Say It's Coming Up Again

The frankly brilliant video for Old Friends by J Mascis was posted last Friday but I've only just noticed it, or the fact that it's the third single from his fifth solo album, What Do We Do Now, released on the same day. So much music, so little time, etc.

Actually, it's turned out to be the best possible timing. It's been a rather testing week in a number of ways and Old Friends - the song and the video - is the perfect counterpoint. I've replayed both about a dozen times already and I feel...uplifted.

 

I'd never heard of Geddy Ruxpin's Stressed Quest before, but I'd watch that TV show without a doubt. In the meantime, I just have to decide which print to buy for Lady K. At the moment, it's a toss up between "Cat Glasses" and "Family With Pet"...

 

The Sub Pop blurb pronounces that What Do We Do Now is "the finest set of solo tunes J has yet penned". That may be a bold claim but the evidence is compelling, not least when the 10-songs wrap up with this beauty.

 

 

What Do We Do Now is available in the usual places and J Mascis is embarking on a tour this month, including a few brief stops in the UK in April.

 

 

Old Friends

 

True sound, way down
I won't follow with you
I don't follow you

 

Grimace, regress

I don't like the outcome
I don't want to come

 

Say it's a wasteland

Make it a great plan
 

Old friends defend
Stance I don't agree, no
I don't wanna go
 

Say it's a wasteland
Give it the wrong hand 

 

No, I won't be back again
You belong
And say it's coming up again
It won't be long
If you said it's up to me
Make me cry
Explain it all and just appear

 

I know the world's behind me

I know you had enough of fear, real
I know the world mistakes here
I know there is no good take on you, you
 

Say it's a wasteland
Make it a great plan
 

Old friend, don't bend
I can't take another, I won't take it all
We're gone, moved on
I'm not going back there
I'm not gonna crawl
 

Say it's a wasteland
Say it's a wasteland