Before emo became a marketing term for mainstream pop-punk bands, all of the genre's romantic angst, frustration and self-doubt was embodied by Sebadoh's Lou Barlow. The most introspective singer-songwriter of the already very introspective Nineties, Barlow was the Joni Mitchell of indie rock, and 1993's Bubble & Scrape was a confessional voice for his generation like Blue was for Mitchell's. Barlow's devastating "Soul and Fire" kicks off this emotional roller coaster. Over gently distorted rhythm guitar and a steady, world-weary beat, he sings to the woman who is leaving him, "As you walk away, think of all the joy we shared . . . friend to tender friend" — and then, in pleading disbelief — "I think our love is coming to an end."

He also thought his band was coming to an end. The last of Sebadoh's truly low-fi releases, Bubble & Scrape was the band's final album with drummer Eric Gaffney, whose psychedelic wailers "Telecosmic Alchemy" and "Elixir Is Zog" provide an anarchic counterpoint to Barlow's downbeat fare. Gaffney rages, Barlow mopes, and bassist Jason Lowenstein's songs straddle the chaos and deceptive calm.