Carrboro
Dinosaur Jr.
Cat’s CradleSomehow, three New England dudes pushing 50 became one of the buzz bands during last month’s South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. A guitar player with wispy white hair named J. Mascis, a bass-playing punk who only seems to get younger named Lou Barlow, and a bald drum-maimer named Murph formed Dinosaur Jr. in 1984. But after crafting the quintessential indie rock triptych with its first three albums, that lineup didn’t play together again until 2005, when Merge Records reissued those albums and packed the band for a national tour where it played only those tunes. Seems they enjoyed it: 2007’s Beyond, the first album by the original trio in 19 years, was a fuzz-tone, chewy-pop spree in which the band’s refined loudness continues to push beneath Mascis’ perfect vocal lethargy, just as well-suited for middle-aged tedium as it was for teenage slacking. In Texas, the band was celebrating its recent addition to rock ‘n’ roll’s Midwest dynasty, the Jagjaguwar/ Secretly Canadian empire. A surprise show on a patio blistered eardrums and implanted a set of new hooks, due in June on the trio’s fifth album, Farm. Get a preview at 9 p.m. for $24-$26. Mike Watt & the Missingmen open. Grayson Currin
