Pop Music Review : A Thunderously Satisfying Set by Dinosaur Jr. in Santa Monica

As mastermind of the Amherst, Mass., power trio Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis has spent a decade building bits of glum disaffection into roaring guitar rock, sounding one moment like a sublime pop satirist and at the next like the most earnest of Deep Purple revivalists.

On Wednesday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, any irony in Mascis’ songwriting was overshadowed by the straightforward crunch and wail of his guitar as he led the band through a thunderously satisfying set.

Holding forth in front of a head-high stack of Marshall amps, the unsmiling Mascis was a reluctant showman, holding his stage patter down to, “All right,” “Oh yeah” and “Thank you.” But he was hardly disengaged when, against the steady throb of bass and drums, he ripped at his guitar to produce a wash of tuneful, textured, near-deafening sound.

Dinosaur Jr.’s songs don’t build to sing-along choruses, and Mascis rarely plays a clear, signature lead line, but each song’s crafty mix of obtuse lyric, accessible melody and cranked guitar becomes, in effect, its hook--pulling the listener into Mascis’ high-volume world of discontent.

The tunes’ steady, unhurried tempos didn’t encourage much mosh-pit action, but an energetic version of its current alternative hit “Feel the Pain” had a good portion of the crowd pogoing in place. Mascis’ laconic warble and alienated lyrics might qualify him as the mumbling spokesman for the nation’s slacker population, but in concert, his guitar speaks up with power and passion.