The SoundLounge

J Mascis

J MASCIS – SEVERAL SHADES OF HUH? Folk-rock troubadour J Mascis makes his long awaited solo-acoustic tour appearance this summer appearing at The Falls Festivals in Marion Bay and Lorne and for a series of headline shows along the East Coast.

Mascis has toured Australia in solo mode before of course, both as a headliner and as support to Sonic Youth, but this tour is the first to feature J and an acoustic guitar and comes off the back of his impressive debut solo-acoustic release and his first for Sub Pop, Several Shades of Why.

After two decades of creating influential music, the fact that this astonishing album features some of his best songs to date makes this as important as it is unfalteringly beautiful. - KERRANG The result is a beautifully fragile acoustic record that positions him as the missing link between Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash. - ROCK SOUND

And though the electric may have been swapped for an acoustic the intensity and even the decibel levels remain intact (relatively) as does Mascis' ability to tear shards out of his instrument whether it be hollow or solid bodied.

Mascis opened with “The Wagon,” a stand-out track from Dinosaur Jr.’s iconic 1991 major label debut, “Green Mind,” a bone to the many long-time Dino fans in the packed Hi-Dive, the perfect setting for his soul-baring set. Much of the performance was comprised of Mascis laying down several-minute loops and then playing over his own intricate leads. I’ve seen other guitarists use this method of “playing with themselves,” but none as impressively as this. Mascis created something complex and spontaneous; his guitar lines were not simple rhythm parts, but melodic lines for him to weave intricate harmonies atop. - REVERB

In classic Dinosaur Jr fashion, there was plenty of the “quiet loud quiet” dynamic to Mascis’ set: his wired-up Gibson easily parlayed between jangly acoustic lines and screaming electric solos. - REVERB

Danny Widdicombe

Danny Widdicombe has been a steadfast feature of the Brisbane music scene for some years. At 19, while living in Melbourne, Danny was diagnosed with leukaemia.

He had a bone marrow transplant in 2004 and in those long days in the isolation room after the transplant, he began writing what would become his album The Transplant Tapes. The album was a difficult one, emotionally, for Danny to release but he did in 2006.

Danny has played guitar for Andrew Morris, Bernard Fanning and Karl Broadie, as well as touring the country as part of Tim Rogers’ Temperance Union.

In 2008 he helped form the ARIA Award nominated group, The Wilson Pickers and last year Danny and fellow Wilson Picker, Andrew Morris, won the annual Grant McLennan Memorial Fellowship for 2010. The duo spent the prize travelling to Berlin to write and establish a European base to further their careers.

He released his second solo album, Dominoes, in 2009 and this October he will release his third solo album, Find Someone, an album he began writing while traveling through Europe this year when he was unaware that cancer was once again spreading through his body.