Bubble And Scrape

Starts pretty good and just gets better and more interesting. This is perfect for fans of Polvo or the kind of obnoxious people who will tell you that the guitars in At The Drive In's Relationship of Command are out of tune with the air of someone who uncovered the hidden secrets of Rock'n'Roll. I am both of these people.

first song is the only good song.

the list has finally paid off! finally, after all of the thes and 70s glam shite it has spewed out something i've never heard of and that i am bonafide enjoying listening to and will almost certainly listen to again and knowing how much of a sweat i am probably listen to the entire back catalogue. bonus points for the last track being as long as the rest of the album. i imagine this is what it must feel like for Gerry Mccain knowing full well he got away with it.

I listened to this once and had the weird feeling that there might be something here that I like but at the same time I couldn't point to anything good about what I was hearing. Listened to it again and the weird feeling that I might like it was gone. Completely gone.

I see no reason why I needed to hear this album before I died. In fact, I'm probably more upset that I heard it before I died. That's an hour I could have spent listening to something good.

Production: 8/20 Songwriting: 7/20 Innovation: 15/20 Presence of pure bangers: 0/20 Emotional response: 6/20 =36

Vaguely familiar with this band. Did not like the album at first, but it grew on me and I kind of liked it by the end. There is a charm within the dourness.

I had a hard time connecting with most of the songs on this album. Nothing carried a tune really and the lyrics just disappeared.

I am not normally a fan of the willfully obtuse lo-fi of the 90s. It often fails to rock. The lo-fi thing doesn't concern me; it's the obtuseness for obtuseness' sake. Guided By Voices, I'm looking at you. But this record I enjoyed (much more than, say, Pavement, who I tend to regard as the emperor's new music). It fairly often rocks (eg. Sacred Ambition), the tunes are memorable (eg. Homemade, or Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)), and the album overall is muscular and thought out (eg Soul and Fire). Sometimes it embraces 'weirdness' in a way that reminds me a little of Primus, a very self-aware 'wackiness' (eg. Fantastic Disaster). I am OK with the use of dissonance and/or a failure to tune the guitars (eg. Flood). That's OK, that can rock. A pleasant surprise. Would listen again.

Ok. Call me picky but grunge era has a sound to it that is a little, just a hair, out of tune. But when the whole band is out of tune it sucks. Especially when they aren’t even out of tune together. Anyways, this is a no for me. Not my jam.

Intentionally dissonant poverty tier indie rock. This is the sort of music that's easy to imagine someone creating, and even easier for me to make satire of. Shocked that people seem to like this. Is this really an example of best-in-class 90s indie rock? Grating and unpleasant.

The first track is a decoy.

Interesting, often atonal prog rock (?) wavered on it a lot. Cool at times and a chaotic at others

Seba don’t make me listen to this shite again

Cool stuff. Meat Puppets, Nirvana, Kurt Vile vibes

"Bubble & Scrape" is the fourth album by American indie rock band Sebadoh. Sebadoh is a band composed of three members (Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr. fame), Eric Gaffney and Jason Lowenstein) who all each write, sing and are capable of playing all the rock band instruments. No division of labor here. So, on this album, all three members contribute songs which tend to sound unique to the writer. It was the first album recordered entirely profession in a studio away from their previous lo-fi homemade approach. Oh, there's still roughness to the edges here, though, as styles range from 60's garage to punk to grunge to power pop. Stoner rock too by the way. The album opens with Barlow's "Soul and Fire." Heavy, clear and melodic guitar. Sort of grungy. "Saying goodbye was never so much fun." A great 90's indie song. We get a sense of what Gaffney brings to the table in "Telecosmic Alchemy." Tinny drumming. 60's garage and punk. A chugging guitar. This is a combo of Sonic Youth and Mudhoney. And, Lowenstein gives us "Sister." Harder, dustorted guitar. Punk. Screaming. We've gone back to Hüsker Dü "New Day Rising." "Emma Gone Wild" brings some pyschedelia with a scratching-sounding and groovy guitar. The highlight might be Barlow's "Homemade." A song that builds slowly. A soft-loud-soft dynamic. A great guitar solo. A droning guitar puts this to me in the stoner rock genre. This is a sound that Chicago's Red Red Meat would use in a few years after that on two fantastic albums. The album ends with three songs from each of band members. Gaffney's "Bouquet for a Siren" is harder, has driving guitars and a faster beat. I'm hearing The Meat Puppets now (I name dropping way too much by the way). Barlow's "Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)" is the album's only acoustic song. A love song of sorts. The Swirlies' Sean Carmody on backing vocals. Finally, the band ends it with a bang in Lowenstein's "Flood." Screaming. Punk. 60's garage rock. "Yeah, get in the car. We're going to ride with the flood tonight. Sometimes this album comes off as a compilation album with the distinctive sounds of each songwriter. For me, it worked fine as a whole, probably, since I can't recall hearing influences of so many different bands all of which I like. If you're a fan of early Dinosaur Jr. (and who isn't?), you'll like this. Their next album "Bakesale" is also recommended.

A lot of this album sounds out of tune with itself. I suspect that's the point and maybe goes hand in hand with being "lo-fi" but it's slightly jarring. Still, there were some good moments and in particular I liked the louder, rockier tracks which reminded me of Nirvana's "Bleach" album. I can hear similarities with other bands from the same era but it's hard to gauge how influential this album was and there isn't really much info about that on Wiki. Feels like the band might be more influential than any specific album, plus I'd say Dinosaur Jr were a more influential band than Sebadoh. 5.5/10

What an unexpected treat this album proved to be. I can't believe I hadn't heard of Sebadoh before, especially as I loved Dinosaur Jr back in the day. These guys personify the sound of early 90s Indie Rock. There's a little bit of everything on this album. Sure, it's hit & miss across its 17 tracks, but there's a charm to the raw sound & energy this band offers. The entire album sounds like it was recorded on a tape deck in somebody's garage, with each song getting recorded in just one take. No messing around. Guitars, drums, vocals - the essence of Rock. Nevertheless, these guys have produced some awesome tunes. "Soul and Fire" kicks off the record and immediately tells you that Sebadoh know how to write a song. "Emma Get Wild" is just an unapologetic, lovable riot. And "Homemade" is a masterpiece that should be heard by anybody who enjoys Indie Rock. I'll happily listen to this entire album again. Sebadoh have secured their place on my Spotify playlist. 👍👍

This is the kind of album I was hoping for from the list; a really good album from a band I have never heard of. I am shocked that the rating for this is so low. Going in I thought it would be unlistenable, but there are some really good indie / alt rock tunes on here. Sure, there is a little bit of noise rock and screaming at times, so I understand why people wouldn't like those songs, but in between those are some really solid songs. It is like Sonic Youth met Pavement met the Foo Fighters debut with a tad of the Pixies. This album is far from perfect and it does have some stinkers, so realistically it is closer to a 4, but I feel I need to give it a 5 out of spite.

Nondescript ‘90s alt-rock back when that meant college radio rock trying to do stoner grunge. When it’s good, it’s just meat and potatoes alt-rock, and it’s fine; when it’s bad, it’s clearly a bunch of stoned motherfuckers trying to be ✨experimental✨ by just playing sloppily and out of sync, and it’s annoying. A whatever of a record. I'm fine with it, but I'm also not inspired by even its best songs. Eh 🤷🏻‍♀️

This one was much more expansive and sprawling than the Sebadoh tracks I’d heard prior. There are definitely moments of fatigue given the length and instrumentation choices on the LP, but once I had an understanding of what was going on I felt this one hit a groove of its own. Shame the bonus tracks aren’t available on US Spotify, as the few I tracked down added some Interesting layers to the sounds the main LP had built up.

I thought I was all about 90s grunge, but I'd never heard of Sebadoh before. This album was one of the "low-fi" grunge records of the era that I missed. Was a neat album, but not something that will have the replay power of other grunge artists of the time. Definitely enjoyed it, but not enough to listen to over and over, thus the rating of 3.

This is what it sounds like when kids try to write edgy music when they probably should go to therapy.

Yeah, I never got into this band. Their music has a lot of the elements that I don’t enjoy. Feels like wannabe grunge, with jangly indie guitars and off key garage vocals. It’s like shitty Lemonheads. Seven songs in and I just can’t find anything compelling. Add this to the pile of “totally not necessary to hear before you die”.

It's kinda my worst nightmare. It either gave me a headache last night or made my headache worse. The singing is whiney and bad, the instruments are uninteresting and bad. There's some screaming here too. The thing I hate too is that it doesn't feel like it's bad to prove a point or for artistic reasons, it just seems bad - like a band that would lose in the first round of the battle of the bands. They sound like a lot of the punk bands that I don't like because I hate their singers.

This fucking sucks. This really fucking sucks.

A couple of songs were alright. But I don’t really care about the music on this album because I swear there was a high frequency pitch (dog whistle-esque) that rang out over the course of the entire album. It gave me a splitting headache and I don’t think I’ll ever return to this album. 2/10

Ace. Like Beck falling down the stairs, pursued by Sonic Youth and Pavement. But ragged and interesting in its own right. Homemade is bloody great. A band I was aware of back when I was heavily into this stuff but never investigated beyond Not Too Amused. Now I will.

I remember seeing them live with my dad (I didn’t know who they were), and they didn’t disappoint. Even today, I listen to this and remember why there even was a “post-punk” sound, how powerful it could be, and I wish it had been less-defined by not being something else than it’s own honest grit.

Surprising choice (had expected Bakesale, one of the most popular records on 90s university campuses?) In the 90s Lou Barlow (as Sentridoh) and Prince were alike, releasing big selections of songs without proper quality control. However, as Sebadoh, on Sebadoh III - B&S - Bakesale ..certainly not the case. I like Bakesale (5) and Sebadoh III (5) a bit more, but rate B&S above Harmacy (4). Contributions of Gaffney and Loewenstein are as always uneven, but on B&S I would say things are generally fine. In fact, my favourite three songs are Soul and Fire (B), Happily Divided (L) and Think (B), but Bouquet for a Siren (G) and Sister (L) are also excellent. 4.5 (due to a couple of weak songs) -> 5

amazing find

A masterpiece of the lo-fi sub-genre of 90’s indie rock.

Sebadoh might be the most inconsistent of the big names in the 90’s lo-fi scene. Their records seem to vacillate between excellent and frustrating frequently within a 40 minute runtime, at least in my experience. It’s due in no small part to having 3 vastly different songwriters. Where Guided By Voices and Pavement records tended to be more consistent - even in their variety of songs and experiments - Sebadoh records often feel exceedingly uncompromising and overly serious. Bakesale or Harmacy would probably have served as better introductions for the uninitiated (Go listen to “Beauty of the Ride” from Harmacy - excellent song), but Bubble & Scrape might be a more fitting representation of the band. The peaks and valleys are on full display here: the highs are high and the lows are low.

Over 200 albums in, and eventually I'll learn to stop pre-judging albums. I fully expected to hate this, but this was significantly better than I expected. Certainly a much different direction than I anticipated. In fact, the direction of the album varies so much from track to track. That can be a drawback in a lot of cases, but I dig it overall. It's the line between being weird for the sake of being weird and being weird to be genuinely interesting. This falls heavily on the positive side of that. Favorite track: Sacred Attention

I like a lot of these actually, some quite different moods between some songs. Never knew what to expect. I like the slightly off vocals, gives it that punk edge. Reminded me of Dinosaur Jr and surprise surprise, the person who produced their albums did this one afaik.

Como álbum sí creo que es muy bueno, pero son de esos que tengo que escuchar muchas veces hasta sentir que me gustó de verdad. No hubo una canción en particular que me atrapara, pero sí está bien hecho el disco.

For over thirty years now, I've been wanting to live Sebadoh. But I don't and I should begin to accept that I am the kind of person who doesn't totally get Sebadoh, try as I might.

Bubble and Scrape I bought their album The Sebadoh from a few years after this, while we were at Uni, having seen them do Flame on TOTP. Looking back, that was quite a strange booking for 1999, well after the peak of their influence as a lofi alt rock band. I remember liking that album at the time, and I had a quick listen today and it’s still good, and sounds quite different to this, a lot more confident and crafted perhaps. Roughshod charm with the odd lovely melody poking through I guess is their whole thing, and this delivers that, but similar to Dinosaur Junior and a lot those US bands in the indie-alt-rock-grunge adjacent space it never quite feels like it quite lifts off, like they kind of lose a bit of steam halfway sometimes, or in the case of Eric Gaffneys songs they just aren’t that great to start with. I suppose that drift, again, is part of their schtick and appeal, but it feels a shame that they didn’t develop some of it further, or cut a few tracks (ie Eric’s) off the album as 17 is too many really. Barlow’s songs are probably the strongest, or he has the best ear for a hook or melody, Soul and Fire, Sacred Attention, Homemade, Forced Love and Think are nice slackery lo-fi pop. It’s more enjoyable, due to those songs, than other albums in this genre, and they do have an indefinable quality that makes them likeable. I’d listen again but it’s not necessarily something I’ll come back to that often, I’d definitely listen to The Sebadoh album if I fancied a piece of them. I think it just squeezes a 3. 🫧🫧🫧 Playlist submission: Forced Love

