Bubble And Scrape

I really liked the first two tracks and one or two others. Other than that, the album is pretty average. I’ll likely listen to the 2-3 songs I liked but can’t see myself playing the whole album again.

Tuesday, 16 June, 2026 Bloomsday! Side two saved this album from a two star. “Sacred attention” in particular, and the couple songs around it.

I am now 454 albums into the 1089 (Yes, I also thought it was 1001). It's like summiting Everest as an outsider before white people realized they could exploit the poor local population to whisk them and their gear up the mountain. I have nearly been claimed by yawning crevasses echoing faintly with pseudo protest anthems and British no-wave. They may call it mountain madness, but I swear I saw that guy who was on the Sopranos that plays guitar for Big "man of the people" billionaire baby man, Brucie Boy Springsteeno. Violent ice storms abound. Most of my crew has vanished. I stay determined, albeit a tad hopeless that this endeavour will bear any fruit. In this interminable trek towards an unknown end, a nice little genre bending, shouty indie/slacker rock day feels like I can open my parka and enjoy a rare blast of warm air. No corpses to step over today and a relatively gentle slope. I know this reprieve warns of treacherous conditions tomorrow. There is a storm brewing and I'm sure it'll emanate from the UK. 3.5 HIGHLIGHTS: You know, I don't think they use construction paper in construction.

I enjoyed this album listen from Sebadoh! I’d never heard of this band or album but I thought this was a solid album. Overall, I thought this was a satisfying alt rock/indie rock album with punk influences and I would listen to it again!

I've heard of the band Sebadoh but I'm not sure I've ever listened to them. It's pretty good garage rock, way lower production of the big dogs of the grunge scene, more in the likes of Sonic Youth. It's a pretty good sound to be honest, and I liked listening to it all the way through. I was having a hard time picking a favorite, as none of the songs really individually grabbed me. Soul and Fire is good, definitely the best produced song, and is probably the best here. I also liked Forced Love. This guy was definitely pretty messed up by his dying relationship, the whole album is about letting it go. Fine album, not my favorite though.

I listened to them in the 90’s. Not missing them now.

Not bad. 17 tracks. Not 32

Kinda grungy but overall not bad

This album is an example that just because a known good record label put it out doesn't mean it's a banger. 90s alt rules my heart so I didn't hate this but I also understand why it wasn't that big or known.

I picked up everything from Teenage Fanclub to Pavement, with hints of Sonic Youth in between. I like this kind of messy indie but I feel like it's something that takes me time and multiple listens to fully digest. The more I did, the more I enjoyed its better moments but the more I tired of the worse ones. I could cut this down to 20-25 minutes of greatness but probably means I only half-liked it, to be brutally honest.

3 de 5 Obra de transición en el rock alternativo. El disco captura a la perfección la tensión y el contraste entre el lo-fi ruidoso y experimental, y el inicio de un sonido más melódico y estructurado. Cuenta con arreglos más pulidos, sin perder su crudeza característica. El productor Bob Weston ayudó a definir una intensidad sónica única que es a la vez visceral y emocional. A destacar: Track 1 - Soul and Fire Track 2 - Two Years Two Days Track 3 - Telecosmic Alchemy Track 5 - Happily Divided Track 7 - Cliche Track 8 - Sacred Attention Track 12 - Homemade Track 13 - Forced Love Track 14 - No Way Out Track 16 - Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)

Kinda early indie rock sounding. Decent

3.5

I barely noticed this album was even on

För långt såklart men gillade ändå 90-talsarkeologin. Det var bitvis kul det här.

Trodde jag hatade först men blev omvänd! Rätt charmigt faktiskt. Chockad över att se en 1a från Bert3000. Trodde det var rakt upp i hans hjulhus!

very mixed bag

I liked the start of the album but I feel like the rest of it doesn't have much substance. Reminded me a lot of pavement and some other slacker rock stuff but I would recommend listening to those instead of this 6/10 Favourite: Sister Least Favourite: Elixir is Zog

Muy good! Dad's fav song

Voix nulle Fantastic disaster : dissonant et désagréable à écouter Happily divided sort un peu du lot, j’aurais pensé que c’était de nirvâna Sacrée attention envoie bien ! Élixir is zog est aussi originale Forced love : bien ! Think (let tomorrow be) : bien ! En fait la fin de l’album est même très agréable à écouter ! 7/10

An absolute enigma to me, this record. So bizarre.... the first two songs are really strong indie guitar rock, lo-fi, cool chord voicings, frail vocals..... and then songs three and four are just dogshit atonal nonsense. It's all over the road. I had to go to the Wikipedia- and it all makes sense now. Barlow writes pretty solid indie rock. The other two guys in the band wrote all the totally bizarre stuff. I wish this was just Lou Barlow, and the other guys just contributed their instrumental stylings and not their vocals or songwriting. "Elixir Is Zog" is the exception - totally strange and yet also harmonic and melodic in its own weird way. It can be done! Anyways. The best songs here are "Soul and Fire," "Homemade," and "Elixir." So much of the rest is just not good. That all being said, I'm really glad I listened to this, and I think there are people out there who would love this but have never heard of it before. It's gotta be - THREE STARS

Not bad, but it took me so many sessions to actually finish

Thoughts before listening: Lou Barlow's other band beside Dino Jr and Folk Implosion. This has to be some sort of lo for indie rock. I know this gets lots of praise, but I have never actually listened to it. Review: Yeah I nailed the sound. Some of this is great (i.e. "Sister", "Sacred Attention", and "Homemade") and some of it is too ramshackle and lo-fi for its own good. There is certainly something to be said for the very 90s idea of some dudes bashing out catchy indie rock songs and becoming cult heroes for it, and there are other band I love with this same aesthetic. However, Sebasoh was never one of my bands, and this isn't scratching that nostalgia itch that some of their contemporaries might. Still though, I'm glad I gave this a try, but I much prefer Dino Jr for my Lou Barlow fix. 3-stars

This album gently stands on its own but is mostly a stepping point between other musical movements

Strong 3

lol, I probably liked this more than most in this group. I stg, like, 3 songs were absolute f-ing bangers. The rest of the album was absolute gutter punk scream trash. lol. Live on, my boys 🤙🏻

What a great listen this was! I’ve only ever heard the album after this, Bakesale, which I remember enjoying way back when it came out. I never got around to hearing any of their other albums so it was a surprise when this came up for this project and I enjoyed listening to it so much! I just love all the noisy experimental sounds that permeates their indie folk rock sound. I heard so much of this kind of stuff back then that I never thought too much of it but now, over 30 years later, this sounds so fresh and exciting compared to most of the modern crap that’s out there right now. Yet another band that I definitely need to dig into their discography!

Teenage me who heard this when it first came out would probably rate it higher. It was also probably written for teenage me. It's still a good album. there's a certain amount of... unconventional... songs in there which may or may not affect your views.

Dreamy

This one grew on me the further into it I got, but it still didn’t blow me away. Overall it’s fine one I got past the first few tracks, vocals there seemed a little monotone and monotonous. I’ll be generous and round up to 3 stars.

Yeah this pretty alright, I wouldn't say I loved it but I found myself enjoying it well enough.

Varias cosas interesantes, las letras tratan muchas temáticas adolescentes como el desamor, amistades rotas y el desenfreno de la juventud, la producción está bastante pulida y muchas canciones tienen guitarras súper enérgicas y agresivas mezclados con sonidos extraños y poco comunes, pero sin dejar de lado algunas canciones íntimas y relajantes muy al estilo indie.

