Sebadoh at Neumo's

About two years ago we caught Dinosaur Jr down at the Showbox. It was the first tour in about 20 years that the three founding members of the group--J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Emmet Patrick "Murph" Murphy--were performing together, and they were showing their age. Murph was balding or bald (he'd finished shaving his head to obscure the fact) and was huffing behind his trap kit. Mascis looked kinda like something the dog drug in off the street: Overweight, long hair all scraggly and white, with jowls to boot. And then there was Barlow: Trim, fit, and dancing excitedly.

If Barlow's aged better than his old band-mates, that's due in no small part to his continued success while their efforts petered out. The original Dinosaur Jr. line-up released three albums before Mascis booted Barlow in 1989. By that time, Barlow was already releasing his own music as a side-project called Sebadoh. By the 1990s, when Mascis's impossible personality had completely taken over Dinosaur Jr and his best work was behind him, Sebadoh took off. Barlow's ultra-raw recordings pioneered the lo-fi sound that all but defined indie rock in the '90s.

Although Sebadoh largely grew out of work Barlow was doing for Dinosaur Jr. that Mascis deemed unfit, by the time Sebadoh started releasing albums and touring, it was a collaborative effort with Eric Gaffney and Jason Loewenstein. By the mid-90s, Sebadoh was pulling apart. Barlow scored one of the most random top-40 hits ever when a song he contributed to the film soundtrack of Kids (it wasn't actually in the film), "Natural One" by The Folk Implosion, took off.

Following the success of the Dinosaur Jr. reunion, Barlow, Loewenstein and Gaffney have gotten back together to play as Sebadoh. It would be tempting to write the entire show off as another bad reunion tour, except that Sebadoh were never superstars in the first place. And Barlow continues releasing new material, remaining a prodigious (if slightly repetitive thematically) songwriter. In short, the show this Sunday is not to be missed.

Sun., March 4 // 8 pm @ Neumos // $13 Adv. // 21+