POLICE

I'm a little dubious about this Police reunion. They sounded good enough at the Grammys I suppose but they appear to have no chemistry whatsoever. Maybe this is the result of seeing 'Does Everyone Stare' last year which reveals Stewart Copeland to be an unfeeling, uncaring robot (albeit an amazingly talented drummer and musician). If they were to make a sequel to 'The Wizard of Oz' where the Tin Man goes to the wizard to get his heart removed, they could cast Stewart Copeland in the role.

Is this just a money grab? I have no problem with that, the Sex Pistols did it, the Pixies did it. But Sting doesn't need the money. He obviously doesn't care that much about the music, listen to his last 17 records (ok, don't, I didn't). So why is he doing this? He strikes me as such a pompous ass, like he had a nasty fight with his wife and reformed the band out of spite to get back at her as if he's saying "Screw you, I'm going to Bonnaroo and fucking a tentload of hippies." Sounds like he's trading in tantric sex for tantrum sex.

Anyway, if I hear they're playing Synchronicity II and Bring on the Night I'm so there.

Sebadoh

Thanks to my good friend Johnny Strikes! I'm seeing Sebadoh at Maxwell's on April 1st.

Sebadoh is my seminal band; they were the first band that expressed to me that I could make music in my house. Lou Barlow, the anti-frontman, has written a handful of songs that I'd like to put in a time capsule and shoot out into space to let aliens know how visceral it is to document music ideas. Sebadoh helped created the 'lo-fi' movement (along with Guided by Voices and Pavement) that drove me and many of my peers to make music on the smallest stage; the walls of our bedrooms.

In the last couple of years Lou's buried the hatchet with J. Mascis and Dinosaur Jr, one of my favorite bands of all time. It's clearly made an impression on him; Sebadoh is reforming with the lineup that made my favorite Sebadoh records: Sebadoh III, Bubble and Scrape, the Helmet/Sebadoh split and Bakesale. The strength of those records is that the three guys--Lou, Eric Gaffney and Jason Loewenstein--bring strong and disparate sensibilities to the band. But there's a support to each other's ideas that feels like murder on a personal level (I completely understand how this band didn't last) but is an incredible synergy in document, both live and recorded.

I saw Sebadoh once when I first moved to NY 12 years ago at the long gone Tramps, and it was a tremendous show. It's a dream to be able to catch them 12 years later at a club as intimate as Maxwell's.

If you're not familiar with Sebadoh, scour the world for these song titles:

The Freed Pig
Brand New Love
New Worship
Magnet's Coil
S. Soup (aka Shit Soup)
Drama Mine
Good Thing