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MONDAY
There wasn’t quite an arc to Dinosaur Jr.’s decade-plus of service, but rather nodal interceptions with the main narrative of indie rock’s golden age: cover-gracing praise from British weeklies during one of their many pro-Yanks intervals, a Sub Pop–housed lo-fi spinoff, the inevitable scoop-up by a major label, video premieres on 120 Minutes, a Lollapalooza stint, Spin adulation, and even a Spike Jonze–helmed clip during the band’s fade-out. Now back to the core trio of mastermind longhair J Mascis, soft guy Lou Barlow, and barely discussed mainstay Murph, the reunited band is sticking to material from the recently reissued albums they released between 1985 and 1988: the hardcore gate-crash (Dinosaur) and subsequent legacy certificates (You’re Living All Over Me and Bug). Not a bad move, given that the period was the only efflorescence from the group as a proper group: From the 1991 Sire deal on, it was Mascis with a revolving cast of patsies releasing increasingly uniform records under the hallowed moniker, with only a single masterpiece along the way, 1993’s Where You Been? However, tonight a recaptured purity will be on display: the tidal might of a wah-wah pedal introduced without an ironic wink, lightning-scrawled guitar solos puncturing the amp hiss, and drifting fuzz burying J’s much-Xeroxed but truly incomparable rasp as it climbs an uncertain upper register. In addition, two generations of mangled-guitar offspring will be on hand to preface the masters: the Majik Markers, in all their evil-vibe ragged glory, and sludge-feasters Bardo Pond. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 11, at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $30. (202) 397-7328. (Bernardo Rondeau)