Dinosaur Jr. - New Music News, Old Tune

So last week I was on the subway, pinballing underneath a frozen Brooklyn, watching heavily insulated strangers enter and leave my life without so much as a look. I was uncommonly into the fact that I was underground. At some point I was underground and underwater, surrounded by the strange mixtape of faces a ride on the subway is always good for. So I’m sitting there all full of wonder and detachment and “Get Me” by Dinosaur Jr. comes on my iPod. As if I wasn’t separated enough from all those strangers around me on the subway just by their (and my) refusal of so much as eye contact, I had my favorite guitar solo ever violating my skull. Those suckers had no idea.

MP3 - Get Me (from Where You Been)

I mentioned in a post 2 weeks ago that Dinosaur Jr. has recently signed on with Fat Possum. Word out now is that they plan to release Beyond on May 1. It is the first album with the original line-up of J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph since 1988’s Bug, and lead singer/songwriter J Mascis‘s first album under the Dinosaur Jr. moniker since 1997‘s underrated Hand It Over. Billboard recently ran an article about the whole thing. You can read it here, but not until I’m done.

Hearing this news has led me to listen again to the early 90’s Dinosaur Jr. records, Green Mind and Where You Been. The thing is, they’ve never gone too long without a spin. The music I listened to in high school fluxuated pretty drastically over 4 years, but went something like this. Freshman year = Def Leppard (shush!). Sophomore year = Led Zeppelin. Junior Year = Pearl Jam/Nirvana. Senior year = Mostly jam bands (shush!!). There may or may not be a logical progression there, I don’t know. It made sense at the time. Somewhere in there, maybe by early senior year, Dinosaur Jr. snook in. They are on a very short list of bands that I was really into in high school that I ever still listen to. Sure a stray Led Zep or Nirvana song shows up every once in a while, but I go back to Dinosaur Jr. albums all the time. I won’t begin to think the band is capable of matching those classics anymore, but let them try. It’s been too long, and I want a higher probability of Dinosaur Jr. songs popping up when I’m on shuffle.

The tracklist for Beyond:

“Almost Ready"

"Crumble"

"Pick Me Up"

"Back to Your Heart"

"This Is All I Came To Do"

"Been There All the Time"

"It's Me"

"We're Not Alone"

"I Got Lost"

"Lightning Bulb"

"What If I Knew..."

Visit the band’s website here, and their myspace here.

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