Saturday, January 1, 2011

Sebadoh - Gimme Indie Rock!

Welcome to 2011.

My resolutions:

1. To run the 25K (that's 15.5 miles) Around Cape Ann race on Labor Day and to do it well, all while raising money for the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This is part of a SoSH fundraiser, but my friend Dan is very much on my mind and is keeping me motivated. You can donate here, if you'd like.

2. And this is where this holiday selection comes in, is to listen to and buy some new music this year. Gimme Indie Rock applies to 2011 just as much as it did 20 years ago (has it really been that long?). I lost track of everything that was current in the music world from about 1999-2009, and am still catching up. No sense falling further behind, or living in 1991 forever.

I've probably played this 7" more than any other. It's got everything about early Sebadoh in one little 5-song package. A loud, tongue in cheek rock song that worships indie rock, while throwing jabs at Lou's former band? (4 Stars in the Rolling Stone!) Hell yeah! And it's followed up with a favorite Sebadoh song of mine, "Ride The Darker Wave". This started out as one of his lo-fi solo acoustic songs, but it's been redone with the whole band, and it's early Sebadoh at their best. Bouncing, loud, and melancholy all at once. The B-side is full of oddities, a lo-fi Sentridoh-esque acoustic song about Lou's fantasies in "Red Riding Good", and a song with Beatles-like masking effects in "New King". Of course, the last track on the B-side has to be really strange, and this is no exception. It's an Eric Gaffney song about Alastair Cooke occult stuff, "Calling Yog Soggoth", complete with a lecture on the nature of magic. This is another 7" that's has since been added to newer, remastered/bonus track version of Sebadoh's III that I never bothered to buy again.

 #50 goes up tomorrow. Starting to make some real progress on the pile.

A: Gimmie Indie Rock, Ride The Darker Wave
B: Red Riding Good, New King, Calling Yog Soggoth
Enjoy!

1 comment: