Heavy Blanket - Heavy Blanket

Released: 8^th May 2012

Label: Outer Battery Records

While I sit in my bedroom with no source of light and hugging my Dinosaur Jr. collection tightly, waiting urgently for their new album to drop sometime soon, I can at least tie myself over with the release of one-time (don’t hold me to that) project Heavy Blanket. An instrumental trio featuring three old school friends who had dream of forming a band together, but just…didn’t. Anyway it features Johnny Pancake and Pete Cougar, oh and J Mascis takes the reigns on face-melting guitar solo duty. Of course.

Fans of J Mascis will certainly come to expect some ear-bleeding screeching guitar solos, and J definitely delivers here. Some sick solos are procreated throughout Heavy Blanket, but I can’t help but think J should have embedded a couple guitar riffs that created a great change in variety on this album. While the solos are more than fine, the side-by-side lineup they get doesn’t allow them to be appreciated fully if the listener goes through the entire album at once instead of separate listens.

However this will be more than enough to keep me satisfied, Heavy Blanket is a great album and hopefully (if it doesn’t distract J too much from doing Dinosaur Jr. stuff) it will continue and form it’s own strong discography.

Also J Mascis was rated number five in Spin magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time list, which is fantastic. He never usually gets recognised for all of the simply brilliant work he’s done over his many decade-career. However, to the people of Spin, why on earth did you include Skrillex in this list? And why god why did you forget to include Jimi Hendrix/Pete Townsend and the like? Nevermind.