Sebadoh

While most boys in Alterna-land are either screamers or mumblers, Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow isn't afraid to croon. In a voice as dreamy as his schoolboy good looks, The Boy with the Thorn in His Side sings about feelings that the less skilled would render as cheesy. Like a note passed from a friend during class, Barlow's lyrics ponder questions like: Does the person you love really love you back (or even like you a little bit)? How much can you open up to someone before they run scared?

"Don't say, 'Who cares?' Say, 'I don't care,' " quipped Lou Barlow to a heckler Wednesday night at the Trocadero. This subtle word play helps sum up the appeal of Barlow, straightforward ex-member of slack rockers Dinosaur Jr., who was in town with his prolific Boston trio Sebadoh. Unlike former bandmate J Mascis, Barlow, along with bassist Jason Lowenstein and drummer Bob Fay, gets underneath the contrived layers of apathy, distortion, and flannel, and finds achingly sweet melodies about love and heartbreak - and all the confusion in between.

As front man for Sebadoh, Lou Barlow was the Conor Oberst of the '90s, a dreamily sensitive guy for thinking girls everywhere - and accessible enough for their boyfriends. His varied musical career path has led him to play bass with Dinosaur Jr., to the lo-fi bedroom- recording revolution with Sentridoh, and even to soundtrack work for Kids With Folk Implosion. But the best way to see Barlow is alone, naturally, playing songs from the appropriately titled "Emoh" (9 tonight, Khyber, 56 S. 2nd St., 215-238-5888, $10, www.thekhyber.

Back in 1991, Lou Barlow and his now-wife Kathleen Billus split up for six months. Barlow, the talented tunesmith and open-hearted lyricist whose sweeping, melodic songs are the central attraction of the three-man band Sebadoh, was a lonely guy. Confronted with such an unpleasant situation, Barlow, the bassist, guitarist and singer who's possibly the most respected songwriter in indie rock, did what he always does: He wrote lots of songs....

After an all-too quiet winter, we're finally seeing some movement on the club scene, even if it's a little later than usual. Because of the spillover caused by South by Southwest, a music biz confab that kicks off in Austin, Texas, next weekend, musically discerning types will expect to see some of their favorites stopping by en route. But let's turn away from the Southern schmoozing for a minute and look in our own back yards, even if we don't actually have any. Lenola is a South Jersey-by-way-of-Philly noise-pop quartet celebrating the release of its third full-length, "My Invisible Name" (Tappersize)

Ukrainian punk cabaret band Gogol Bordello joins the Brothers Suggarillo at Tritone. Led by madman Eugene Hutz, who was described by New Yorker magazine as the genetic product of Bertolt Brecht and Sid Vicious, the band also consists of a fiddler, saxophonist, accordionist, guitarist, drummer and two cabaret dancing girls (10 tonight, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, $15, www.gogolbordello.com). New Jersey punks the Hudson Falcons do the Sick City Showcase with Cranked Up, Famous in Vegas, the Ghouls and the Hudson Falcon-related Triple Deuce (7 tonight, Upper Darby American Legion, 6914 Chestnut St., $7, all ages, www.famousinvegas.

Here's to home taping. Over the next week, a slew of indie-rockers who've built careers from the living room up bring their low-fi aesthetics to clubs around town. The cavalcade begins tonight with the return trips of supremely slack Stockton, Calif., rockers Pavement and Dayton, Ohio, basement geniuses Guided by Voices (plus New Zealand guitar-popster David Kilgour opening the show). (Pavement's most recent Matador release, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, lifted them into major-label land, but even as the band's sound has gone uptown, they've perfected the self-conscious elusiveness that rules the underground.

"I feel like Jose Feliciano," joked Dinosaur Jr front man J Mascis as he took the stage of the Khyber Pass Pub with an acoustic guitar. But what followed was not an unplugged rendering of the Doors' "Light My Fire," although the hour-long set did include a Carly Simon cover. While Mascis' soap-opera-watching-I-might-care shtick has bordered on slacker-self-parody lately and his recent Philadelphia appearances with his own band were somewhat lethargic, the guitarist's Tuesday night solo performance proved otherwise.

It's a big indie-rock weekend, with shows Saturday and Sunday showcasing independent-spirited artists - creative standard-bearers of music-making who operate outside the alternative mainstream. Leading post-punk sensitive singer-songwriter Lou Barlow brings his Boston-based trio Sebadoh to the TLA on Saturday. On the new Harmacy (SubPop), Barlow, Jason Loewenstein and Bob Fay move Sebadoh further away from its lo-fi roots with a crisp collection that avoids the cloudy confusion of the band's early efforts.

