By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Juvenilia Sessions return to Rio de Janeiro with singer-songwriter, musician, and Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis headlining the festival with a solo appearance on Sunday, May 17th. The show will be held at Circo Voador, one of Rio’s most famous music venues, located in Lapa.
In 1984, Mascis founded the pioneering band Dinosaur Jr. with bassist Lou Barlow, who headlined the 2014 edition of the Juvenilia Sessions with his band Sebadoh.
Although Mascis’ and Barlow’s relationship has been rumored to be tenuous at times during the last decades, Dinosaur Jr. managed to release ten studio albums, to date.
The band is considered by many to be a major influence in modern alternative music due to the fact that they blended distorted chords and droning vocals with pop and rock melodies, creating an entirely new sound at the time.
During this edition of the Juvenilia festival in Rio de Janeiro, Mascis will perform as a solo act, accompanied by a backing band. Mascis began releasing albums as a solo artist in 1996 in addition to his work with Dinosaur Jr. To date, he has released six solo albums with two of them being official studio albums. The most recent, Tied to a Star, was released in August of last year.
The album, which featured guest vocals by Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power, was well-received critically. Lacking the distortion, drone and tempo changes that Dinosaur Jr. is known for, the album features low-key, drowsy, yet pleasing tracks that showcase Mascis’ talent as a songwriter and guitarist.
Circo Voador gates will open at 7PM on Sunday and the Brazilian lo-fi band, The John Candy Experience will start the night.
Who: J Mascis
Band, The John Candy will open the night.
When: Sunday, May 17th. Gates will open at 7PM.
Where: Circo Voador, Rua Arcos, Lapa – TEL: (21) 2533-0354
Entrance: R$80 with 1kg of nonperishable food