Dinosaur Jr - Farm

Two albums into their nothing-short-of-miraculous reunion, and proto-grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr are, put simply, on a roll. The newfound restraint displayed on their latest LP is powerful: where earlier albums were Tyrannosaurus Rexes thundering across the landscape destroying everything in their wake, Farm is more of a graceful Diplodocus striding through the plains. The elements which make the trio's sound distinct are here - J Mascis's effortless guitar pyrotechnics, Lou and Murph's rock-solid rhythm section - but there's less noise shrouding Mascis's wearily beautiful melodies. It's as if the band have finally relaxed, and this relaxation, rather than leading to creative stasis, has produced a record whose clarity sounds triumphant and groundbreaking. Where reunion records tend towards disappointing cash-ins or, at worst, acts of necrophilia, Mascis and Co. buck the trend, as they've always done, and prove that they're not extinct quite yet.