POP MUSIC REVIEW : Sebadoh Shares Its Secrets With Fans in Palace Show

Remember back in the good ol’ innocent ‘80s when alternative rock was a world of mystery? In those days, such cool bands as R.E.M., Husker Du, the Replacements and Sonic Youth seemed to be sharing really important secrets with fans--before alternative became the mainstream and those secrets were blasted all over MTV.

That old feeling was back at the Palace on Tuesday when the Boston trio Sebadoh played an impressive, at times affecting, set. It’s not just that Sebadoh hasn’t achieved massive fame that gives it that sense of private mystique. It’s the nature of the music itself.

On Tuesday the band, which is able to blare and bash out propulsive punk while daring to hold an emotional intimacy, bounced around among styles that suggested the music of all four above-named bands, but never really sounded like any of them. Singer-guitarist Lou Barlow has an impressive command of dynamics, and his songs are at once familiar and strange, almost as if heard in a dream.

It wasn’t really a punk concert--Sebadoh displayed virtually no sense of showmanship and fans seemed more into listening than moshing. But any recent punk converts looking for more out of their music than just physical catharsis would do well to start with this band.

Providing a purely visceral element was second-billed Godheadsilo, a Fargo, N.D., duo whose setup of just drums and bass makes for something of a “Music Minus One” power trio. A little of the relentless though fairly complex pounding went a long way, but in small doses it was quite impressive.