Sebadoh [Album Covers]

1989 The Freed Man SR	1990 The Freed Weed R	1990 Weed Forestin R	1991 III SR
1992 Rocking the Forest / Sebadoh vs. Helmet	1992 Sebadoh vs. Helmet S	1992 Rocking the Forest S	1992 Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock SR
1993 Bubble and Scrape S	1994 4 Song CD	$[ 11 / 18 ] 1994 Bakesale Sebadoh started out as the hobby of two guys hanging out in a dorm room with a four-track cassette machine and some weed, but by 1994, Lou Barlows side project had matured into a real rock band, and on Bakesale, they sounded more like one than ever before. With Eric Gaffney gone, the spotlight was firmly on Barlow and his songs, and he stepped out with some of his best work to date; the navel-gazing confessions of "Not a Friend" and "Dreams" were more articulate and deeply felt than his previous efforts, and theres an edgy grace in his melodies, while he brings some scrappy but committed rock & roll guitar bashing to "License to Confuse" and "Magnets Coil." Bassist Jason Loewensteins tunes arent as strong overall as Barlows, but theyre effective in context, and their minor-key twists and turns complement his bandmates work very well. And though Sebadoh had clearly learned a lot from their years of lo-fi woodshedding, on Bakesale they were working in genuine recording studios with functioning equipment, and instead of having to struggle to hear the songs through layers of aural murk, here Sebadoh burst forth from the speakers loud and clear. And this version of the band stood up well to scrutiny; Barlow, Loewenstein, and drummer Bob Fay may not have been the tightest band on earth, but they had the energy and the commitment to make these songs work, and the simple, direct, and emotionally naked sound of Bakesale served them well, and the album ranks with the most powerful and accessible music they would ever release. Bakesale confirmed that in both theory and execution, Sebadoh had matured into a great indie rock band, and if their obsession with doomed love and fractured self-worth still seemed adolescent, they had at very least grown from eighth graders to high school seniors, and thats a pretty big leap if youre willing to look back on it.$ 1994 Bakesale SR	1995 Magnets Coil
1996 Harmacy SR	1999 The Sebadoh SR	2007 Wade Through the Boggs	2012 Secret EP S
2013 Defend Yourself SR	2019 Act Surprised S