Behind the two very soft, heartfelt and mellow intro tracks hides a very chaotic, noisy and dissonant album that can either be very challenging or have some really solid tunes. Starting from the very beginning, as mentioned, the two first songs are some of the saddest moments of the whole project. The guitars sound really nice and melodic, the voice is super soft and has a tinge of sadness, and the lyrics mainly focus on separation. The second song "Two Years Two Days" might be a more energetic and not as slow as the first one, but still have the same feeling. From here, the album starts to get chaotic. The next two songs "Telecosmic Alchemy" and "Fantastic Disaster" present the challenging side of the record, as the guitar are incredibly dissonant and noisy, with the voices also getting atonal and starting to scream a little bit. This is probably the aspect which makes most people dislike the album, and I get why. In comparison with another noise rock acts, such as Sonic Youth, I don't think they are doing nothing specially interesting, and they are wasting the potential to create something special with all the tension built up by the pure cacophony. Fortunately, there are songs that come back to the melancholic sound of the first ones, like "Happily Divided", "Cliche", "Homemade" and "Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)", and there are also some other songs that are some very solid noise rock with some great riffs. For me, some highlights under this category are "Sacred Attention", "Emma Get Wild" and "Forced Love". So while I did enjoy the album overall and I think it has some solid moments, I also believe that the best parts aren't super impressive and the worst parts are certainly very hard to sit through. As a side note, one of the founding members of the album is Lou Barlow, which is mostly known for being the bass player in Dinosaur Jr., so I guess this might be the reason why this got added into the list.

Nie je to zlé, ale nie je to skvelé... Podľa názvu skupiny som si myslel, že je to nejaký heavy metal, bol som pomerne prijemne prekvapený...

3.5 Bit surprised by a Sebadoh entry. Thought Bakesale would have been the one featured. Gave this a quick listen, sacred attention stood out. I will listen to this album again instead of throwing on bakesale next time

Enjoyable, but not especially memorable, 90s indie rock.

Chill coffee house vibes. And then more of a grunge rock bike shop vibe. I've heard of Sebadoh but never had a full listen of their music. Pretty good stuff with a nice 90s feel. 3.5

1 - Soul and Fire (starting off right away with the Pavement-inspired mid-tempo and barren instrumentation that eventually makes way for a loud chorus; this is despite them being contemporaries with a lot of alt rock pioneers. The riff vaguely reminds me of Fast Car and perfectly captures the plaid jackets and cool autumn weather of the east coast) 4/5 2 - Two Years Two Days (more upbeat and "happier" sounding than the opener, there's still an underlying malaise about this whole song. It gets a little noisy too which is a nice surprise as I though this album would be played mostly as straight alt rock. A good follow-up to the opener all in all) 3.5/5 3 - Telescopic Alchemy (very harsh and guttural bass, mixed with a noisy guitar and gruff vocal performance. It's about 3 steps removed from being on Swans' Filth. Very surprised a song like this found itself here!) 3.5/5 4 - Fantastic Disaster (the guitars are still quite muddy on this, like it's coming down from the high of the previous track. The whole thing really feels like a music box that's winding down, especially that wonky harmonica. Lots of instruments are teetering out of tune here, and I'm wondering if this is the true core of this album...) 3.5/5 5 - Happily Divided (a very sparse interlude driven by acoustic guitar, almost like it regrets subjecting the listener to the noise of the previous 2 tracks...! This one works fine as an interlude and nothing more) 3/5 6 - Sister (very punk rock opening, with a return to the noise garage sound of tracks 3 and 4. This song is like covering a Fugazi song from memory. It's effective at waking you back up (not that the album really let you rest anyway)) 3.5/5 7 - Cliché (this one trucks along with a simple 2 note melody interrupted by harsher chords. The softer singing contrasts this as well, but it's still just a standard lo-fi alt rock song from this era) 3/5 8 - Sacred Attention (the catchiest a punk song has sounded on this album so far. It's downright anthemic in places and honestly could pass for an arena rock song if the production cleaned up a bit. I love how the guitars swell and essentially start whirring around this song. It sounds absolutely huge despite the lo-fi production) 4/5 9 - Elixir Is Zog (this song is honestly a jump scare. It sounds like a pretty boring one at first then in comes this deranged Dax Riggs-type screaming from the singer. Then the song just falls apart, like all the instruments ran out of batteries or something. Very unique) 4/5 10 - Emma Get Wild (an almost-instrumental interlude that really focuses on the interplay between band members. It's a quick garage rock romp and serves its purpose well) 3/5 11 - Sixteen (another all-too-brief track that doesn't do anything that different from the previous track. Why these 2 weren't combined into 1 track with 2 separate movements, I have no idea) 2.5/5 12 - Homemade (at 5 minutes this is the longest song on the album. This very much feels like their Fillmore Jive movement - giving the nascent indie rock movement its multi-part epic. The guitars positively buzz and have this very warm sound to them, again recalling the autumn months. There's a very wiry, introverted atmosphere throughout this song. Definitely one of the strongest tracks on the album and a very welcome addition after several brief and forgettable entries in the tracklist) 4/5 13 - Forced Love (has one of the catchier melodies among the average-length tracks here, which helps it stay memorable among the many other tracks on this album. It's also helped by the dynamics as things slow to a crawl in the second half of the song, showing the band still hasn't quite exhausted all their tricks) 3.5/5 14 - No Way Out (this one starts off as a punk rock tracks and ends with a distorted wax cylinder type recording of a saloon piano. I give it points for doing something different from the other quick songs on this, and it's definitely more adventurous than most of the other songs) 3/5 15 - Bouquet for a Siren (another song that could pass for a bubbling-under alt rock radio song if the production was cleaned up and the guitars didn't sound so barely in tune. This one is fine I guess; hard to know since so many of the songs on this do something similar) 3.5/5 16 - Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) (an acoustic ballad (?) delivered with a sense of restraint. There's finally a moment to breathe on this part of the album; the last slow interlude feels a world away at this point. It's really the barren sound of this that catches my attention, every other song on this sounds crammed and busy except for this one. It would have been a good way to close out the album, but I guess the band figured they didn't have enough 90-second thrashers on this) 3.5/5 17 - Flood (one last garage punk sprint to close out this album. This one feels emptier than the others though especially since the guitars are relatively hidden; this one sounds like an angry guy on the corner yelling at nothing. Not sure why this had to be the last song when it could have switched spots with Think) 2.5/5 OVERALL - 6.7/10

rugged comes to mind, some decent tracks

Good album. Raw, garage style indie rock. Not surprisingly, I learned that one of the members plays with Dinosaur Jr. I liked the innovative sound and energy of this album.

I remember not liking them in the 90s as they were on Subpop but being disappointed they weren’t grunge. This is decent but not really my style (still!)

First listen

When this album is good, it's GOOD, but when it is bad it's dire. Highlights: Soul and Fire, Two Days, Happily Divided, Cliche, Sacred Attention, Sixteen

Never heard of them until now. Some great sounds and solid production.

Some really good tracks

A bit of this and a bit of that. Ok mostly. 3 stars

Solid lo-fi noise that I found mostly pleasant. Liked Songs Added: Soul And Fire

I think that if I'd heard this in the 90s, my rating would be higher. But listening to it for the first time with 2026 ears, it was just okay.

그냥 락이야

Seemed similar to early Beck, the glue-sniffing years. Not bad, I'll try to come back to this and listen again

i liked this one. lot

If I was a kid in the 90s I would've fallen in love with Lou Barlow. The second I saw his face I recognized he's Jewish. What a queen.

That 90's distorted guitar sound that I love, but the songs are too muted for my taste. Still a solid listen, and one I'll return to.

Some really nice guitar work, certain songs stood out more than others, overall pretty good

While I may not listen to this album again any time soon, it is a fine album. The lo-fi production, lyrics of heartbreak, and energy are interesting. The big issue ai have is that... we'll, this album is outclassed by many similar albums. Pavement's discography beats Sebadoh to a pulp in this regard and, if we are to mention albums not on the list, it feels like Weezer's Pinkerton did everything this album tried to do but better. I wouldn't say this album is necessarily integral to a list like this, but for what it is, it's fine. Nothing odious but nothing special either. Highlights are Two Years Two Days, and Elixir is Zog.

Well, it was really creative and pretty at times. The banshee screaming was not very enjoyable and pretty annoying, but the emotional moments like Cliche and Homemade are really inviting to me.

2.7 2x

Eine eher unbekannte Band. Aber angenehmer Indie-Rock. Abwechslungsreich, teils nachdenklich/schwermütig. 3/5

Yeah, not sure about this one. It's either brilliant or a mess. I say that sardonically. Sometimes it sounds like they have no idea what they are doing, but they clearly do. This seems more like an album to study than to listen to while working or whatnot.

I love some of these tracks individually and have great memories of them coming onto indie radio shows, cutting through the fey, the poppy, the melancholic mix with something quirky and yet consistently distinctive. Unfortunately, listening to these tracks in sequence is underwhelming and can't muster the enthusiasm of my youth 2.75

So I missed these guys when they seemed to be quite popular in their day. Not sure i would've loved them. This record has a lot of interesting aspects and is a great window into 2010's indie garage noise. But I feel its to frenetic and aimless as a body of work

Not one I’d heard before, but it’s good. Feels like it could grow on me (rather than show on me???). Favourite track: Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)

When I started listening to this I thought it sounded a lot like Dinosaur Jr. Turns out there’s at least one member of Dinosaur Jr in this band so that tracks. It was a pretty good album, but to me it was just like Dinosaur Jr without J. Mascis, so not as good. Still a solid album with some cool songs. The songs that used dissonance were my favorite.

As I was listening I was like, "this feels very Sub Pop" and low and behold.

It is quite incredible what a trio of squabbling, misanthropic young men can do. Quite an intriguing album. The experimentation and evident struggle has its fascination. It falls somewhat short of greatness, however.

Look up 'indie rock' in the dictionary and it has an album cover from Sebadoh in there. Look up 'indie rocker' and you've got Lou Balow. I can get why this would turn some people off, but for me this is a lovely album. I really like the experimentation on every song and you don't know what you're going to get from song to song.

This album is very up and down for me and considering the stylistic differences it makes sense. I really enjoyed Soul and Fire, Two Years Two Days, Happily Divided, Cliche, Homemade, Forced Love, and Think (Let Tomorrow Bee). I could have done without a bunch of the others - but even those aren't terrible. It's definitely not a bad album and I may come back to it but probably never to listen to it as a whole.

Forgot how all over the place this record is. They really threw everything they had at it, and took advantage of that studio sound. Didn’t realize Weston produced…makes sense.

Dos de sus canciones, Sacred attention y Two years two days, me gustaron mucho. En general, el disco es bastante bastante lindo. Sus partes más experimentales me caen menos simpático y tienden a aburrirme, me gusta más cuando las canciones son sencillas y predecibles. La atmósfera lograda con la textura lofi me gusta mucho. Para no ser el estilo que acostumbro, me pareció muy bueno. Aún así, no sé si lo escucharía seguido.

Do I really need to listen to this record before I die?

It's fine, I won't be revisiting though

This was a really nostalgic sound for me, because it sounded so classically 90s alt rock. I enjoyed this album for that reason, but didn’t enjoy the more screamy parts as much as the more melodic songs.

I may come back to this album for a second listen. Really enjoyed a lot of the songs.

I don't really know what to make of this album. Parts were interesting but parts were fairly mediocre grunge-adjacent rock.

Decent but it's a bit too... All over the place. Trying to grasp a coherent theme of in this album is like trying to catch the single M&M that rolled under your desk.

Sounds like a more janky Dinosaur Jr. I can understand this kind of jank rubs most the wrong way but I'm alright with it

I was surprised by this album- gound myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. Interesting mix of indie rock with like a proto-emo / hardcore sound. Overall- decent album

Why this album. Why not Bakesale or III. I like Sebadoh. It’s a Sebadoh album! It has some unbelievable alt rock smashes and then some confusing lo-fi messes. If you’re into that it’s great! If not? Ehhhhh. I like their other stuff more

I really liked like 2/3rds of this record. Really cool lo fi rock sound, really good harmonies and stuff. I already like the way he sings so it wasn't a big deal for me, but some of these songs just feel out of tune and even though it's intentional I just could not enjoy it.

Passed over me with very little impact!

Enjoyed this

enjoyed this although it is a bit of a mixture

Ok. ★★★

I could see it growing on me.

Rätt tufft men inte heeelt för mig

Tänkte direkt på Dinosaur Jr. när jag började lyssna, så det var kul att höra både att kopplingen fanns och att det här också lät bra, om än inte lika.

Intressant blandning av sound mellan olika låtar, det mesta behagligt.

Ok

A solid 3. But i do love lou barlow, so Biased. Really liked soul and fire, and sister

Enjoyed it. A good album Pretty forgettable thought.

Clangy and meaty. Bitesize songs. Beef Jerky. Raw, unproduced feel, ok 1st and last songs are the best. Basically, youve got some unexplained meat with your eggs.

Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t great either

Some decent songs, feels like a collection of demos though overall. Not a fan of the ones the other fella sings. Probably won’t return to this. Bubble & scrapes a 3.

неплохо началось, но что то потом не склеилось

Without picking up the book, it's unclear to me why this is the single Sebadoh album to make the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list. And maybe the rest of what's to come is too "inside the Lou Barlow filter bubble," if there is such a thing, but given that this record makes the list, the editors have likely heard the more bitterly caustic early work or the more classically popular Bakesale. But maybe this is exactly their case for Bubble & Scrape. If Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock marks the end of the early albums (debatable) and Bakesale marks the start of their popular period (also debatable), then Bubble & Scrape is the turning point. Except, of course, it's all singularly Sebadoh. Meaning whatever record you listen to there will be some well-crafted songs that positively perk up your ears no matter the recording quality and other tracks that just feel like jangle trash they knew should be left on the editing room floor but decided to include just to antagonize. It's great.

some good some bad some wild it had it all

certainly not their best, but still enjoyable

Soul And Fire - 4/5 Two Years Two Days - 4.5/5 Telescopic Alchemy - 3/5 Fantastic Disaster - 3/5 Happily Divided - 4.5/5 Sister - 4/5 Cliche - 4/5 Sacred Attention - 4/5 Elixir Is Zog - 3.5/5 Emma Get Wild - 3/5 Sixteen - 3/5 Homemade - 2/5 Forced Love - 3/5 No Way Out - 2.5/5 Bouquet For A Siren - 3.5/5 Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) - 4/5 Flood - 3/5

SebaDON’T. Just kidding, this actually grew on me as it went on. Sebado whatever you want. Prob 3.5

I often like dissonant music, things that are a bit angry, somewhat weird, odd. I thought this was OK, but not great. Kind of an indictment, really, in that the style should have worked for me, but it didn't, and presumably that's because it's a bit derivative.

Raucous, but in a good way. It seemed to hit a groove about halfway through and kept it going until the end. Three stars.

Uneven but better than a 2. This is much more "mid" than it is "must listen".

That was interesting. I liked some of the tracks, didn't hate it.

Damn, this isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was gonna be. It's a bit disjointed in places...a bit chaotic. Beautiful songs one track, aggressive and hard the next, but they pull it off pretty well.

