.

J. Mascis Instrumental Disc Due in May

Heavy Blanket project added to Dinosaur Jr.'s busy year

March 22, 2012 10:11 AM ET
 J. Mascis
J. Mascis poses for portraits at the Sasquatch! Music Festival.
Steven Dewall/Redferns

Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis has teamed up with a pair of old friends for the May 8th release of an all-instrumental disc. Recorded under the name Heavy Blanket, the new project features childhood chums "Pete Cougar" and "Johnny Pancake," according to the Dinosaur Jr. fan site Freakscene.

The band's imaginative backstory – if it is to be believed – is that the trio came together after they were "kicked out of marching band for smoking weed out of a tuba," according to information on the website of record label Outer Battery. Nearly thirty years after recording a demo together, they got back together to finish this session. The self-titled offering will be extremely limited, with a purple vinyl pressing of just 200 copies available for pre-order.

In other news, Mascis and Built to Spill bassist Brett Nelson have finalized an album of synth-pop renderings of Dinosaur Jr. tunes. Titled The Electronic Anthology Project, it drops in limited quantities on purple vinyl for Record Store Day (April 21st) followed by a proper vinyl and CD release.

It's been a busy winter for Mascis. In addition to crafting an upcoming Dinosaur Jr. set, he was one of the highlights of the Weezer Cruise this past January. And he'll perform an intimate charity show at Brooklyn's Prema Yoga on May 19th to benefit Embracing the World.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »