Sebadoh
Bakesale

THE REVIEW

With those nerdy glasses, Lou Barlow always knew he was the top of the class.
But in the Dinosaur section, there was one too many, which is why sharing the desk with J. Mascis couldn't have ended well.

Early '90s, the musical ferment creates fantastic creatures destined to end up on glossy posters, behind them, hidden by a glory they don't know what to do with, lurk dirty and scruffy children, even more charming.
One of these is The Sebadoh, a deliberately ramshackle and imperfect individual, created by a little genius who always did everything to appear out of the box and out of fashion.
Picasso used to say he was born with the same touch of painting as Leonardo, but took a lifetime to learn to paint like a child.
I like to think that Lou Barlow is somewhat like that, brilliant and unpredictable, if only he had wanted to, he could have created perfect songs, but he always hid behind that lo-fi sonic wall that kept him away from popularity.
Who knows if the little one rummaging in that mess is really little Barlow, as some say, if it really were so, he must have found many ideas in there.

"I'm not a friend, I'm not a good friend at all... I'm nervous when you call", sings Lou preemptively; there's no point trying, he does not need our friendship, our popularity, he wants to stay and has always wanted to stay in the background.
"Bakesale", his sixth or seventh creation of the Sebadoh era, is a little treasure chest that holds gems hidden under a thick dust of low fidelity and ordered chaos.
License To Confuse, the very title of the first track says it all, a splendid example of short and pressing indie rock, where Lou with a sincere voice starts to prepare us for the Sebadoh world, a lopsided world made of affections, difficult interpersonal relationships, and rejections.
Fifteen tracks that flow quickly one after another, among energetic accelerations (Magnet's Coil), splendid vocal distortions (S. Soup), and ballads that leave a mark (Not Too Amused).

Like a glance you catch on the street and hope to meet again because it left you with something, Bakesale flows away quickly and elusively, leaving you with the desire to find it again as soon as possible.