The opening song was great, but it quickly went downhill from there. Most of the songs uses distortion and alternative “harmonies”. The songs varies from just annoying to “ok, this is kinda cool”. Sometimes it is all over the place, and in the next moment it is nice. Conclusion: A few songs are definetly better than the rest of the album. I might check out some of their other singles. Favourite songs: Soul and Fire, Think (Let Tomorrow Be).

I've never heard this album and understand why it would be included list, unless its about the Sub Pop label or New England grunge. I didn't really enjoy much of it, despite its tight rhythm section.

I liked this alum esp the instruments and vocals! The lyrics were relatable and enjoyable.

“This sounds a lot like Dino Jr” I say to myself before learning that Lou Barlow is a founding member.

62/100. A solid indie rock record that keeps things interesting by constantly switching things up. The sound shifts a lot from song to song, and it actually works in the album’s favor. It feels less like one strict style and more like flipping through a bunch of different moods and influences.

EXTREMELY hit or miss album for me. I don't enjoy the heavier, louder songs personally, but I did like about half this album.

Pretty solid indie punk album

6/10 Favorite: Soul And Fire

-this is decent. i have a newfound appreciation for 90s indie rock, perhaps influenced by Built To Spill and Dinosaur Jr., so i ended up rather enjoying this -not the most interesting rock album i’ve ever heard by a long shot, but i do quite love the random jarring tone shifts throughout the album. not bad, would like to listen again -Favorites: Two Years Two Days, Happily Divided, Elixir Is Zog, Flood

It has glimpses of greatness but it just never reaches those heights.

i thought it was called slacker rock not whiner rock

There's some nice stuff on here, but it's a bit too inconsistent for me. A real mixed bag.

Gaffney's last stand on this Sub Pop layered piece.

Decent lo-fi schmo-fi. Great first track, the rest I like rather than love.

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It's a good length album and the tracks are kind of samey. Very of its time.

Heavy metal répétitif que j'ai encore écouté 2 ou 3 fois parce que j'avais oublié ce que c'était faute de l'avoir noté direct après écoute. Un peu plan plan mais pas désagréable à écouter, comme la majorité des albums quoi.

De mémoire : sympa

Un mélange de très bon et de beaucoup moins bon, quelques sonorités expérimentales qui m'ont plu mais aussi des passages bizarres 3/5

Goes wilder places than Bakesale, but Bakesale was a lot more consistently good, I feel. Surprised that's not on the list and this one is? (unless I just haven't gotten it yet) 3.5/5

The songs oscillated between me liking them and wanting to skip them - maybe that happens when everyone in a band writes songs? I think I didn’t like the gaffney written songs (besides think). Ends up with a 3 - if it was just the songs I liked it would be closer to 4

One of many albums on this list which are quite nice but nothing more

Starts as a mix of Temu Matthew Sweet meets Elliott Smith and goes downhill fast.

I liked Bakesale well enough, but Bubble & Scrape wasn't doing it for me too much this morning. Some great guitar work and a few really good tunes ("Soul and Fire", "Homemade", "Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)"), but overall, it felt like somewhat anonymous slacker rock and lacking in song structure. It gets up to a low 3 stars in my book, as I dig the general style, but I can't say I feel overly compelled to return much to this one. 3/5

I hate indie rock. This was very meh. 2.5/5

Band an album were all new to me. Although it is mainly the kind of music I like the most, I'm not 100% into the vocals. And just because here and then there are pieces that annoy me, I can only give it the weak three stars. favourite: "Cliche", "Sacred Attention", "Emma Get Wild", Forced Love" 2,5

When this record popped up yesterday morning I was like "oh yeah Sebadoh, I remember them" but my next thought was "have I ever actually heard any of this or do I just know about it from reading about it in Puncture or whatever at the time?" So ok - this is along the lines of things I like, indie rock. I'd give it more stars if it was a little more innovative. It didn't really speak to me for some reason. Three stars because it's competent, tuneful, but for me unexciting.

If you don't love the music you listened to when you were 20-whatever, I suspect your life has not been what you hoped for.

Kao da je neko uzeo sav indie/alt rock iz devedesetih, izblendao zajedno, i napravio najprosječniji prosjek od albuma s tom kombinacijom.

So I was into Sebadoh for a while, which makes sense me being a Dinosaur Jr. fanboy (Sebadoh was created by Lou Barlow, Dinosaur Jr bass player). This isn’t my favorite album of theirs but it shows great range for a slacker indie record. It would be more than a stretch to say you have to listen to this album before you die but if you like nineties slacker indie rock then it’s a great one (also try III which I like better). Three stars.

Grungy but not too grungy. The odd screamy bit. Somewhere in between Buttholesurfers and MBV

Kind of interesting lo fi stuff.

I'm a big Dinosaur Jr. fan, and I've never really listened to Sebadoh, so I was excited to try to get into this album. After a first listen, I'm thinking it's good not great. A lot of really good songs, which mostly feel like breakup songs. Vocals are delivered mostly dryly in that 90s indie style reminiscent of Sonic Youth, but there is some harsh yelling too, like on "Elixir Is Zog". The tracks tow the line between lo-fi and studio polish. But ultimately I'm not sure I'm finding something to latch on to. That is, I'm not finding a hook to sink my teeth into. Guitars are great on a lot of tracks, bass is great on a lot of tracks, but what is the unique defining "sound" here? There is a lot of variety song to song, and the album as a whole feels like a bunch of songs by different people got dumped into one place. Maybe I need another listen or time for it to meld with me.

3.5/5 B

I liked this less as it went on.

It’s pretty good. 3/5

80’s indie

Interesting mix of music. Not really my jam, but I can see the appeal for some people.

Scrapes a low 3 for me. Wasn't a fan of the last song.

Feels too disparate to properly land but I really enjoy the bits that do land for me and there are just enough of them to make it a solid 3 for me

I had a little obsessive Sebadoh phase around 2005 (Russian MP3 sites and a steady income were a potent combination). It's wild how different this sounds from the (stellar) album, Bakesale, that came just a year later, sans Eric Gaffney. The band described Gaffney's departure as euphoric because he was so difficult to work with. Gaffney's absence clarified what he brought to the table; without him, Lou Barlow's Sebadoh sounds more like Lou's other legendary band, Dinosaur Jr. There's a menacing rockabilly underlying Bubble & Scrape that seems to be all Gaffney. And I'm into it -- though not as much as Bakesale*. This whole album is the sonic equivalent of chaotic neutral. The band sounds loose and a little incohesive, prone to exploring whatever weird whim a song leads them to. Sebadoh gets four stars as a band, but Bubble & Scrape isn't quite up to that territory. *I'm referencing Bakesale so much in part because, like often happens on this list, that superior effort is missing from the 1001 albums.

One I have never heard of, I love when these come up. 2 songs in, seems like pretty standard early 90s grunge/indie. Then Telescopic Alchemy comes on, wtf is this? They decided that one was finished and released it huh? I guess so. The trend continues with the sort of chaotic, almost atonal sound with questionable vocals. Kind of reminds me of Green Jelly a little bit. It then kind of goes back and forth between that kind of chaotic stuff and the more listenable grunge/indie that kicked off the album. I like some of it, don't like some of it. I think the biggest problem is that they just couldn't figure out what this record was going to be. It's really disjointed and uneven. Some great guitar tones here and there and some really good sounding songs next to some that are almost unlistenable. An album I don't think I'll be coming back to 2.5/5

OK.

Some decent songs some mid

A little incel coded? Anyway I had kinda vaguely heard of these guys, but wasn't to impressed. 2nd half different and better than the first.

