Dinosaur Jr. tells Billboard a new studio album should be ready to drop in spring 2007. That's no less than the same Dinosaur Jr. lineup–singer/guitarist J. Mascis, bass player Lou Barlow, and drummer Murph–that recorded the band's first three albums, Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me, and Bug, before Barlow ran off to form Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. became more or less a Mascis solo project with rotating band members. Let's hope it's as energetic as the band's recent reunion dates, which included a blistering set at Lollapalooza in 2005.
"We spent the better part of two years touring together, so we might as well make a record together," Barlow tells Billboard.com. "The reunion thing went well, considering we held up and enjoyed it. The new album is just a way of extending it. The band pretty much does one thing at a time. I thought we'd be done after the tour, but then the album magically popped up. We probably won't do anything else, but then again, we'll see."
Barlow says the sound of the new tracks is simpler, but with the definite feel of Dinosaur Jr.'s trademark sound.
That's helpful. Does he mean the feedback-and-screams-laced trademark Dinosaur Jr. sound, the wistfully folky but still kinda heavy trademark Dinosaur Jr. sound, or the sound that resulted when the band combined those two sounds? Also, a live DVD of the reunion tour is due out in May 2007. The band hasn't announced a title for either the album or the DVD.