Remember me
Prepare to feast on sludge once again: Living legends Dinosaur Jr. just announced their 13th LP.
A few weeks back at New York's Total Bummer festival, J Mascis excitedly confirmed to Stereogum that "we have a new album coming soon." Today we get the details. There Near will be out two months from now on Jagjaguwar. Mascis sought out a 1970s Mesa Boogie MK 1 amplifier like the one he played through on Dinosaur's debut four decades ago. "You always hear how Rick Rubin always makes bands he's producing sit down and listen to their first album and say let's get back to that sound," Mascis says. "So I just gave myself his advice."
You can hear the impact of that guitar tone on opening track and lead single "Several Got Away," a blown-out power-pop tune that gets a lot of mileage out of Mascis' violent jangle-fuzz. His voice is still incomparable, as is his shredding; both talents come to the fore at the heart of the track, when the band segues from an emotional peak to a ripping solo. Nearly two decades after the original lineup got back together, it's easy to take the alchemy between Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph for granted, so let's not.
Director Guy Kozak shared this statement on the "Several Got Away" music video:
I wanted to do something a little tongue-in-cheek with a kind of "backyard movie" feel that could fit in nicely with the existing canon of dinosaur jr. music videos. The first bit of inspiration came from a great Henry Darger painting of kids being terrorized by two giant floating hands of fire. Then I got thinking about the rapture and it came together from there. The guys were really game for it all and I was honored that they let me chase them around a big field with my camera like a psycho. We were on a tight schedule with the turnaround so I had to learn a lot of VFX stuff over the course of weekend, but I like the way the effects all turned out.
Watch below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Several Got Away"
02 "No Friends"
03 "Everything At Once"
04 "Take Me With You"
05 "Blowin’ Up"
06 "Gone Off"
07 "Clam Along"
08 "Walk Me Back"
09 "Read The Room"
10 "Put It Down"
11 "No One’s Ready"
TOUR DATES:
07/10 - Kingston, NY @ Ulster Performing Arts Center +
07/11 - New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall +
07/12 - Hammondsport, NY @ Point of the Bluff Vineyards +
07/14 - Richmond, VA @ Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden +
07/16 - Wilmington, NC @ Greenfield Lake Amphitheater +
07/17 - Asheville, NC @ Hellbender by The Orange Peel +
07/18 - Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern +
07/20 - Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theatre +
07/21 - Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company +
07/22 - Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Amphitheater +
07/24 - Lansing, MI @ Grewal Hall
07/25 - Fishers, IN @ Nickel Plate District Amphitheater +
07/26 - Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! +
07/28 - St. Louis, MO @ The Factory +
07/30 - Davenport, IA @ Capitol Theatre +
07/31 - West Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom +
08/01 - Omaha, NE @ Astro Theater +
10/09 - Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl*
10/10 - Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre*
10/11 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up*
10/15 - Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues*
10/16 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether*
10/18 - San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre*
10/20 - Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades*
10/22 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall*
10/23 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune*
10/24 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune*
10/26 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex*
10/29 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre*
10/30 - Fort Collins, CO @ Washington's*
11/02 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater*
11/04 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues*
11/05 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's*
11/06 - San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger*
11/07 - New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina's*
+ co-headline with Band of Horses
* w/ special guest Stef Chura
There Near is out 8/28 on Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.
Jeff Fowler