’s signature song ‘Feel the Pain’. However, as everyone who has seen Dinosaur Jr can appreciate, this band is all about noise, of which there is no shortage in this record.
As usual, Mascis dominates the songwriting credits as the band’s co-founding leader. Like 2007’s Beyond, Farm reserved two slots for songwriting submissions from Barlow: ‘Your Weather’ and ‘Imagination Blind’. At stops five and 12, the bassist provides vocal variety, allowing Mascis to concentrate on some killer lead work. Lyrically, Barlow adheres to the album’s gloomy aesthetic as he addresses mortality in both.
It perhaps goes without saying that Farm should be listened to at an elevated volume. Just be careful if you have one of the original CD copies. When Dinosaur Jr first released the album in June 2009, they made the headlines after reports of European copies with an accidental increase in volume. The band issued a statement at the time, warning fans about CDs with the 5414939004926 serial number. “While duplicating the original master … the software program ‘doubled’ the sound layers,” they announced. “This resulted in a 3dB increase in volume”.
Although this was a fitting fiasco for a noise rock band, we can rest assured that the new 15th-anniversary copies won’t cause any unwarranted hearing damage. The new vinyl edition, available for pre-order now and hitting the shelves on Friday, August 16th, features all 12 original tracks as well as four bonus tracks never before released on vinyl.
The two-LP set, cut on lime-coloured vinyl, includes ‘Houses’, ‘Creepies’ (Instrumental), ‘Show’, and a cover of The Zombies’ 1965 single ‘Whenever You’re Ready’.