If I could give this negative stars I would

Bizarrely, this album gave off some Foo Fighters (debut album) vibes to me. I don't know if it was the slight similarity in one lead singer's voice to Dave Grohl's voice or the fact both feel somewhat lo-fi at times. Soul and Fire deservedly leads off the album, as it is the strongest track. This one is on the list as it provides a look into early 90's indie rock. I thought it was an okay album and I'm not sure I would care to do a further review of this band's output. Bouquet for a Siren sounds like Fire of Lake by the Meat Puppets, at least to me. My favorite songs were: Soul and Fire Two Years Two Days Sister Sacred Attention Forced Love Bouquet for a Siren

Pretty cool album.

This is pretty dull stuff. Not bad, but not great...

Nice range of sounds.

this album didn’t really hit on first listen, and I wasn’t sure what the vibe that they were going for was - it seemed pretty all over the place On second listen I felt like I got what they were going for - I’m not too big on noise rock but it’s the type of music Helen Kostas and Alex want the band to sound like There was still a lot of songs that I felt were just filler, despite some really good ones in there - Soul and Fire, Homemade and Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) were the standouts

First time listening to them. Took me a minute to settle in, but I found appreciation with “Homemade.”

Enjoyed this. But indistinguishable from any other NW US indie grunge of the time. Listened 3 times and can't remember any specific tracks, but end to end it's a good listen. So I lied, I do remember Fantastic Disaster for its great use of harmonica. I hope it was a pisstake because it made me smile. 3½

I liked how there were unexpected parts

This is a combination of my favorite genre and my least favorite genre. So it was guaranteed to either diminish what I love or heighten what I hate. And that’s exactly what it did. This lands right in the middle of mediocrity.

At a time where “Alternative Rock” was shorthand for “grunge,” this band had a foreword-looking style that sounds like if the Strokes played songs written by Jeff Tweedy.

very reminiscent of pavement and early elliott smith. i definitely enjoyed the album, but there was a lack of hooks or distinctive instrumentation or structure to fully enrapture me

Asenteikasta indie rokkia. Aika vahva grunge soundi myös. Perus hyviä kappaleita vaikka osa on taas sillein tahallisen huonoja ja ärsyttäviä. Mää vaan en ymmärrä sitä. Parhaat: Soul And Fire, Sacred Attention, Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)

There are some interesting tracks on this record, and I enjoyed listening to it, but it sounds a bit disjointed, like a compilation. Nothing made me stand at attention, but I do hear shades of bands that came before (Sonic Youth) and after (Hum, Smashing Pumpkins), and nothing sounds derivative here. I would probably have liked this record more if I had heard it when I was in high school, which makes me want to enjoy it more than I do now. It sounds like the indie rock that the slightly older guys I knew in college listened to. It sounds super 90s hip and cool college radio, and I was only ever super 90s hip and cool college radio adjacent. Three stars.

I love Sebadoh but this certainly isn't the album I'd pick. Listen to III or Bakesale. Maybe Harmacy if you're feeling spicy.

Sometimes a good, sometimes a shit

Sounds like 90s indy/grunge/garage rock. While I generally like that sound, some of it was too discordant to me, or just uninteresting. There were a few really good tracks though, in particular: Soul and Fire, and Think (Let Tomorrow Bee).

There’s not a lot here for me. It’s not that bad, but also I didn’t like any of the songs.

Durchwachsenes Indie Werk mit einigen Höhen aber auch vielen Tiefen. … Gen Z würde sagen „Ging so“

Not exactly my cup of tea, but it brought back that teenage sense of the futility of being. Back then, I was dating someone into punk metal; he used to share music like that – you suffer while listening, yet somehow it feels good to suffer.

I love it when he toggles between intensities. His voice is kind and gentle, then 100% metal.

Thanksgiving '00 I was visiting my aunt and uncle on the outskirts of Chattanooga. Lots of sitting around chatting with the extended family. In attendance was a cousin who I have known for years but haven't spent all that much time with. He asks if I want to go to the store to grab something. I am ready to leave the "sitting around chatting" portion of the weekend - however bri fly. We get in his vintage Oldsmobile share a joint and drive around - aimlessly. Not sure we ever made it to the store. Maybe. Probably doesn't matter. What did matter was the tape playing in the tape player - Bubble and Scrape. I like Sebadoh just fine. I saw them a few times. Owned some records - this is not my favorite. But that probably doesn't matter either. What mattered is that for a brief moment 25 years ago youth as a knew it - ended. It was not my marriage or the birth of my first child. It was not getting a real job. Those things were all about to happen. Youth as I understood it in the truest of the word is epitomized by driving around aimlessly, sharing a joint and just being in a moment you don't fully understand in real time. You're just there. No agenda. No destination (except theoretically a possibly non existent store). Talking. Or not. Just driving. And getting lost in some crunchy guitars and strongly held dude emotions seemed to be the perfect soundtrack to the waning moments of true slackerdom. It was a moment.

Pretty good

Más lofi noventero let's gooooo Escucho maquetas grabadas en un sótano con mucho sentimiento y poca intención de afinar. Tiene momentos bonitos (Soul and Fire es una joya) y otros que simplemente se ahogan en su propio concepto. Le pasa como al anterior, Guided by Voices, que las canciones empiezan a sonar muy bien justo cuando se acaban. Aunque aquí al menos no hay 28 en 40 min lol En definitiva, un disco muy de su época: perfecto para entender por qué el indie se enamoró del ruido, pero no necesariamente algo a lo que quieras volver cada semana. Favs: Soul and Fire, Two Years Two Days, Sacred Attention

Me parece que el lo-fi de los 90 tiene muchísimo encanto. Partiendo de esa base, incluso con ese sonido característico, me parece que este disco es muy derivativo con canciones que, en su mayoría, no terminan de despegar. Hay sonidos e ideas muy interesantes, pero cuando se está en un puente constante no hay ganas de volver a la canción. ¿Esencial? Puede ser. Suena mucho a su época, es interesante escucharlo. Al menos para tener una idea de cómo sonaba el género. A la playlist: Happily Divided, Emma Get Wild, Think (Let Tomorrow Bee). Por cierto que Danny Brown samplee No Way Out, hay una parte que se presta mucho.

The pieces are there but it wasn't cooked enough. Some good stuff, some annoying stuff.

I kinda don't get it. 3

Gillar den råa stilen på produktionen, vissa låtar är lite lökiga men överlag ganska trevligt!

I think these guys listened to Nirvana quite a bit. It's pretty good albeit not terribly original. Rocks out more than I expected from an indie album. Not perfect but passable.

***An ok album, only three tracks out of 17 were hard to listen to.

Sebadoh su mi je uvijek bili kao Pavement bez zuba

This was an interesting listen. The first few tracks were just like semi-organized noise and I didn't like them. Then as the album went on, it seemed like the music got better and better, technically speaking. Almost like the musical equivalent of Flowers for Algernon. In the end I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it. It had some redeeming features and it had some junk that I don't ever want to listen to again. Three stars.

It's OK. Not enough variety though.

I fall for slacker rock pretty easily and this is no exception, enjoyed this one a lot.

this was quite a weird album but in a fun way. a few of the tracks i enjoyed and really got behind but found myself slightly confused at other parts. there was quite a variety within the tracks, with some being slow and others being full of chaos and jarring sounds. it keeps you on your toes - it's impossible to predict which direction it's going to take.

Big Dino fan, only heard one or two Sebadoh tracks here and there. This is excellent grunge music to me, but I guess that's me hearing Kurt Cobain's less grungy stylings' influence on this maybe? Kurt was meant to play a show with Sebadoh opening the day that he killed himself, the saddest moment in music history if you ask me. "Homemade" is an excellent track. Perfect maybe. I'm more into the Barlow written and sung tracks.

Bit of a mixed bag here - liked some songs and others hurt my ears. But a few more in the like column.

I've never heard of this band, but it definitely has all the sounds of a 90s alt-rock band. It has some decent tracks and I enjoyed listening to this one.

