Dinosaur Jr., "Farm"

So, the new Dinosaur Jr. record is really good. Really, really good. It's the second album in three years from the reunited original line-up, and it stands (with the last one) right at the pinnacle of their discography. For starters, just look at the cover:



Clearly, even in this age of itunes and downloading and nonphysical formats, there's still a place in the world for awesomely ridiculous packaging.

And then there's the music inside; all really good, but the first track is enough to blow my mind wide open and push the disc to the top of my summer listening pile. "Pieces" is pretty much everything great about Dino distilled into one euphoric album-opener. Instant bursts of melody, J. Mascis' near-lackadaisical vocals, Lou Barlow's bass and Murph's insanely propulsive drumming holding down the groove, and an entire album's worth of twiddlyFRAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRwhooormchingBLAM guitar packed into just over four minutes.

Oh, and the rest of the album is great too, full of thrashy brain-melting stompers and chiming ballads and insanely epic guitar freak-outs and hummable tunes and all things good. It's out June 24th, on Jagjaguwar Records. Go get it.