Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, CA in 1992, currently consisting of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, lead guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums), Brian Bell (rhythm guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), and Scott Shriner (bass, backing vocals).  Weezer has sold 10 million albums in the U.S., and over 35 million records worldwide.  Their catalogue has included such megahits as “Buddy Holly,” “Undone (The Sweater Song),” “Say It Ain’t So,” “El Scorcho,” “Hash Pipe,” “Island In The Sun,” “Beverly Hills,” “Pork and Beans,” and more.   Weezer has won Grammys, MTV Video Music Awards, and more throughout their career.  Following massively acclaimed album releases in 2016 and 2017 (Weezer [The White Album] and Pacific Daydream, respectively), and two sold out amphitheatre tours with Panic! At the Disco (in 2016) and Pixies (in 2018), Weezer released a fan-inspired cover of Toto’s “Africa.”  The cover propelled the band back into the charts across the board, giving Weezer their FIFTH #1, TENTH Top 5, and SIXTEENTH Top 10 at Alternative Radio, in addition to landing Top 5 on the Hot AC chart.   It has since gone Platinum.  They then surprise dropped a covers album at the start of 2019 -- Weezer (The Teal Album) -- which has been streamed over a hundred million times since its release.  In 2021, Weezer released two very different but equally Weezer albums – OK Human, an orchestral pop album meditating on technology and disconnectedness, and Van Weezer, an homage to the band’s shared metal roots growing up.  OK Human’s first single, “All My Favorite Songs,” was one of the biggest rock hits of 2021, and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy for “Best Rock Song.” In 2022, the band released SZNZ, a four EP project inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and completed the European leg of the Hella Mega tour, which sold out stadiums in America throughout the year prior.

Formed in Oklahoma City, OK in 1983, The Flaming Lips have since become one of the most iconic, influential, unpredictable, and vital forces in American alternative rock music. The band has garnered three GRAMMY® Awards, a Tony nomination, and an RIAA Gold-certified Record for Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Q Magazine named them one of the “50 Bands to See Before You Die.”

The band has made countless late night television appearances, appeared in a Super Bowl commercial, contributed to many film soundtracks, and collaborated with artists such as Miley Cyrus, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Kacey Musgraves, Yoko Ono, The Chemical Brothers, and so many more. They have set countless records, broken records, created spectacular interactive audio/visual events now regarded as legendary.

Frontman Wayne Coyne has been recognized for works of art that graced many LIPS album covers along with his traveling art exhibit “The King’s Mouth,” an audiovisual art installation that has been featured in many contemporary art museums around the US. Their latest LP, American Head, marks a return to a more melodic and song-oriented body of work and has critically been lauded as their best work in years placing on several Year End/Best Of lists around the world. Evan after a combination of 22 studio recordings, 16 singles, 11 compilations, 11 EP’s and 11 self-released experimental collaborative oddities released in various forms, quantities and unique mediums, The Flaming Lips remain in a creative apex that has no bounds. To that end, they have become an American Treasure and created a genre all to themselves.

DINOSAUR JR..

Sweep It Into Space
Here is Sweep It Into Space, the fifth new studio album cut by Dinosaur Jr.. during the 13th year of their rebirth. Originally scheduled for issue in mid 2020, this record's temporal trajectory was thwarted by the coming of the Plague. But it would take more than a mere Plague to tamp down the exquisite fury of this trio when they are fully dialed-in. And Sweep It Into Space is a masterpiece of zoned dialing.

In the decades since the release of Dinosaur Jr.'s original triptych of foundational albums, it has become clear that their sound -- once hailed as a sort of  almost-tamed noise -- is/was/always-has-been fully functioning pop music of a sort. The subsequent generations of bands who grew up breathing Dino's fumes managed to tinker around with the edges of their original post-hardcore song-forms enough for listeners to realize there had always been melodies at the center of everything they did. What Dinosaur Jr.. produces is nothing but a beautiful new version of the rock continuum -- riff, power, beat and longing, created with an eye on the infinite future.

Recorded, as usual, at Amherst's Biquiteen, the sessions for Sweep It Into Space began in the late Autumn of 2019, following a West Coast/South East tour. The only extra musician used this time with Kurt Vile.

 J Mascis says, “Kurt played little lead things, like 12 string one at the beginning of 'I Ran Away.' Then I ended up just mimicking a few things he'd done. I was listening to a lot of Thin Lizzy, so I was trying to get some of that dueling twin lead sound. (laughs)”

 “But the recording session was pretty well finished by the time things really hit the fan. So I just ended up doing more things by myself. Like the mini digital mellotron on 'Take It Back.' Originally I'd thought I'd have Ken Mauri (who has done keyboard work for Dino in the past) come in and play piano. But when the Lock Down happened in March, that meant I was on my own. But it was cool.”

Indeed, Sweep It Into Space is a very cool album. As is typical, Lou Barlow writes and sings two of the album's dozen tunes and Murph's pure-Flinstonian drumming drives the record like a go cart from Hell. Lou's songs here are as elegant as always. “Garden” is a mid-paced ballad with genteel guitar filigree giving it a '60 Brit feel in spots. And the album's closer, “You Wonder,” is a strangely excellent answer to the question -- “How would Blue Oyster Cult handle a country tune?”

 J's tracks flow and flower in the different directions he often follows. Some are guitar howlers, like “I Met the Stones,” with a string sound midway between Hendrix and Asheton. Some are power ballads, like “And Me,” its lyrics atomized in a manner invented by Mascis, then famously borrowed by Kurt Cobain. And there are anomalies, like “Take It Back,” which starts with a blue-beat rhythm putting one in mind of Keith Richards' Jamaican explorations (at least for a little bit.)

But there are very few moments where you wouldn't know you were hearing Dinosaur Jr.. in blindfolded needle drop. They have a signature sound as sure as the Stooges or Sonic Youth or Discharge ever did. They continue to expand their personal universe with Sweep It Into Space, without ever losing their central core.

            So if you ever do find yourself swept into space (hey, who knows?), I just hope these tunes are on your playlist.

--Byron Coley