Never listened to any of this before and it was a bit all over the place for me, but definitely tugged at my high school emo/ska heartstrings. I really liked Soul and Fire, Happily Divided, and Think (Let Tomorrow Bee). Some good heartbreak lyrics! But wow, every song was like a different genre and I don’t know how I felt about it as a whole.

I didn't know this band but they sound like Pavement and Dinosaur Jr and remind me of my know-it-all older cousin telling me I "had" to listen to Pavement to understand music in 1997 and I'm still not convinced. But some songs were good.

Honestly pretty good!

Started really really well with the first song “Soul and Fire” (conjured Pearl Jam ). “Two Years…” also good. Then downhill for a stretch. But then some gems in the last half. “Homemade” another highlight. It’s raw garage rock, and I appreciate and enjoy a chunk of this album. But some of it just doesn’t sound great to me. Hear the Dinosaur Jr overlap for sure. I do think maybe if I spent more time with it, it could grow on me more. I listened once and was leaning toward a 2. On second and third listen I’m easily a 3 and maybe a high one at that.

Sebadoh inherits the post 80’s punk raw sound and energy into an ultimately polished, but directionless, album with no signature sound. Its greatest contribution is that it provides a kaleidoscopic lens into the experimental directions that rock would take in the decades to follow. Personal highlights tracks include: Soul and Fire, Emma Get Wild, and Flood.

Caught somewhere between Nirvana and Weezer.

Hm... First track started and I thought omg a 5 star album. WRONG! What the hell happened in the middle of this album?? Quite a few songs were decent - some I enjoyed more than others. Then there were some truly terrible ones slotted in I can't rate too low, so I'm going down the middle 3 ⭐️

Felt like I should be listening to this at a skatepark.

Track 1 started and I had really high hopes for the album…and then it got a little screamy for my taste. 3.5 rounded down.

I need to come up with a keyword I can ctrl+f for to indicate an album I need to return to. I’m giving this a 3 now, but it could be a 4 or even a 5 with more listens, I think.

Say! These guys are pretty good! Someone should sign them to a record deal! Anywho . . . this was a blast from my past. And I was definitely surprised to see this record come up. Sebadoh has better albums than this one, and I'd be even more surprised if there was ANOTHER Sebadoh album on the list. But I guess this is the "important" one? There are some good tunes on here (mostly Lou Barlow's), but as with most Sebadoh albums, it's a very inconsistent listen. I found myself wondering if I had talked myself into thinking I liked the band more than I actually did just because they're a Dinosaur Jr. offshoot. Also, I find my patience for the lo-fi approach, which I claimed to love when I was younger, has faded. Maybe it's just the improved home-recording technology. It's hard to get past, "I could record something that sounds better than this." (And if you think THIS album sounds lo-fi, take a listen to the albums they released before this one.)

That was fun listening to!

It’s inconsistent like all Sebadoh albums, which is a reflection of how they’re organized and a sort of Minutemen-ish ethos. You’re going to get ballads, noise rock, tongue-in-cheek songs and more. It’s kind of amazing that I had never listened to this album considering I really like III and Harmacy and I’ve listened to every other album. I really can’t explain how I never got to this one, but I’m glad I did. Soul and Fire is super great, and I like a whole lot more. That said, I feel like there are better versions of some of these archetypes in their catalog. Take Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) - it’s a very pretty love ballad. It’s also not as good as Truly Great Thing from III or Willing to Wait from Harmacy.

3/5 - I don't think this is an album of this era you need to hear, but it hits a spot for me. It has several solid tracks with Soul and Fire a clear standout, but Sister, Sacred Attention, and Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) are also really good. This is an album with three separate songwriters, and it really shows, with Barlow easily being the most talented writer of the group. Overall, a good discovery for me, and I'll be back.

Interesting, I've never heard of Sebadoh before and while some of the tracks are just weird and not great there's some that are interesting in different ways. It's not an easy album to describe though Standouts No Way Out Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) 3/5

Something of a Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, Replacements, Guided by Voices hybrid. I love the opening track Soul and Fire. I didn’t get a ton else from the album in terms of head turning moments, but it was a fine album to hear for the first time.

It was definitely a Sub Pop band circa the early 90s. It felt like (and I believe there were) two different song writers for this album, and I definitely preferred one over the other. Overall an ok album, that just didn't do it for me.

Weird one. I didn’t hate it, it’s definitely one of those albums that was the progeny of a new genre, namely that indie emo thing that happened in the early 2000s. Lots of sounds on this that clearly inspired that sound, but it was too out there for me to really love. Worth coming back to to listen again.

Some songs here are really good. I'm a sucker for lo-fi production and experimental song structures. Some of the more... weird songs didn't quite hit for me, which is fine. But it was good to get to listen to this, even if I may never come back to it. 6/10

Strikes and gutters. Well, spares and gutters…8s and gutters…

Pretty good. I like a lot of this! I wanna say 4

Very 90s sound- it grew on me over the course of the album

Dunno how I feel about this one. There's a lot going on and it's clearly the sound of a tight band enjoying their music together, but it all blends into a dizzying mush of inconsistent alt kookiness.

I actually enjoyed this far more than expected to. Which isn’t really saying much.

Good rhythm guitar but overall meh

Early indie rock with some whiffs of emo on it, although I don’t know if either of those genre terms were kicking around in the 90s. There’s even some hardcore elements in here. It’s ahead of its time in its own way. A lot of interesting moments scattered across this album. I came close a few times to really enjoying it, but found myself having to work hard to stay engaged. The vocal delivery is often dulled, which didn’t help. It does pick up as it goes on, but nothing really stuck to my ribs.

Maybe a 3.5. Really a mixed bag.

For a 90s heartbreak album i enjoyed it more than i expected!

Not bad.

Fine Shouldn't be on the list, but good to an extent

Rough edged, kinda-grunge. Sometimes you can hear tinges of Dinosaur Jr (obviously).

Never heard of them, but they weren't terrible! Good 90s album but nothing to write home about! Decent by all standards

7/10

Never heard of Sebadoh before, but that just means that I get to go into this album without any preconceived notions about the band. After listening, I think it's good. It definitely reminds me of Guided By Voices, what with the lo-fi production and such. I liked it well enough there and I like it well enough here. The singing is interesting, but mostly good. The writing is definitely that of an indie album that's for sure. Apparently the work for this album was split pretty evenly between the band's 3 members at the time, which is cool. I do think that the album peaks with its opener, that being the stellar "Soul And Fire." Not every song bangs as much as I'd like, but the album's got some good songs to it. I think this album's alright. I'm glad that I listened to it. I don't know if it needs to be here, but I'm not upset that it is. High 3/5.

Middle of the road, would probably come back to given more time with it

sounds like something I would have made in my parents garage in my teens on my Tascam 424 Portastudio (but maybe a little cleaner and more experienced). It's a fun album, but not life altering.

I liked the first song the most by far. it was fine, some of it I didn't love the vibe. I don't remember listening to it because it was in the morning i had a long day and it’s now tomorrow.

7/10

7/10

I probably would love this if I had encountered it in 1993, but I didn't.

it's very 90s indie rock, coming across as a slightly less ragged beat happening-esque sound.

