Sebadoh
Defend Yourself

Let's try to imagine that time stops or, even better, can go back, preferably to the early '90s, a very fertile period for American lo-fi rock.

The much-appreciated Sebadoh returned in 2013, the creation of frontman Lou Barlow (THE BASSIST of the first three legendary Dinosaur Jr albums). After a decent number of releases in the '90s and just one appearance in the 2000s (it was 2007 with "Wade Through the Boggs"), Sebadoh from Massachusetts released "Defend Yourself". Few frills, no nonsense, lots of rock, the good kind, the raw and somewhat dirty kind (not as dirty as the early releases!) typical of the low-fidelity/post-hardcore subgenre. The album sounds incredibly fresh despite it being 25 years since their first releases. Could it be because I'm nostalgic and youth always weighs heavily in musical and other choices? Perhaps because in the 13 tracks the atmospheres are never the same? Every piece is an emotion: at times hypnotic, at times ramshackle and "noisy", here romantic, there psychedelic, never predictable or too aggressive, never lackluster, just surly enough, never people-pleasing.

For those who love rock that is neither hard nor pure, for those who love contaminated, spontaneous music, for those who adored Pavement at the time, certain '80s REM, Dinosaur Jr. For the nostalgic of times gone by, for those who want pure fun, for those who want to give a "loud rock kick" to the past.