# Lou Barlow

Louis Knox Barlow (born July 17, 1966) is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion, Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His first band, which was formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, was Deep Wound.
Barlow has released four solo albums.

## Early life

Barlow was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Jackson, Michigan, and Westfield, Massachusetts.

## Dinosaur Jr.

Barlow attended high school in Westfield, Massachusetts, where he met Scott Helland. The two formed the Massachusetts-based hardcore punk band Deep Wound. J Mascis joined the band after answering their ad for a "drummer wanted to play really fast". After becoming disillusioned with the constraints of hardcore, Deep Wound broke up in 1984. Mascis and Barlow reunited that year to form Dinosaur, later Dinosaur Jr. Mascis and Barlow had personality conflicts throughout Dinosaur Jr.'s early existence, and after the 1988 release of their third album, Bug, and the initial supporting tour, Barlow was kicked out of the band.
In 2005, Barlow rejoined the band alongside the original drummer, Murph. Since then, the band has reissued its first three records, toured extensively worldwide and released five new records, Beyond, Farm, I Bet on Sky, Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, and Sweep It Into Space .

## Sebadoh, Sentridoh and the Folk Implosion

After his dismissal from Dinosaur Jr., Barlow turned his attention to his band Sebadoh, which he had formed earlier with multi-instrumentalist Eric Gaffney. The project featured low fidelity recording techniques and combined Barlow's introspective, confessional songwriting with Gaffney's discordant noise collages. Bassist and songwriter Jason Loewenstein was added to the line-up in 1989. Sebadoh's early releases include The Freed Man (1989) and Weed Forestin' (1990), the latter of which was originally self-released under the name Sentridoh in 1987. Both albums were officially released by Homestead Records, as was the band's third album, Sebadoh III (1991), which helped establish the "lo-fi" subgenre and became a defining album of 90s indie rock. The band released several studio-recorded albums on Sub Pop Records throughout the 1990s.
As Sebadoh grew in popularity and critical acclaim, Barlow continued work on the Sentridoh side project, which featured mostly home-recorded material similar to his output on the first three Sebadoh albums, but often recorded solo and with a less consistent sound quality. Sentridoh released a trio of cassette-only albums on Shrimper Records in the early 1990s, with the highlights later being collected on CD and vinyl compilations like Winning Losers: A Collection of Home Recordings 89–93 (1994) and Another Collection of Home Recordings (1994). In 1993, Sentridoh released a popular single for the song "Losercore," on the label Smells Like Records founded by Steve Shelley of the American rock band, Sonic Youth. Barlow has called it "the most finely executed of all my releases" thanks to Shelley, who "made sure this looked and sounded great." Numerous other Sentridoh releases on a variety of record labels followed, including releases on his own Loobiecore label.
In 1994, Barlow formed the Folk Implosion with singer-songwriter John Davis. The band released several singles and EPs, and in 1995 reached the Top 40 with the song "Natural One", from the soundtrack to the film Kids by Larry Clark. It remains Barlow's biggest commercial hit.
After the release of Sebadoh's eighth album, The Sebadoh, in 1999, the band went on hiatus and its members went on to pursue other projects. Barlow continued to work with the Folk Implosion, releasing One Part Lullaby in 1999. Barlow took a break from the Folk Implosion in 2000 to collaborate on the album Subsonic 6 with Belgian musician, Rudy Trouvé. In 2003, Barlow released The New Folk Implosion featuring Imaad Wasif on guitar and Sebadoh drummer Russ Pollard on drums. The same year, he appeared as a musician in the film Laurel Canyon. In the spring of 2004, Barlow briefly reunited with Loewenstein for the "Turbo Acoustic" Sebadoh tour. During this tour, he also reunited with J Mascis for a performance of the song "Video Prick" with former Deep Wound vocalist Charlie Nakajima. This performance led to a full-fledged Dinosaur Jr. reunion in 2005, with original members Barlow, Mascis and Murph performing "The Lung" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 15, 2005, and a show at Spaceland in Los Angeles the following night. The band then played well-received tours of the U.S. and Europe throughout the rest of the year, and in 2006 headed to Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, Barlow reunited with Loewenstein and Gaffney to perform the first Sebadoh shows with the "classic" lineup in 14 years. In June 2013, Sebadoh released their first new music in 14 years; the music was released as an EP precursor to their new album, "Defend Yourself," which was released in September 2013. Both of the new EP and LP albums were released through Joyful Noise Recordings.