This kind of felt like a garage band that got its break because of one single (Elixir is Zog) and was booked on a national bar tour and then had to come up with a bunch of songs quickly so they had a bunch of bland one chorus songs. It wasn't bad, but I feel like they wanted to be more and just didn't get there.

This album definitely sounds like a Dinosaur Jr side project. The more post-punk songs like “Emma Get Wild” and “No Way Out” are cool. Some of the more grungy songs are a bit boring. I don’t love all the yelling Dinosaur Jr does, but I didn’t mind “Flood.” “Homemade” is probably my least favorite song. Unfortunately it’s also the longest song. It wasn't a bad listen, but I don’t know if I’d play it much again in the future. Half of it feels pretty generic, but there are some interesting songs. Not sure it really belongs on an all-time list. 3.5/5

“Bubble & Scrape” is one of a few records here that I avoided on release, probably because I’d heard they were soft and back then all I wanted was hard. Yet it feels familiar and brings nostalgia; the sound’s an archetype, one I could place and probably attribute blind despite having never consciously listening to Sebadoh apart from the likely Peel spins. I bet a far smaller percentage of Sebadoh’s bedwetter brigade vote Trump than do Green River fans, and I wish this more empathetic wing of Gen X had survived contact with the Millenium Bug and made it to the post-End of History. It’s overlong, pretty passages matched by workmanlike grunge porridge, marker of a democratic attitude to letting every band member have their fair slice of the vinyl pizza. This is a peak 3/5 record and I’m glad it’s here. Bob Weston of Shellac engineered this, a credit that fits: a sweet man recording a sweet record.

Don't think I've ever heard an entire Sebadoh album before. Flashes of brilliance here, although inconsistent; unfortunately I'm about 25 years past caring, sorry

The whole alternative indie rock Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr., and now Sebadoh thing is a bit too artsy for me. Critics love it but I don't think it's as good as they gush. It's not bad, sometimes really good, but I think there's a few too many of these albums on the list. I really came to enjoy Soul and Fire (nice balance of chords, plucking, and distortion) and Cliche (subtle but well-composed). Sister (good energy but the vocals...), Sacred Attention (also good energy, vocals fine), and Homemade (another subtler but deep piece) were also pretty good. But on other songs the time signatures or experimental touches or vocals are too off-putting; listen to Telecosmic Alchemy, Fantastic Disaster, Elixir is Zog, or No Way Out for what I mean. It's not awful, it's just too much trying to be creative.

Très original, j'étais pas complètement séduit, mais il y a vraiment de quoi d'avant-gardiste et d'unique dans cet album. C'est un album qui est aussi à l'opposé du terme "monotone" puisqu'il n'y a pas un moment pareil sur l'album, mais sans jamais sortir des sentiers indie rock. Définitivement à réessayer. 7/10

Not appealing but not repelling either

My favorite band named after an Adam Sandler catchphrase.

good one 7.

lo-fi was one of my favourite styles in the 90s, but Sebadoh was always somewhat eclipsed by Pavement. For me, Pavement are definitely the more essential of the two with the passage of time. Still. this album's a decent example of a great genre

It's very nice to listen to something that sounds "grunge" besides Nirvana or Pearl Jam, but also has many experimental songs with a kind of metal that is good even not understanding everything. In short, it was good to know this album, even not being the best one on this list until now. Probably, I will listen to it again someday...

• 2/5 • A couple of good tracks, but album is inconsistent • Vocals are a weak point

Not good. There is potential, but mostly overindulgent and pithy.

This album went downhill with all the grace of a sack of bricks after the first few songs. Barely a 2.

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I assume this was the end result of some punch card where if you get last place in enough battle of the bands you get an hour of studio time. Some bands will use dissonant chords and sounds as an effect in a song. These guys do it every second, and the effect is they suck.

