Cargo Records

Bug

Originally released on SST, this reissue of Bug contains the bonus track 'Keep The Glove'. Repressed on green speckled white vinyl.

Bug was recorded a year later as Dino crested on a wave of goodwill, good press, and international touring. "Freak Scene" is probably indie rock's greatest guitar performance and the band's greatest pop song... Bug is a tighter and cleaner a whole and you can hear why they would soon be courted by major labels getting their noses open by first alt-rock drops of blood. You can also hear the influence/feedback loop Dino had after razing London, specifically the combo of distant sounding feedback washes and Byrdsy plucking that closes "No Bones", a sound cut-rate shoegazers would milk for another six years at least. "Yeah We Know" turns like a tank's treads flipped in the mud, each crunching snare hit at the end of the verse tricking you into think the song's about to end. "Pond Song" showcases what a subtly clever drummer Murph was when the noise got stripped away, and "Budge" is a testament to the virtues of straight-ahead pounding. "Keep The Glove" is a jaunty little end tune... here's a band who cut through on nothing but heft, volume, songcraft, earnestness, and a kind of underrated virtuosity. Even if the on-record response was whatever, man. -Jess Harvell, April 8, 2005