1. Soul And Fire: Nice tinny guitar tone. Lyrically not what I need right now. 2. Two Years Two Days: Same guitar tone continues. A bit more of a gruff tone to this one than its predecessor. Again, lyrically not what I need right now. 3. Telecosmic Alechemy: Desperate and angsty, driving rhythm. Even more gruff than track 2. Might find a home on Nirvana's "Incesticide". At times the guitar verges on no wave technique. This one made the playlist. 4. Fantastic Disaster: Nick at Nite vocals. Not going to elaborate. Song is named appropriately. About a minute and a half too long. Outro is cool, however. 5. Happily Divided: Acoustic waltz. Here the vocal harmonies mostly work (*cough* track 4 looking at you *cough*). Tasteful blending of noisy electric guitar, well, noises. 6. Sister: Sounds like something off Bleach out of the gate. Obnoxious pre-chorus, but I'm being picky. Nonetheless, it made the playlist. But my goodness that pickup switching in the outro nearly ruined it. 7. Cliche: My immediate instinct was "oh brother", but I'm glad I kept listening. Genuine question, who hurt these guys? 8. Sacred Attention: High school guitar riff. It's overall fine. 9. Elixir Is Zog: Hmm... that name... this song again recalls no wave in my mind, at least during the soft bits of the soft-loud dynamic. The back half's instrumentation is remarkable, breaking into almost robotic wails. It makes the playlist. 10. Emma Get Wild: And wild she gets on this one. A frenzied dance-y track. Perfectly short. Thus... it makes the playlist. 11. Sixteen: Am I the dumb one for not knowing "paregoric"? Or, more likely, did they just crack open a thesaurus and look up "painkiller" to be more grunge? Again, the rhythm guitar is a *touch* sophomoric. 12. Homemade: Well, this one has themes. The soft-loud is tasteful with this one, and the 5 minute length is *almost* unnoticeable. *Almost*. 13. Forced Love: At a certain point, we all need to take a step back and tune our guitars. This one felt like 5 minutes but wasn't. 14. No Way Out: AHHHHhhhh!!!!! Monkey in rage!!!! Tasteful chorus/tremolo on the guitar. Completely devolves after that. The back half is very interesting, me likey. 15. Bouquet For A Siren: This reminds me of something, not sure what. Fun light punk bop. Congratulations, you've made the playlist. Lovely, if abrupt, ending. 16. Think (Let Tomorrow Bee): I'm told this is a collab. The writing style shifts a touch from prior sadder tracks, and Seana Carmody's backing vocals are used tastefully. 17. Flood: Okayyyy! Gettin' after it! This song is about the creatures from Halo. That's my retconned belief. You've made the playlist. This album is spiritually from the Olympia Peninsula.

If they stuck to their heavier tunes, it would be a great album. Someone decided to have some discordant 'deep' numbers and, in my opinion, they drag down the better songs.

There's good little bits sprinkled in here and there, I've been meaning to go through Sebadoh's whole discography because 'Spoiled' from III is a powerful song. I think this would have resonated with me more when I was younger.

This album flips between so good it’s good so bad it’s good and so bad it’s bad Some of the tracks on here are terrible, but some are terrible in a way where they’re unique and so ameuter that they end up good? And some moment just slap I’m a sucker for that amateur, sloppy accuracy but I’m still pretty perplexed by this one but a pretty good listen Definitely a big Nirvana, Elliot Smith influence on this too. Fav tracks - Soul and Fire - Fantastic Disaster - Sister - Sacred Attention - Elixir is Zog - Homemade - No Way Out - Bouquet for a Siren Worst tracks - Flood

A 90s indie band I've never heard of? Intriguing. It is delightfully indie, too. Perhaps they were some of the first to do it. Would have fit right in as one of the bands on Buffy. Like Neutral Milk Hotel, but about dating instead of Anne Frank -- right down to the "we recorded this on an old cassette" vibe. Unfortunately, and I mean this genuinely, the vocals aren't weird or whiny enough for me to find them interesting! Kind of Shins-y. In fact, my favorite part of this album is the guitar(?!?), which is somehow plaintive in that indie-rock-way. The beginning of 'Sacred Attention' even sounds just like Placebo's 'Special K' (if only the middle and end did too). Lowlights: 'Elixir is Zog', 'No Way Out' (don't yell at me)

Fairly interesting. Not unpleasant to listen to. Just very much an American alt album of its time. Nothing here stands out much.

Whiny 90s white boy music. Enjoyable.

Like the raw energy of it, but it’s just too rough around the edges sometimes

Felt unfinished if anything. Good in parts not my favourite

This caught my attention a couple times throughout the album. Calling out for me to listen when I was starting to tune out. It has range and isn’t at all boring. I didn’t enjoy all of it, but it was cohesive, the production was fine, writing was fine, instrumentation was what was needed, vocals too, and the lyrics accomplished all that was required. Was pretty good. 3/5

Will be worth another listen

I liked the fact that I hadn't heard of Sebadoh before, but was disappointed to discover that there was likely a good reason for this. It's hard to imagine a more generic and largely bland version of late 80s/early 90s alt/indie music than this album, sadly (and I was not at all surprised to read that one of Sebadoh's founding members was the rejected bass player from Dinosaur Jr). On the positive side, though, I was grateful that they'd chosen to avoid having the ubiquitous wall of noise on most of the tracks completely overwhelm the vocals; a bit of a shame that the surprisingly intelligible lyrics weren't particularly interesting or insightful. I also appreciated the brevity of most of the tracks--that definitely helped their forlorn medicine go down without too much aftertaste (and a bit bizarre to read that this album marked a phase of *longer* songs). My choices on the album were probably "Happily divided", "Sacred attention" and "Forced love" (plus kudos for the Soul Asylum lookalike "Bouquet for a siren"). It's a bit hard to believe that this was already their fourth album, with more on the way....

This one really threw me. They don't seem to stay in a particular lane; I got notes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, and a whiff of Wilco in "Homemade." I think they're capable of a really great album: (they can play, they can write, they can sing) but this wasn't it.

Fun! There is always a soft spot in my heart for dissonant indie garbage from the 90s.

I thought this album had a few bangers especially early on in first track "soul and fire". I also think this was a mistake as they put the most played song at the beginning—inevitably setting high expectations for the rest of the album. This is my first time listening to Sebadoh and my first impression is that they are sort of eccentric indie rock. A few of the songs had quite off putting parts but other than that it was a pretty solid listen.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was listening to in the early 90s. Wondering why I've never heard of them! i really liked most of it and will be listening again.

Funny, while everyone knew about the scenes in Seattle and Minneapolis, in fact indie bands were growing like asparagus in western Massachusetts; this is a solid example of this kind of thing. I like Lou Barlow's songs better than Eric Gaffney's.

I'll probably revisit it some day

Like all Sebadoh albums, the Barlow tracks stand out while everything else is anywhere from fine to garbage.

I felt like this was two different album stuck together randomly. Like a combination of Indie rock and punk.

This album embodies the dichotomy of a mad and sad teenager in the 90s before/after a breakup. Surprisingly I liked the softer songs more than the punk songs. They were surprisingly mature in their "being guilty about loving another man is not a good reason to stay in a relationship with me" and "even if we break up I still want the best for you" messaging.

This was a decent listen. Very much of its time on the indie scene. Nothing really stands out as especially notable or catchy though. I’m still annoyed that Built To Spill isn’t on this list anywhere, especially with the inclusion of this…

Нормально, но не вау

An absolute mess with some great highlights, like vintage Pavement. Eric Gaffney's contributions near sink the album. A year later the band would record 'Bake Sale' without Gaffney, and hit pay dirt.

I enjoyed the first track, but a lot of the rest sounds like Pavement / Sonic Youth / Dinosaur Jr, which is the kind of thing I only really like in short bursts. Lots of fuzzy guitars and lyrics about heartbreak but not very "songy" for the most part.

Never really got into them, but I like what I heard. Early 90’s angst rock at its height

Fine album, not great, not bad. Long AF.

I think I could fall in love with this album. It’s gonna take a few more spins but it’s speaking to me.

