Sebadoh was one of the bands that ushered indie rock into my life. The results of this usher-ence are mixed, but Sebadoh stuck with me. The triumvirate of Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock, Bubble & Scrape and Bakesale still stands pretty tall. Those first two records’ mixture of Eric Gaffney’s confusion/brilliance (Gaffney still rocks an Angelfire Web site) with Lou Barlow’s stark renderings of his psyche are still excellent records, and after Gaffney was replaced on Bakesale by Bob Fay, Jason Lowenstein’s intense songwriting came to the fore, great riff-driven numbers that signaled an emerging, perhaps more grounded talent in the band.
The reason for this long preamble? Lowenstein has a new band out now, Circle Of Buzzards, a hard-hitting duo with Bob D’Amico. These two talented cats have recently cut their teeth as the rhythm section of the latest Fiery Furnaces incarnation, having played with the band since 2005.
COB features Lowenstein’s songs, these kind of pop-metal tunes that are raised up a notch by Jake’s emotive and unique vocals. D’Amico is the other highlight in this group: his syncopated, strong grooves keep things lively and solid.
Filed under: music | Tagged: fiery furnaces, jason lowenstein, sebadoh