## Other collaborations

* Released the instrumental split album Subsonic 6 (2000) with Belgian musician, Rudy Trouvé
* Sings on the track "Some" by Sharon Stoned, on the album License to Confuse (1995)
* Sings on the tracks "My Brother Moves" and "Everything You Know Is Wrong" by Production Club, from the album Follow Your Bliss (2003)
* Sings on the track "In the City in the Rain" by the 6ths on Wasps' Nests 6 6/6"
* Plays bass on the track "Strange Song" by Supreme Dicks, on the album The Unexamined Life (1993)

## Solo work

Barlow released the first album under his own name, Emoh, in January 2005 on Merge Records. It featured long-time collaborators such as Sebadoh members Jason Loewenstein and Russ Pollard and Lou's sister Abby Barlow, and featured a higher production value than many of his previous solo releases. Jason Crock of Pitchfork called it "the most consistently strong record he's released since the Folk Implosion's One Part Lullaby" and wrote that "even if much of it was recorded at home, Emoh's 14 unassuming folk songs sound like they were created in a professional setting." In November 2005, Barlow toured the Iberian Peninsula to promote the album.
Barlow released his second solo album, Goodnight Unknown, in October 2009 on Merge. It was produced by Andrew Murdock and featured numerous guest musicians, including Imaad Wasif on guitar and Dale Crover of the Melvins and Murph on drums. Barlow toured the album in the U.S. in the fall of 2009, opening for Dinosaur Jr. and backed by The Missingmen of Mike Watt + the Missingmen.
Barlow's third solo album, Brace the Wave, was released on September 4, 2015, on Joyful Noise Recordings. It was recorded in six days with Justin Pizzoferrato, who also worked as a sound engineer for Dinosaur Jr. at Sonelab Studios in Massachusetts. The tracks from Brace the Wave feature Barlow's ukulele playing. Barlow also took 100 original Polaroid selfies to accompany the VIP vinyl edition of the album.
On October 28, 2016, Barlow released a 5 track EP entitled Apocalypse Fetish on Joyful Noise Recordings
In April 2021, it was announced that a solo album entitled Reason to Live would be released on May 28 via Joyful Noise.

## Personal life

Barlow's first marriage was to Kathleen Billus, with whom he has two children, Hendrix and Hannelore.
In May 2015, he married knitwear designer Adelle Louise Burda, with whom he has a daughter, Izetta.

## Discography
### Albums

| Year | Title | Name | Label |
| 1990/1991 | Losers (re-released in 1995 as "The Original Losing Losers" with altered track listing) | Sentridoh | Shrimper |
| 1992 | Most of the Worst and Some of the Best of Sentridoh | Sentridoh | Shrimper |
| 1993 | Wasted Pieces (re-issued in 2003 as "Lou B's Wasted Pieces '87 - '93") | Lou B's Acoustic Sentridoh | Shrimper |
| 1994 | Winning Losers: A Collection of Home Recordings 89-93 (re-issued in 2006) | Louis Barlow Acoustic Sentridoh | Smells Like Records |
| 1994 | Another Collection of Home Recordings | Lou Barlow and Friends | Mint |
| 2000 | Subsonic 6 (split album with Rudy Trouvé) | Lou Barlow | Sub Rosa |
| 2002 | Free Sentridoh: Songs from Loobiecore | Sentridoh | Loobiecore |
| 2005 | Emoh | Lou Barlow | Merge |
| 2009 | Goodnight Unknown | Lou Barlow | Merge |
| 2009 | Songs from Loobiecore 2.5 - Tour Edition | Lou Barlow as Sentridoh | Loobiecore |
| 2015 | Brace the Wave | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2021 | Reason to Live | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |

### Singles

| Year | Title | Tracks | Name | Label |
| 1992 | Losercore (later included on 2006 Winning Losers reissue) | "Losercore" "Really Insane" | Sentridoh | Smells Like Records |
| 2005 | Holding Back the Year | "Holding Back The Year" "Finger" "Terrorize" "Refused" | Lou Barlow | Domino |
| 2009 | The Right | "The Right" "Author" | Lou Barlow | Domino |
| 2011 | Welcome Home | "Welcome Home" – 2:56 | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2014 | State Of Mine (Uke Version) | "State Of Mine (Uke Version)" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2015 | Boundaries | "Boundaries" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2015 | ? | "Wave" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2016 | Apocalypse Fetish | "Apocalypse Fetish" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2016 | Anniversary Song | "Anniversary Song" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2016 | The Breeze | "The Breeze" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2016 | Try 2 B | "Try 2 B" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2016 | Pour/Reward | "Pour/Reward" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2018 | Love Intervene | "Love Intervene" - 3:45 "Don't Like Changes" - 3:44 | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2019 | Over You/How Do I Know | "Over You" "How Do I Know" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |
| 2019 | Cold One/Thirsty | "Cold One" "Thirsty" | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise Recordings |

