J Mascis

Dinosaur Jr. leader J Mascis is one of the most influential alt-rock figures ever, which meant that as the ’90s rolled by, there was less and less for him to prove. He eventually retired the name and made some ho-hum records with Fog, but the 2005 reunion of Dinosaur Jr.’s original trio seems to have given Mascis a new sense of purpose. The 2007 comeback album Beyond and its 2009 successor Farm picked up where the group left off in the late ’80s, and now Mascis is touring behind his first solo album, Several Shades Of Why, a mostly acoustic work featuring Kurt Vile.

Updated 10/11/2011