Live music and more, tonight through Thursday, compiled by Shaun Brady, Tom Di Nardo, James Johnson, Sara Sherr and Jonathan Takiff. POP . . . plus Marina & the Diamonds: Welsh-born of Greek extraction, Marina Diamandis flashes a quirky, worldly variation on girly pop equally indebted to Kate Bush and Blondie, PJ Harvey and Britney Spears. The talent was voted No. 2 on the BBC Sound of 2010 poll! And by the way, she's Marina while we, her fans, are "The Diamonds. " Nice to be in the act. Show openers: Sunny California indie pop rockers Young the Giant.

As front man for Sebadoh, Lou Barlow was the Conor Oberst of the '90s, a dreamily sensitive guy for thinking girls everywhere - and accessible enough for their boyfriends. His varied musical career path has led him to play bass with Dinosaur Jr., to the lo-fi bedroom- recording revolution with Sentridoh, and even to soundtrack work for Kids With Folk Implosion. But the best way to see Barlow is alone, naturally, playing songs from the appropriately titled "Emoh" (9 tonight, Khyber, 56 S. 2nd St., 215-238-5888, $10, www.thekhyber.

Ukrainian punk cabaret band Gogol Bordello joins the Brothers Suggarillo at Tritone. Led by madman Eugene Hutz, who was described by New Yorker magazine as the genetic product of Bertolt Brecht and Sid Vicious, the band also consists of a fiddler, saxophonist, accordionist, guitarist, drummer and two cabaret dancing girls (10 tonight, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, $15, www.gogolbordello.com). New Jersey punks the Hudson Falcons do the Sick City Showcase with Cranked Up, Famous in Vegas, the Ghouls and the Hudson Falcon-related Triple Deuce (7 tonight, Upper Darby American Legion, 6914 Chestnut St., $7, all ages, www.famousinvegas.

"You can feel anything you want to feel and call it real," Sebadoh's Lou Barlow sings on "Flame," the first single from the band's latest disc, the half-good The Sebadoh (Sub Pop). Barlow may be singing about the legions of lo-fi balladeers Sebadoh has inspired, regaling the bedroom walls of the indie-rock underground with droopy melodies and shaggy-dog rhythms. Or he may well be singing about the band's audience. With a frustratingly hit-or-miss catalog that stretches back to the late 1980s, Sebadoh has fashioned a lifestyle soundtrack for people who wear thrift-store cardigans and nerdy glasses - post-punks with a soft spot for Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell.

After an all-too quiet winter, we're finally seeing some movement on the club scene, even if it's a little later than usual. Because of the spillover caused by South by Southwest, a music biz confab that kicks off in Austin, Texas, next weekend, musically discerning types will expect to see some of their favorites stopping by en route. But let's turn away from the Southern schmoozing for a minute and look in our own back yards, even if we don't actually have any. Lenola is a South Jersey-by-way-of-Philly noise-pop quartet celebrating the release of its third full-length, "My Invisible Name" (Tappersize)

While most boys in Alterna-land are either screamers or mumblers, Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow isn't afraid to croon. In a voice as dreamy as his schoolboy good looks, The Boy with the Thorn in His Side sings about feelings that the less skilled would render as cheesy. Like a note passed from a friend during class, Barlow's lyrics ponder questions like: Does the person you love really love you back (or even like you a little bit)? How much can you open up to someone before they run scared?

Sebadoh's handmade banner said it all. The Boston trio's name was emblazoned in demonic lettering with the "h" stabbing a bleeding human heart. Underneath that was the contrasting expression "ding-a-ling. " To the capacity crowd at the Trocadero on Friday night, the band's nearly two-hour set was just that: heartwrenchingly confessional songs set to loud guitars and a self-deprecating sense of humor. Playing near the end of a seven-month tour, front man Lou Barlow apologized for his voice not being up to par due to a cold, then downed Cepacol in mock rock-star decadence.

Back in 1991, Lou Barlow and his now-wife Kathleen Billus split up for six months. Barlow, the talented tunesmith and open-hearted lyricist whose sweeping, melodic songs are the central attraction of the three-man band Sebadoh, was a lonely guy. Confronted with such an unpleasant situation, Barlow, the bassist, guitarist and singer who's possibly the most respected songwriter in indie rock, did what he always does: He wrote lots of songs....

It's a big indie-rock weekend, with shows Saturday and Sunday showcasing independent-spirited artists - creative standard-bearers of music-making who operate outside the alternative mainstream. Leading post-punk sensitive singer-songwriter Lou Barlow brings his Boston-based trio Sebadoh to the TLA on Saturday. On the new Harmacy (SubPop), Barlow, Jason Loewenstein and Bob Fay move Sebadoh further away from its lo-fi roots with a crisp collection that avoids the cloudy confusion of the band's early efforts.