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Rock, Skating and Bulldogs Converge in Video for Dinosaur Jr.’s “Tiny”

The contributions of Dinosaur Jr. to guitar music over the last 30 years cannot be understated. Even so, there’s always a degree of apprehension when such an established band returns with a new LP.

Having recently announced a new album in Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not, the Massachusetts alt-rockers also shared the first single from the upcoming record, Tiny, back at the tail end of May. To accompany the single, the group have now further dropped a cracker of a video. If you haven’t already seen it you can have a look below:

Sonically there’s plenty of Dinsosaur Jr‘s amorphous slacker vibrations and J Mascis’ distinctive hardcore meets Crazy Horse riffs behind the track. Steering away from some of the more intense and emotive elements of the group’s iconic sound, the track plays exactly as an upbeat single should, leading to speculation that the new LP may possibly be heading towards a brighter direction than the distorted and crashing riffs of 2012’s I Bet On Sky.

The clip heavily features skating iconography and, perhaps most prominently, Mascis’ own skating bulldog Buddy absolutely stealing the whole show. “Aside from music, J Mascis has other passions. Bulldogs and skateboarding among them,” revealed friend and video director Laurie Coyller. “When a friend of mine told me there was such a thing as skateboarding bulldogs, I took it from there and came up with the idea for ‘Tiny’.”

Tiny deftly diffuses the gravitas behind a release from such an iconic underground act, but it begs the question if anything heavier can be expected from the forthcoming LP. We’ll have to wait and see.

Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not is due out August 5 on Jagjaguwar.

Image: Pitchfork