Lou Barlow: Goodnight Unknown, part 3

From: Scott 

To: Monty & Brian

Well, I don't know what the hell record you guys were listening to! My highly original and unique opinion arrived at only after 40 years of pure individualistic auto-didactic living is startlingly and distressingly similar to both of yours.

I was an early Barlow adoptee, having loved his Dinosaur Jr. "Bug" tracks to speak to the man himself after a gig and he obliged me with a cassette that later became the first Sebadoh lp. I loved it. It was sweet, crazy, filled with that weird upstroke acoustic guitar style and totally demented screaming tape loops, song fragments and some great songs. It was claustrophobic, locked in your bedroom music. I suppose it helped to be in the same specific head space as the creator.

I think that phase of my life ended when I stopped trying to drive myself insane toward the end of my early 20's. I jumped off board of the Sebadoh when it became that mediocre three piece band. I didn't understand why suddenly democratic Lou would split the songwriting with those other two guys. Their live show was a mess of pointless instrument switching and songs the drummer wrote. I remember liking the sentiment of the "Gimme Indie Rock" if not so much the song. I haven't voluntarily listened to Sebadoh in at least ten to fifteen years, but I haven't tossed the cds.

So it is a little startling to hear Barlow's specific guitar upstrokes on "Gravitate" and "One Machine, One Long Fight". It's like opening a little fissure have opened from my head into my chest where all those awful feelings are buried. I am glad I don't like them more than I do. I don't want to go back there where I was. It doesn't sound like Barlow is truly where he was either but is still able to tap into some echo of it.

The songs "Praise" and "Don't Apologize"  use some of the early Sebadoh magic (interesting acoustic rhythms, slightly distorted multitracked vocals, strong melodies)  for good. I would like to hear some more like this. It is distinctly his sound at its best. The CD ends nicely on a distinctly Donovan note with "One Note Tone" where I swear I can hear a bit of a Scottish accent.

That being said, I agree with you boys that this is a competent, pleasant record I will never, ever listen to again.
-Scott

Lou Barlow - Gravitate 

Lou Barlow - Praise