I kept checking when the album would be over. Not a good sign.

This.was.bad.

Never heard of this band, so I gave it a shot. I thought the first song showed promise and the second was ok. But after that, the next few songs made me stop listening. I can’t believe this is on the list.

Junior school band meets angry teen angst. A nasty noise zero star offering.

I did not need to listen to this before I die. It's mixed like shit, the lyrics suck, there aren't any cool or interesting riffs and at least half the songs sound exactly the goddamn same. What's to like here dawg. Shoutout to the last third of No Way Out for being one of the worst pieces of music I've heard in a long while.

The Wiki on this album says it’s the first album they did in a pro studio. You’d never know. This is the worst sounding album I’ve heard in a long time. Maybe they should start with everyone playing the same tempo and go from there? Plodding, untuneful, meandering on top of totally terrible production. Hey I get the whole Albini raw sound thing, but this is another level. A level below, a few below really. This is time I’ll never get back in my life. Unless you like listening to your neighbour’s kid’s garage band bleeding through a wall, just do yourself a favour a skip this.

Worst album so far. Amateurish and sloppy. Worst of Hudson Bell and Home.

At best it was dull, at worst actively jarring, did not like will not listen again

Why is this on the list? Because it's groundbreaking? Well it is, groundbreakingly shit !

scraping the barrel

Bad

Niet echt geweldig

Yes, hello! I love this! I thiiink I knew that a band by this name existed and my have even guessed the circa genre but otherwise, this here today was one of the nicest AYMHBYD introductions in a long time. See, I had some other indie rock record yesterday, from 2010, where the variety in the songs felt like the pressing of different buttons on a music making machine. Here, it's the genuine expressions of three songwriters who are all in, together, in a diy "Fuck it, we'll do what we want!". And even if some of these may be too carelessly thrown and screamed onto the 4track for me, the next song is always just 90 seconds away. And may be a beautiful pearl. Super nice! --- End of review here --- ... and I poked around in this band's vicinity today, Polvo, Seam, Archers of Loaf. Man, the Americans were so much better at early 90s indie rock than the Brits.

Wow, this was an awesome find! I love discovering these old indie rock albums from the late 80s and early 90s. I will definitely be listening to this one more in the future.

1993. US indie rock

I really liked this one. It sounds like a combination of Dinosaur Jr, Mudhoney and Husker Du with some Captain Beefheart thrown in for good measure.

"Bubble And Scrape," the seminal album by Sebadoh, masterfully resurrects the essence of indie rock, weaving together lo-fi aesthetics and introspective songwriting that feels remarkably relevant for the early '90s when it was released. The band’s raw sound and poignant lyrics tap into the emotional undercurrents of a generation seeking authenticity in a rapidly commercializing music landscape. By blending unconventional song structures with relatable themes of love, loss, and disillusionment, Sebadoh not only honors the genre's foundations but also reinvigorates them, making this album a quintessential representation of indie rock's evolution during that era.

Caught Sebadoh live a few years ago and they were ace. This album is great, slack with occasional ventures into artful noise-rock.

Fav: Soul On Fire Least Fav: Telecosmic Alechemy This was incredible, lo-fi rock is something new to me and it will be something I’ll be getting into. Im shocked at such a low average rating, this album was great

Know a bit of Sebadoh but had never heard this one. This is rad. The bass-driven songs especially rock. That move of having guitar only come in parallel to the bass on the chorus in Homemade is so cool. am I going to bump a sprawling inconsistent album up to 5 for the change of pace from unremarkable 70s sludge? of course I am. music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)

Sebadoh is a gem in the 90s indie landscape. They are sensible and harsh, sleazy and angry, experienced and naive, all at the same time. Bubble and scrape was released when alt rock was soaring, but for any reason, they did not reach mass popularity. They deserved, and now this album lives in the hearts of those who wanted to scratch the surface and go deeper in music. The album is an experience. Tones and vibes unfold song after song. No filler. You may need to be in the right mood to flow with it, thou. But it’s not its fault. 4.5/5

Completely blown away. Had heard 1 song back in the 90s and thought they lacked that hard metal rock edge or alternative punch as Nirvana and the other guys were hogging the airwaves. They deprived us of a great side band which kicks ass. They are like a indie rock nirvana. Great songwriting amd arrangements and love the experimental aspect of the band. A surprising 5 stars for me and an add to my heavy rotation.