The three members of Sebadoh split songwriting and singing duties on this album, leading to wildly uneven results. The Lou Barlow-penned and sung tracks are top-notch. His vocals are heartfelt and the songwriting is thoughtful and nuanced. The production on these songs also really makes them shine. The contributions of the other two band members aren't up to the same level of quality, though. The Eric Gaffney songs are wacky sub-Devo semi-hardcore numbers that sit incongruously next to Barlow's more sophisticated songs. The Jason Lowenstein tracks suffer from Lowenstein's undistinguished vocals.

Another album where I wish we could give half star ratings. If I could, this would be a 2.5. There are a lot of bad, skippable songs on this album. The song "Fantastic Disaster" is in contention for the worst single song I've heard so far. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard a band formed by a bigger band's former bassist over the last 2 weeks, I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it happened twice. "Sacred Attention" is my favorite song here and it's not even close. Reminds me of a worse Foo Fighters. I want to give this a 2, but I don't think I disliked it as a whole as much as the other 2 star albums. So for now, Sebadoh (Not really a fan of the band name either, but hey, cool album art), you're getting a begrudging 3 stars from me, and we can all move on with our lives.

I like the juxtaposition between 90s jangly indie rock crooning and bat shit crazy sonic youth experimentation. Will listen to more.

Rating: 6/10 Started off awful but got better and better over time. Distorted indie rock with some catchy melodies.

Noisy and fun, but definitely forgettable. Enjoyed it for what it was.

Sebadoh has been an enigma for me...absolutely a band I should love (probably more than Dino Jr.) but one that continues to elude me. This album was no different. Very much a GbV formula that falls a little flat. 2.5/5

Pretty solid. Cool indie rock/punk sort of vibes

I like early-mid 90s alt rock. It’s pretty good. But it didn’t blow me away

never heard this. i'm shocked Bakesale isn't on this list, but perhaps there's a good reason this album made it on here instead. hopefully this is just as good Soul And Fire - 5/5 Two Years Two Days - 5/5 Telecosmic Alechemy - 4/5 Fantastic Disaster - 2/5 Happily Divided - 5/5 Sister - 3/5 Cliche - 3/5 Sacred Attention - 4/5 Elixir Is Zog - 4/5 Emma Get Wild - 3/5 Sixteen - 3/5 Homemade - 4/5 Forced Love - 4/5 No Way Out - 2/5 Bouquet For A Siren - 3/5 Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) - 4/5 Flood - 3/5 Average score - 3.6/5 (rounding down) yeah i think i still prefer Bakesale over this, but this was still an alright listen. i was a little intimidated by how many tracks were on here until i noticed these tracks were just short (maybe too short at times)

Some tracks are more to my taste than others. There were some Sonic Youth vibes. Some Dinosaur Jr vibes. Some generic indie vibes. Worth a relisten at least.

Very solid.

A solid record, pretty cool songs, once I adjusted to Lou’s voice I liked it

A bit poor

Fun little album to listen 3/5

I've listened to this band before a bit. They are decent and there is a bit of variety here.

Enjoyed it

Some good tracks some boring tracks. Nice project tho liked the tempo and general vibe quite relaxing

Was ok? Kinda not memorable though

A mix of enjoyable lowkey indie tracks and quite annoying discordant tracks, meaning it didn't feel very coherent as an album. Agree with others that a bit out of tune is great, but some of these songs were too out. It's grungy but was surprised when I found it was from 1993, it sounded more early 2000s to me. Maybe ahead of its time!

Started strong on grunge but then somewhat seems like it got lost in the 90s. Mid tier

Ok, the first few songs I wasn't really liking this album. Around Sister it really started picking up for me and enjoyed it. 3/5.

Off-brand Nirvana

Tilgerðarlegt og mjög misjafnt. Fær aðra til öryggis. 3,5.

3.0 Pretty mediocre alternative/lofi rock. Quite Meat Puppet esque in some ways, but slight less endearing. A few rough gems in there, but often counterbalanced by a crap noise rock songs shortly after.

Super interesting record. I felt like it didn't take itself too seriously, but rather was just solid 90's indie rock with a hint of grunge.

Me gusto, suena muy 2000s (ahead of it’s time) pero no me encantó

Ambitious album, with so many influences and styles woven throughout. A talented band who I’ve never heard of. There’s shoegaze, garage rock, punk, and fittingly for the Subpop label in 1993, grunge. It’s good, I like it, but I wasn’t especially compelled by it.

I always thought they were Scottish and that’s why they sound so miserable. Not bad some good but not great songs

Very solid opening track, and then complete rubbish for the next few. I enjoy parts of this, but a lot of tracks are just trying too hard to be noisy

I wanted to quit while listening to the first track, "Soul and Fire", but the album progressively became more interesting to me. Not necessarily in bangers, but really how the tracks melded into each other with this underlying sad tone in both the singing and guitars.

Didn't do much for me. Mostly didn't find it memorable. I could listen again and see if that changes things, but it's pretty meh 90s post-punk, I'd say. First song is good. 2.5 rounding up.

This is a band that I want to like more than I actually do. There's a lot about the music that I like. The songwriting is creative and I especially like hearing 3 piece bands. Guitar, bass, and drums. That's it. There's no keyboards or horns to hide behind. Just raw riffs. And I generally like bands that play the notes so hard that they break. So I don't mind that it's a bit chaotic and noisy. It's just a little on the emo side for me but maybe he was just going through some shit. Overall the songs just don't really add up to something that I want to listen to over and over again. Soul & Fire, Two Years Two Days, Sacred Attention are pretty good.

I enjoy the early 90’s lo-fi sound going on here because I adore the time period, but these songs just seem too lazy and sloppy to be taken seriously. Based on sound alone, this album is the equivalent of some skinny, strung-out white dude waking up to discover he’s pissed himself and doesn’t seem to mind so he just lights up a cigarette and turns on the tv, in a position he’ll stay in until he falls asleep again in 15 or so hours.

This is pretty low-fi garage heartbreak rock. Their Wiki page compares them to bands like Guided by Voices, which I didn't pick up on until I read that. But now I can definitely hear it! Anyway, this wasn't terrible. I jived with it here and there and I thought the lyrics were pretty well done, but it's probably not a new favorite band. I was definitely ready to be done by the end of the second listen. Favorite song was Flood, the closer. I liked how screamy it was.

Jeg glemte at rate på dagen, og kan ikke huske noget særligt fra oplevelsen.

En pudsig blandning af alt rock, indie rock og punk. Der er egentlig mange fine sange på albummet. Men lytning af dem i en køre bliver virkelig mærkeligt. Det er som om albummet er fragmenteret

I want to really like this album, as I have liked other things by Sebadoh, and I like this style of noise indie rock/pop. However, I feel this album is too uneven. The songs rarely flow into each other, and while I do like variety in albums a lot, in this case, it felt disjointed. The songs were also good but really didn't amaze me. I could see this growing on me, but I just feel there are better examples of this style of music and delivery (for example, The Wicked Farleys.)

Du sous-Nirvana avec une touche de punk et de pop. Rien d'inoubliable.

a mixed-bag, some good tunes, some terrible vocals

Average

Longest 44 minutes of my life

Not too memorable

Some decent tracks,but nothing really jumped out as overly impressive.

When this started, I thought - oh, another grunge-inspired Sub Pop band. They sounded as I imagined or remembered them (I must have heard them at the time without anything sinking in enough to play them under my own steam). But as this developed, it veered into weirder, more Sonic Youth tinged territory and became a lot more fun. The acoustic stuff is not so interesting, but the more electric songs and weird, off-kilter touches lift it from the 'ordinary indie' pile I initially mentally filed it in.

In my younger years, I probably would’ve enjoyed this more but it’s not really my speed these days Like the tracks Sister and Cliche