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Sep 16, 2013While there's nothing wrong with the piecemeal construction of the record, 14 years is a long time to wait for an album that sets blandness and brilliance beside each other in an almost equal ratio. When Defend Yourself hits its stride, however, it's amazing how timeless and unique the classic Sebadoh sound really is.
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Nov 21, 2013Grounded in the fertile terrain of terminal relationships, the warm, unadorned album comes undone by undercooked songwriting.
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Sep 17, 2013When it falls, it’s awkward, but when it gets there, it gets there. The blunders are all Sebadoh, but so are the gems.
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Sep 17, 2013This is hardly revelatory stuff--the days of Sebadoh blowing minds and claiming hearts are now far behind them, but then maybe they don’t have to do that anymore.
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Sep 16, 2013This 10th album lacks such bite [as 1999’s single Flame].
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Sep 20, 2013The best that can be said of Defend Yourself is that it isn't embarrassing; they didn't lose the plot like the Pixies, and it's better than The Sebadoh simply because they got out of that L.A. studio and back to their roots. But it also doesn't add anything to the story or feel like it needs to exist.
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Oct 30, 2013Separate--one of a few songs (along with the slightly annoying sludge march of Beat, the frenetic whimsy of Inquiries and the juddering instrumental Once) that falls just short of those huge expectations. But when this record hits the mark, it’s very good indeed.
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Sep 16, 2013Defend Yourself still suggests a creator with an obsessively huge record collection, only the heady variation of explored genres seems more boilerplate, a sense of variety for variety's sake rather than a desire to put a unique stamp on old musical tropes.
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Sep 16, 2013Musical achievements that once came easily (if not accidentally) to Sebadoh must now be persistently willed; processes that once pointed toward self-discovery now only offer a familiar balm.
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Sep 17, 2013The sound remains the same, but the songs aren’t always there.
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Sep 20, 2013While it’s good to have Sebadoh back thrashing around in the unfurnished basement of the music industry once again, you just wonder how much better the results would have been if they had a complete album’s worth of material that proved worthy of their return.
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UncutSep 17, 2013The band's amiable punk-folk chunter lacks a little of its usual charm. [Oct 2013, p.74]