Where has this been all my life. This album is incredible. It leans largely on indie rock sensibilities but often veers into other genre blends. Just a kick-ass album.

Gets better as it goes. If you're going to take a break from Dino Jr., then at least make it worth it!

If Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement had an emo baby, it would sound like this. This album is fantastic, and the songs energy's changes a lot throughout the album, making it always sound fresh and never stale. Great album, never would have found it on my own

As a child of the nineties I feel I was pretty much predestined to like this one

I'm giving this 5 because I really want to return to these guys. Spotify is missing half the album

Every once in a while an album will come along that I’ve never heard of before that really surprises me. It’s not that common of an occurrence, which makes it all the more better when it does happen. This is one such case. I’ve never heard of Sebadoh before. I took one glance at this cover and assumed I was in for something pretty rough. But that is not at all true. The best way to describe this is the music that plays in the wet dreams of Kurt Cobain / Pixies fans. I believe this would probably appeal to most indie rock fans in general. I usually associate slacker rock and noise pop with bright tones and songs written in major keys. So that’s what I was anticipating. But this album is much gloomier and solemn than I was expecting. But it also has its moments where things pick up. Like imagine Tame by Pixies, just turned into multiple different songs. This was also far heavier than I was expecting. This doesn’t really fit the conventional definition of heavy music. But many of the main guitar riffs use these fantastic distorted tones. And some of the vocal performances are also super grunge inspired and intense. I was listening to Slipknot, and then I put on Telecosmic Alechemy, and I swear for like 20 seconds I thought I was still listening to Slipknot. I had to check to be sure. This album shocked me in many ways. And it stands out as a genuine piece of unique indie music that very few probably know about. Which is sad, since this deserves way more attention than it’s gotten. Rating: 9/10

As has happened before, when the album started I thought, "not another alt-rock band from the 90s that eschews tunefulness and feelings," but not long after I was feeling a lot and digging the dissonance in spite of myself. I kind of ended up loving it.

Peak "teenage dirtbag" energy. Raw sounds, discordant tones, and the overall sweat-and-grit feel of a Harmony Korine film (or maybe an early Kevin Smith flick for those with a lighter palate). Captures a solid chunk of the psychic feel of the early 90s. Some of this LP can prove harsh on the ears, which some may not appreciate - but it's mixed to thrill, like a smoke cruise in a used sedan with a group of good friends.

This is right up my alley, nostalgic indie lo-fi rock with a hint of grunge. Time to listen to Sebadoh’s whole discography…

Classic indie noise rock, I love how dynamic this one is from angry squalls of noise to very tender breakup/depression songs. Some might call it disjointed, but it's got 3 primary song writers and honestly... That's a lot of the charm. For fans of Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill, Hüsker Dü, etc. Maybe also if you like Midwest Emo, I feel like a lot of those bands were heavily inspired by all of the bands listed. Anyway, I love it. Maybe not as great as the high points from the other bands I listed, but I feel like Sebadoh are sorta under rated in general as far as 90s lo-fi indie stuff. This rocks.

pierādījums tam, ka nav jāmāk dziedāt, lai būtu grupā ❤️ jāatsāk klausīties nirvana

Damn good emo / grunge album. Think I've heard of the band before but feel like I missed out not hearing this album until now

What a great Indie rock record. I really enjoyed listening to this masterpiece

I had never heard of this band or album before, but it's a banger! Louche loud and brash indie rock... boom!

Oddly enough, I was more team Sebadoh than team Dinosaur Jr. during the "alternative" nineties (Sebadoh's Lou Barlow played bass and sang in Dinosaur Jr. before he was fired from the band). Jay Mascis's songs had too many guitar solos for my snobbish tastes at the time, even if I now recognize Dinosaur Jr.' importance, especially since Barlow reintegrated the band. But to be honest, I've always prefered Sebadoh's organized chaos, emphasizing fully democratic values within the band. And because the music was good too, as strange as those albums by the American band were... There were indeed three songwriters in Sebadoh at the time of *Bubble And Scrape*, and one third of said tracklist was devoted to each songwriter. And this, even if everyone (the audience, the critics, the band itself) knew the best tunesmith was Lou Barlow among those three, thanks to a rare compositional talent that helped him convey deeply melancholic feelings in his own songs. Up to that album, the only melodies really worthy of interest are his, and there are enough of them in it to sell the whole deal. Besides, the songs those melodies are part of are among the most magnificient songs Barlow ever penned in his career: "Soul And Fire", " Two Years Two Days", "Cliche", "Homemade", " Forced Love"... Plus there is the livelier " Sacred Attention", where Barlow mixes his romantic sadcore leanings with an apocalyptic wall of lo-fi guitars. Not to mention "Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)", an absolute tearjerker right before the end, where his hushed pleading voice, Seana Carmody's delicate backing vocals, and three simple chords on an acoustic guitar are enough to make you cry. "Let tomorrow be / I can't be so impatient / Pushing every answer / When there isn't any question". Wow. Rarely have songs about a couple in crisis have felt so lived-in. All of that doesn't mean that the two other band members can't bring their own (sour) cream on the melancholic cake. Jason Loewenstein still has to hone his own heavier and grungier-via-hardcore-punk skills at that point, it's true. That said, "Sister" is a great cut, and Jason even visits Lou's angsty and emotional turf with a certain flair on "Happily Divided". As for Eric Gaffney, his dissonant and experimental noisy ventures can admittedly be a breath of fresh air for fans of Syd Barrett (albeit one who would have used a time machine to listen to Hüsker Dü' early hardcore releases). Listen to "Bouquet For A Siren" or "Fantastic Disaster" to get an idea of the sort of crazy shit he could pull off. Not to everyone's tastes, obviously. Yet Gaffney's experiments bring dynamics to the whole thing that keep you constantly on your toes, as bizarre as his compositions are. If there were only Barlow's songs, this lo-fi record wouldn't work in the way it does. Sometimes the sum is worth more than the (discrete) parts. Starting with the next album, *Bakesale*, Gaffney would be out of the picture, making Sebadoh's LPs more easily digestible and/or legible. Which is why I'm surprised this later record is not in Dimery's list, instead of this one. Lou's tunes also shine on *Bakesale*, by the way (as they do in "Harmacy", the one right after), and Loewenstein's upped his game pretty well too. But I guess that's a story for another time, kiddies. 4.5/5, rounded up to 5/5, mostly because I feel that reviewers on this app are a bit lost as to the exact way the very topsy-turvy art of Sebadoh should be apprehended. Always check out Lou's songs first. Then you'll be surprised as to how far you can actually go to eventually appreciate the whole thing. Early Sebadoh is weird because it sort of needs a user's guide. But that doesn't mean they were a "bad" band by any means. Number of albums left to review: 523 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 229 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 110 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 139

cool

Gloriously ramshackle but more genius hits than misses and an extra star for Flood

So much fun.

This first half of this album was ok, but really got interesting for me starting about halfway through with Elixer is Zog. This seems like one that will grow on me, so I'll likely be putting it on again soon. 3.5/5

This album is great. It has a lot of diverse sounds and they're all interesting. I found it interesting that this is related to Dinosaur Jr. 4/5

This album has a lot to offer. It also interrupts is offerings to scream at me on occasion. Three songwriters and different stylings create, for me, an uneven album. I happily settle into the lo-fi groove but then get pulled out of that groove by some juvenile outbursts that remind me of, say, the Suicidal Tendencies. Nevertheless, I really like this album most of the time. I want to listen again for sure, and that means 4/5.

I missed this band in the early 90s, and it is a shame because I enjoyed this album. They sound like a garage band that through maturity and discipline graduated to a living room band. And when they stay in that restrained groove they are at their best. The vocals and instrumentation are sharp, crisp, and groovy. I like that they dip back into a more raw garage band style, but when they settle down, they really shine.

This is the one where they got into their groove. Not yet the genius of Bakesale but still so many bangers.

The music I’d been listening to (as well as the music recommended to me here), I just realized, has all been from the sixties or earlier for like a month. I really love music from the sixties. But I was feeling music fatigue. This is something nobody should ever feel! I was bored of music! Finally, the generator decided to lift me from my rut by throwing me headfirst into the 90’s indie scene. Thank god. This was such a balm, such a remedy. I’d never listened to Sebadoh before, but I was immediately into it. Bubble and Scrape, I will be back!