Peter Luscombe - 1/30/2010

Don't be fooled by them being labelled as indie, this isn't another one of those generic electro-indie bands with their bland generic music like the Bombay Bicycle Club. Hell Dinosaur Jr. practically invented the indie genre in the 80s along with the Pixies and Sonic Youth but yet no-one over here has heard of them. This is their second release since they reformed a couple of years ago and they're still as strong as ever.

This is one of the few albums I've heard where the artwork matches the music. An odd thing to say but it reminds me of psychedelic rock in some ways, (hence the grass and fumes), but unlike most psychedelic music there is a lot of emotion in here and although lead man Mathis' groans can be annoying at times, 'Plans' stands for me as one of the most heart-warming songs of 2009; kind of like 'Use Somebody' but less mainstream and theatrical.

In fact, so much of today's popular indie borrows from Dinosaur Jr. but yet it is rarely bettered, so if you're into bands like Kings of Leon or Snow Patrol, check this out.