It is of the live show, A Benefit for Jesse Malin on Sunday night up at the Beacon Theater in NYC.
It was an emotional night all around as a host of top notch guests came out to support Malin including Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Steven Van Zandt, J Mascis, Rickie Lee Jones, the list goes on and on. However, no guest topped the man himself as Jesse stood up to sing and walked off stage by himself, it was inspirational.
It is of J Mascis newest solo album on Sub Pop titled What Do We Do Now. RtBE have written about Mascis so much already we will let the review speak for the record, which is great as always.
The crushing psychedelic riffs return as Heavy Blanket's newest album, Moon Is, is the band's first new music since the live release of Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket - In A Dutch Haze back in 2014.
The band behind Heavy Blanket is very suspect outside of the one known entity, J Mascis. Supposedly recorded with old friends ‘Pete Cougar’ and ‘Johnny Pancake’, the names and lack of any other info leads one to strongly believe that this is a J solo project; all be it one he just wants to shred on. No vocals, just guitar, bass, and drums delivering extended workouts of stoner influenced heavy rock.
The opening "Danny" sets the tone for what is to follow as clean riffs mix with distortion and the drums slam forward. The cascading riffs and clean/fuzz tone recall a lot of late 70's influences as Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath vibes mingle in the speaker cabinets.
"Crushed" uses a cool mix of rumbling and distortion to push the energy forward while the title track feels the most Dinosaur Jr. sounding here; only if bass were the main instrument as the four strings lead the way while screeching guitar lines are secondary to the groove.
The stoner rock gets flushed out with the longest running effort, and album highlight, "String Along". The track uses layers of guitars, a slow marching drum beat, clinking piano, wooly distortion and lumbering bass to start, before multiple different guitar solos all fire at the same time, soaring to sonic heights that feel like they could just keep going forever.
The very Earthless sounding metal crunch of "Eyedvoid" brings it back to solid ground and kicks into a cool tempo change halfway through while the guitar continues to rev on the heaviest effort on the album. Moon Is wraps up with "Say It To You" a plodding beat that has more screechy riffs and some distant and haunting almost vocalizations from J. While it ends on the the most demo sounding track here, fans of heavy stoner instrumental rock (reviewer included) will love the six elongated tracks on Moon Is.
It is of Dinosaur Jr's recent show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn celebrating 30 years of Where You Been.
Lots of guests and a great night of tunes. Dinosaur Jr's original lineup returning in the mid 00's has been one of the best rock and roll comebacks ever. This night just continued the magic as it made our list of favorite shows from 2023.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 and beyond era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
Tonight: Dinosaur Jr. Seven Night Run @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Starting tonight, you can stream all of Dinosaur Jr's seven night run at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn via nugs.net.
RtBE will be in the house for two of those shows, and we are very much looking forward to the deafening roar of one of our favorite bands. To get in the mood, check out some live video of them below:
Today marks 30 years since the release of Dinosaur Jr'smid-career highpoint Where You Been.
Dino Jr. are a long timeRtBE favorite, we see them every year (at least once) and go back to all of their albums often. Back in 2016, I ranked all of the Dinosaur Jr. releases up until that point for Glide Magazine, you can check it out here, this was what was written regarding Where You Been.
2. WHERE YOU BEEN (1993) Continuing with that sense of freedom Mascis keeps the great tunes rolling on this alternative classic. Here the choruses just state the facts as J sings in his slacker style and solidifies the tracks. “What Else Is New” is a theme song for this band while “I Ain’t Sayin’” soars through the cosmos to close. The two blinding standout tracks are the dynamic “Get Me” and the instantly catchy riffs of “Start Choppin”. The whole disk is full of top notch tracks and would top this list if not for….
1. YOU’RE LIVING ALL OVER ME (1987)
As you can see, RtBE thinks VERY highly of this album, it is a guitar rock gemstone of an album. The band is planning some very special anniversary shows later this year which RtBE will be attending.
Let's take some time to enjoy the album itself. There are so many classic tunes on it, you should listen to the whole thing, but here are three jams:
The live show is a slippery thing. There are lots of variables at play, most having little to do with the performance itself. Does the venue have enough bathrooms? Is it going to rain? What day of the week is it on? Did I have a shitty day at work before hand? Did tickets cost waaay too much? All of this effects one's opinion of a live show before the band even tunes up and with reason, but when the stars align, there is no place RtBE would rather be than in the moment of magic occurring spontaneously from the stage.
Live Music Has No Equal!
Taken By The Fantastic Megan Donohue
While obviously we can't see every show that is out there, we try to get out often to catch live music. Sure there are a few left in the calendar year, but for now, here is a listing of the best concerts we were fortunate enough to have caught in 2022 (THANK GOD LIVE MUSIC IS BACK!).
There are links to show reviews in the titles, also because who doesn't love arbitrary rankings, one show at the bottom took the top prize as RtBE's 2022 Favorite Live Show. We also make mention of a few live streams we enjoyed in 2022 as they now seem like a positive development for all involved.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: Dinosaur Jr. Live from Third Man Records London.
One of RtBE's all-time favorites are live streaming on Instagram their upcoming show tonight at Third Man Records in London. Check out @thirdmanlondon for the stream at 9pm UK time, or 4pm EST. Hopefully the team will be recording this set to vinyl for a future release.
So cool that I got to catch one of my favorite bands, down in one of my favorite cities. It was a great show from a trio that is shockingly still on top of their game.
Support the artists, read the review and peep some video below of "Mountain Man" from the show:
Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.
Another year is finishing up and @RockBodElec wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE presents 2021's Favorite Albums Part 2 (Numbers 10-6):
In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album, either on this site or elsewhere, we will link to that review and just give a quick summation; click on the name/title and you can read our full opinion. RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20 so you can expect some overlap if you already have seen that list.
Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle, Spotify or singles for us.
It is of Dinosaur Jr's live set from 11/20/21 at Brooklyn Steel.
One of RtBE's Personal Favorites, Dino just keeps rumbling and sounding great. I must have wrote "heavy" in my notes of the show nine times, they were loud and proud on Saturday.
It is of Dinosaur Jr's newest release Sweep It Into Space.
When the trio released their last album, Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, we ranked all of the Dino Jr albums for Glide. This new release is top notch and would probably fit in around 4th or 5th as this one is truly solid, but every single Dino Jr album is great.
The excellent Dinosaur Jr. have a new album coming out at the end of April titled Sweep It Into Space.
The first single "I Ran Away" is a doozy and continues in the bands successful guitar rock vein. Produced by Kurt Vile the album will be a spring treat to look forward too.
Can it really be 30 years already since Dinosaur Jr released Green Mind?!?
Today marks the anniversary of the bands first major label release and also their first album without the original trio. When we reviewed their catalog back in 2016 for Glide Magazine we had it ranked 3rd on our list of albums from the band, that seems right. When we went back and celebrated the band turning thirty we focused on "Thumb", what a tune...best use of flute in rock and roll...suck it Tull!
With one of the top 5 album covers of all-time, Priscilla, 1969, a photo by Joseph Szabo, Green Mind is full on woolly rockin' Dino...err...or basically a J Masics solo record. Anywhichway it is a dandy, so slap it on today and rock out.
With live music on lock down (like everything else currently in New York City) live streams and old concerts have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. While this current state of pandemic separation is in order we will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and you can always check out or weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past. Please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: J Mascis
One of RtBE's Favorites, J Mascis will be live tonight 8pm est:
With live music on lock down (like everything else currently in New York City) live streams and old concerts have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. While this current state of pandemic separation is in order we will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and you can always check out or weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past. Please support the artists any which way you can.
