Barlow

Artist: Lou Barlow Album: Apocalypse Fetish Label: Joyful Noise When Lou Barlow released his full-length solo album late last year, he ensnared the attention of even the longest-running and cynical of his fans. The reason for that was simple: when not playing sideman to J Mascis in Dinosaur Jr., Barlow had always shone brightest in the relative anonymity of putting a band name on his myriad projects (see Sebadoh, Sentridoh, Folk Implosion, et c.), even if there was no actual...

Lou Barlow Brace The Wave (Joyful Noise) I can’t deny it (nor would I want to): I am a Lou Barlow fan. To date, there hasn’t been a musical project of which he was a part that I haven’t loved; Sebadoh, Sentridoh, Dinosaur Jr., Folk Implosion and the stuff he’s just recorded under his own name have all found a home in my record collection. Granted, there was that one EP that Folk Implosion did with Deluxx which I found...

As contrary to the basic mindset of music journalism as it might seem (most critics like to see themselves as taste-makers with an ear for a hit, a finger on the public’s cultural pulse and a keen eye which recognizes emerging future trends), sometimes there’s just no way to explain how or why a band succeeds or fails to break through and become a cultural icon. It could be argued that it just boils down to dumb luck; sometimes a...