I think I may have found out the real reason that J. Mascis is releasing an ‘acoustic’ album, it would appear that Cherry But No Cake have acquired the Dinosaur Jr frontmans’  pedal rack….

This is an album firmly rooted in the early 90s, brimming with early grunge reference points and owing much of its existence to two bands, the aforementioned Dinosaur Jr and Nirvana.  This will no doubt be the pivotal selling point of the album and whether you welcome it with open arms or disregard it off hand will very much depend on your feelings for the lumberjack shirt wearing fraternity.

A special mention should be made at this point about the presentation, a marbled green vinyl LP with CD and lyric insert.  Packaging with this much care should be applauded in these dark days of ‘virtual’ artwork and digital blandness.

Musically the album is very much a mixed bag, some great tracks and a few lacking the execution needed to back up the concept.

Pick of the bunch is ‘On The Other Side’ a blood relative of Dinosaur Jr’s ‘Feel The Pain’ or ‘Start Choppin’ and with a punchy, scream along chorus ‘what makes you think it’s ok, to fuck around with me’ simple and guaranteed to get the crowd going.  A vintage and unashamed slice of 90s grunge rock and it is great.

‘Setback’ is a slight departure from the standard alt. rock fare and has a storytelling vocal verse, akin to the Eels ‘Susan’s House’ before being punctured with the fuzz guitars and angst ridden howl of the chorus.  It is however a little self-indulgent at 9 minutes long and doesn’t quite have a strong enough idea to keeping it interesting for this long.

There are a few instances where the line between inspiration and influence blur and there are a couple of tracks where the Nirvana influence is particularly obvious, ‘Kind Of Thoughts’ (All Apologies) for example, but then given Nirvana are pretty much a staple of my musical diet for the last 20 years, it is likely I am overly sensitive to this.

Alternative rock has been in the dumps for a while now and it is refreshing to hear new bands clearly living and breathing ‘the classics’ and reinterpreting them for a new generation, after all, this is what Kurt did with Nirvana in the first place.  Listening to ‘Unveiling’ I get the impression of a band finding their feet and their own identity, but also of one that is making music for themselves primarily and this attitude will see them develop further I am sure.

Jules says

Visit Cherry But No Cake on Myspace to find out more…

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