Dinosaur Jr has two groups of fans: Those who listened in the 80s and have gotten back into the band since the original line up reformed in 2005, and those who had never heard of Dino until their reunion, who then went back and listened to the ground-breaking older albums.
Regardless of which group you fall into, you will appreciate Earwax for bringing the group, along with Trail of Dead and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, to Taipei for the Don’t Look Back Vol. 1 concert on Thursday.
For veterans of the music scene, there is nostalgia to Dino’s newest album, I Bet On Sky. That the sound is more laid back than previous efforts wasn’t a conscious decision, said drummer Murph: “That’s the way it comes out when you get more mellow. The guys have families, J [Mascis] gets struck creatively by different things at different times, it’s random.”
photo courtesy of Earwax
The cohesion and creativity shown on this album echoes the harmony that now exist between band members Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph.
They released three albums in their first manifestation, and have released three more since 2005. The earlier material, with influences from hardcore punk, garage, country, rock, Goth and heavy metal guitar riffs, still has impact, and combined with Barlow’s melodic, lo-fi distorted bass, Murph’s heavy drum beats, and Mascis’s genius on guitar and monotone drawl, the music helped shape a generation.
And they haven’t lost their edge — though their sound has become more polished. “The new songs are more mellow so it makes for a more interesting set list with our older stuff, you can tailor it more to the gigs,” Murph said.
The band broke up in 1989 after touring for the album Bug, which Mascis refers to as his least favorite album and ironically is the one he had the most control over. Barlow left or was kicked out (it depends on who you ask) of the band and went on to make music with Sebadoh, which until then had been a side project.
Mascis began attending Sebadoh shows in the mid-90s but it took almost 10 years for the rift between them to heal and the band to reform. “The group dynamic is good, [though] there can be a weird friction,” said Murph. “But we’ve all mellowed in our own ways since the early days. Since J’s had his son he’s gotten way more tolerant, his wife and kid came on tour with us for four days and having the kid on the bus makes things better. He’s five years old, he’ll get up onto my drum kit and beat on the drums, he’s really goofy and fun, if you get nervous before a show it breaks any nervous energy to have him there.”
There’s a disarming awkwardness about Mascis with his frumpy old hippie hair to his sense of humor that makes you wonder if he inspired Barlow to coin the term losercore (the title of a single Barlow released in 1993 with another side project Sentridoh).
It could be used to describe the whole self-conscious comedy movement, which Mascis is a fan of. “J is really into Portlandia, Funny or Die and the Mighty Boosh, getting more into cameo acting,” said Murph.
It doesn’t always work for the laid back drummer: “Funny, when I was younger I was into darker weirder stuff,” he said. “Now I’m older and more set in my ways I don’t find it as funny.” He laughed when I remind him of Barlow’s single Losercore and suggest the term awkwardcore. “Some people like that feeling, think it’s really cool,” he said. “J loves that awkward feeling.”
Funny or Die came up with the concept of Dino’s newest video for Watch the Corners starring Tim Heidecker of Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show as a distraught dad who can’t handle his teenage daughter’s romance with a stock boy.
“Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore has a cameo in the music video and is also on the bill for the show in Taipei. Sonic Youth toured with Dinosaur Jr in the mid-80s and over the years Moore and Kim Gordon have became tight with the Mascis family, even relocating to their neighborhood: “Thurston and Kim moved from New York to North Hampton,” Murph said. “Their 17-year-old daughter is in a band, created a new noise scene there.” (Their daughter Coco Gordon Moore is the frontwoman for punk band Big Nils).
The fact that Dino’s members are more family-oriented or that the new album is a bit mellow compared to earlier releases doesn’t mean they’ve fallen into the realm of Dinosaur Sr just yet, and Don’t Look Back Vol. 1 should be a killer show with all three bands bringing that 90s alternative feeling and noise ethos to a head.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su