### EPs

| Year | Title | Tracks | Name | Label |
| 1993 | The Mysterious Sentridoh e.p. | "Good in Others" "The Spirit That Kills" "Weakness Is The Secret" "Cold Love" "No One Taught Me" "No Matter What" | Sentridoh | Little Brother Records |
| 1993 | Sub Pop Singles Club – Dec 93 | "I Am Not Mocking You" "Survival" "Helpless Heartbreak" "Dirty Mind" "Forever Instant" | Lou Barlow | Sub Pop |
| 1993 | Louis Barlow's Acoustic Sentridoh | "Natural Nature" "Don't Need" "Endless Tease" "Paranoid Revolution" | Louis Barlow's Acoustic Sentridoh | Lo-Fi Recordings |
| 2007 | Mirror the Eye | "Yawning Blue Messiah" 3:02 "Faith Defies The Night" 2:13 "You're A Goa"t 2:49 "My Surrender" 2:59 "Mirror The Eye" 1:37 | Lou Barlow as Sentridoh | Acuarela |
| 2010 | Sentridoh III | "Apologize" "Gravitate" "One Machine, One Long Fight" "On The Face" "Caterpillar Girl" "Faith Defies The Night" "Losercore" "Praise" "I'm So Glad" | lou barlow + missingmen | Merge |
| 2016 | Apocalypse Fetish | The Breeze Apocalypse Fetish Anniversary Song Pour/Reward try 2 b | Lou Barlow | Joyful Noise |

### Live

| Year | Title | Name | Label |
| 1996 | Lou Barlow Plays Waterfront | Lou Barlow | Spun |
| 2011 | Live at Missing Link Records | Lou Barlow | Missing Link |

### Compilation

| Year | Title | Name | Label |
| 1994 | A Collection of Previously Released Songs | Lou Barlow and his Sentridoh | City Slang |

### Featured in compilations

| Year | Track(s) | Title | Label |
| 1991 | "Commercial Losers: Sensive Dull Thump, King of the Dry Hump I" | Capgun – A Shrimper Compilation | Shrimper |
| 1991 | "Me and My Arrow" | Ghost of a Rollercoaster | Shrimper |
| 1991 | "Revolution #37'" | Back to the Egg, Asshole | Shrimper |
| 1992 | "Certain Dance Circumstance" | Pawnshop Reverb | Shrimper |
| 1993 | "Same Old, Say Mould" | Caution! Hot Tips! | Dedicated / Melody Maker |
| 1993 | "Certain Dance – Circumstance / Revolution #37" | Abridged Perversion | Shrimper |
| 1994 | "I Stopped Singing" | Ow, Quit It! Vol.2 | Volvolo |
| 1994 | "Morning Rain '92" | Cool Beans #3 Split; split 7-inch with Matt, Dis- and sold with Cool Beans zine #3 | Cool Beans |
| 1994 | "Black Sheep" | Our Band Could Be Your Life; a Minutemen tribute album | Little Brother Records |
| 1995 | "Sorry" | Escargot (EP); sold with Escargot zine | Sick & Tired / Dark Beloved Cloud |
| 1995 | "Loving Limbs"/ "No Telling" | Chemical Imbalance Vol.3, #1; included with Chemical Imbalance zine | Chemical Imbalance |
| 1996 | "Skull" | Pipeline! Live Boston Rock on WMBR | Kimchee / Slow River |
| 1996 | "Blown Pony" | More of Our Stupid Noise | Squirtgun Records |
| 1997 | "Riding" | Flygirl (EP) #7; sold with Flygirl zine #7 | Flygirl / Blue Bunny |
| 1998 | "Blown Pony" | More of Our Stupid Noise '98 | Squirtgun Records/ Nettwerk |
| 2001 | "Morning's After Me" | Colonel Jeffrey Pumpernickel | Off |
| 2003 | "None of Your Goddam Bizness" | In the Film They Made Us a Little More Articulate | Escape Goat |
| 2005 | "A Man in Love" | Comes with a Smile Vol.13; came with the Comes with a Smile zine #17 | Comes with a Smile |
| 2006 | "Forever Instant" | Rough Trade Shops – Singer Songwriter 1 | Mute Records Ltd. |
| 2009 | "The Ballad of Daykitty"/ "I'm So Glad" | Score! 20 Years of Merge Records – Volume 6 | Merge |
| 2009 | "Sit Back and Watch" | Local Currency Digital EP | Fayettenam |
| 2009 | "Song of the Tall Poppy" | Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox | A Major |
| 2010 | "Smooth Sounds for Your Fucking Face" | Smooth Sounds: The Future Hits of WCKR SPGT | Shrimper |
| 2010 | "Imagination Blind" (live) | It Happened Here | St. Ives Records |
| 2011 | "Game of Pricks" | Sing for Your Meat; a Guided by Voices tribute album | No More Fake Labels |

### with Dinosaur Jr

* Dinosaur (1985)
* You're Living All Over Me (1987)
* Bug (1988)
* Beyond (2007)
* Farm (2009)
* I Bet on Sky (2012)
* Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not (2016)
* Sweep It Into Space (2021)

### Tribute

(2012) Just Gimme Lou Barlow (A Paperheart Tribute to)