Album Of The Week: Dinosaur Jr. Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not

It's probably pure apostasy, but there are those of us who believe that the current version of Dinosaur Jr. is the best version of Dinosaur Jr. In their original form, Dino Jr. were ragged pioneers. They discovered, before so many others would, that scorching classic-rock guitar heroics were, if you pulled them off just right, perfectly compatible with sludge-punk sonics and with a sort of proto-emo sense of radical, open-hearted teenage vulnerability. They found new ways to let songs and noise coexist with one another. But they were also raw and unformed, and at least at times, they hated each other. By the time J Mascis rose to MTV semi-stardom, he'd jettisoned his old partner Lou Barlow, who was, by that point, writing diss songs about his old bandmate. So when Mascis and Barlow and original drummer Murph all reassembled in 2005 -- when they radiated the feeling that they were old friends reconnecting, not estranged old co-workers chasing a paycheck -- the feeling of warmth was just remarkable. And it was even more remarkable to see them sustain that warmth over a full decade, making music that felt like what they'd been hinting at during their first run together.