Low: Classic or classic?

I think they're alright, I think their obvious dedication to their sound and art is fairly admirable, but the resulting records don't move me (the Christmas one is quite nice).

In some of the praise of them there's an undertow of virtues-of- simplicity stuff, and I can see why - when I listen to Low the word that often comes to mind is 'quaint'. You feel a little better for owning a Low record, I suppose, like a piece of handmade furniture or something. They're not classic.

ha I never said on this thread that 'the curtain hits the cast' is one of my few most favorite albums ever.

i watched that low documentary on cable last nite. maaaaaaaan, was that boring. not even two members of napalm death could pep things up. HOW IRONIC LOW DUDE THEY ARE IN NAPALM DEATH AND YOU ARE IN LOW AND YOU ARE IN THE SAME BUILDING WHAT ARE THE ODDS. on the other hand, it made me want to listen to low records. i do like low. and watching low live from my couch is, if you ask me, the best friggin' place on earth to watch low live.

hahah, interesting post. a boring documentary that made you wanna listen to the records. i can see that. good documentary i guess, rather slow, i own it but have only watched it once, so far.

the live footage is indeed superb.

that's the Low In Europe thing, right? I've got that DVD too, should really watch it again too

they should have set up the most boring people alive premise even more than they did. they sould have called the doc: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO:THE DIRTY DULUTH 3 LAY WASTE TO EUROPE! with girls gone wild cover art.

Maybe the sequel will be even lower

Low & Lowerer, with new bass player Jim Carrey

ultimately characterless and forgettable

lol. Heard Drums and Guns?

it hadn't been released back then

i have "low in europe" and only got halfway through it. hmm. and as you all know, i adore them.

vvv tickled to see the original post -- it was alex who got me into low, some ... fucking hell, 12 years ago now. christ.

which album do I listen to right now if I've never heard any of them before? quick!

I think The Great Destroyer is very accessible, so that may be a good entry point. But I guess Things We Lost In The Fire might be a more representative disc.

A handful of songs on the new disc (called Drums and Guns) are also an excellent introduction to the band. Try, for example, this killer (no pun intended) version of Murderer, from a live, in-studio performance last year.

Things We Lost in the Fire is a great introduction. I'd also recommend Secret Name, which was my intro, also very good.

Things We Lost in the Fire, definitely. Worked for me at least, from the first chord change.

Anyone see that film about Low that's now showing on Pitchfork.tv? It's called You Might Need A Murderer. I didn't know how troubled Alan Spearhawk was. Semi-boring film, but a totally compelling band.

Oh it's on Pitchfork.tv? Sweet, I saw it in the local record store today and passed on it ($20 brand new) but i'll totally watch it for free. One of my all time favorite bands, love these guys.

npr interview with the sparhawks a while ago that touched on his issues

Catch it now, Stephen. It's the "One Week Only" feature on Pitchfork.tv.

That NPR interview is fascinating. Sparhawk dances around his problems some, but this is the first time I've heard he was suicidal.

Thanks Daniel, I'll be sure to check it out Sunday morning when i get up :D

Retribution Gospel Choir (Alan's new, catchier, LOUD, rock band) played a sparsely attended show in Montreal on Friday that was fucking amazing. PLayed their hearts out for we seated folk, left my ears so happily ringing. Was sad to see him loading up the van alone in the street afterward (last time I saw Low it was at ATP with another 1000 people). If Retribution Gospel Choir come to chez toi, go go go. terrific.

Low have subtley crept, over the course of about ten years, into the position of being my favorite existing band.

"subtly"

Some good discussion on this thread, methinks.

Retribution Gospel Choir (Alan's new, catchier, LOUD, rock band) played a sparsely attended show in Montreal on Friday that was fucking amazing.

ARGH I was on the list for this but couldn't go, damn you, job.

I've seen them 7-8 times since 1997 and have observed as the venue/audience size has grown in tandem with the expanse of the band's dynamic (louder choruses, distortion pedals and such). The songs from their last few records are perfectly suited to the mid-size theatres they play these days. But my favorite gigs were one in the mid-to-late 90's, when they would come through the Ann Arbor/Detroit area quite regularly and play at little hole-in-the-wall spots: The (small) audience would generally sit on the floor and remain dead silent until the band finished playing (save for the occasional applause). There was a communal reverence, churchlike almost, unlike anything else I've experienced at rock gigs (even a "seated" Yo La Tengo show from their And Then Nothing.. tour, in which the band/venue provided the audience with folding chairs, didn't come close). It was a beautiful thing to be a part of, really.

I totally get that. I'm sure you'd agree, though, that they deserve all the additional attention -- and higher audience attendance at shows -- that they now get. I'm with you: Low has become one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, band of the moment.

I'll third that. Best band going today.

i saw RGC a few years back with Kozelek and they were alright but the drummer was really stiff; if it's the same guy I'm sure they've loosened up a bit. I'm assuming Kozelek isn't on this tour.

the best thing they played though was a crazy ass cover of "the carpet crawlers"

I'm sure you'd agree, though, that they deserve all the additional attention -- and higher audience attendance at shows

Yeah, it has actually been very rewarding to watch a humble little band like Low build and expand their aesthetic over the years, and at the same time gain popularity because of the sheer quality of their art. Even thought I have those fond memories of tiny quiet shows, I have no problem sharing Low with The World.

Strictly in terms of popularity, though, I know Low is bigger in Europe than The States, at least circa early-2000s. Was it that way in the mid-to-late 90's too? I'd been used to Low concerts being generally as described above. But then, in 2000, I moved to Dublin for college and twice saw Low in sold-out concerts at The Olympia, a fairly large theatre (fantastic shows both, one with cello!).

"thought" = though

stop all the clocks, quieten all the whisperings about low's republican tendencies:

low are playing an obama benefit somewhere.

they're also doing christmas shows in the uk, in november.

I had only heard about teh one show. Is it definitely shows plural?

yeh, manchester ('uni' i think, which i guess is hop & grape/academy three?) and oran mor glasgow. there's a churchy bit to oran mor, although i guess it's more likely they'll be downstairs.

I'm going to the London one - it's at Koko.

So I've just heard something bizarre about how Alan S. threw a guitar at his audience at a Saturday show in the UK?

Drowned in Sound thread with details:

http://drownedinsound.com/articles/4020122

^^ shit's wack

and yeah, classic. particularly the very early stuff, which stylistically i prefer a whole lot to the recent stuff, which tends to be a little too comfortable and prosaic for my liking

Buncha fuckin Helen Lovejoys on that DiS thread non-shocker

this is all very sad. that's not the first thing i've read about onstage trouble in the last few months, either.

weird. I know alan was talking publicly about going on medication a couple of years ago so my assumption would be that it has something to do with that.

but it is a bit funny to think you'd get HURT at a low show

Buncha fuckin Helen Lovejoys on that DiS thread non-shocker

it was a seriously dangerous and fucking stupid thing to do. also, that festival was awash with kids. sparhawk is very lucky that he isn't facing manslaughter charges, and i am not being remotely hysterical here.

i mean, i was there, and the whole thing was *horrific, actually properly upsetting. sorry that the DiS readers aren't chuckling it off with sub-Chunklet ironic machismo, dude.

I primarily meant the hectoring pseudo-concern for the mental problems of someone they've never met, and directives of what he should and shouldn't do with his life. I know people care about the band (as do I) and the guy's problems sound horrible, but it rubbed me up the wrong way is all

no worries dude, i was totally over-vociferous up there. apols.

Would anyone out there be willing to ysi me a copy of "Prisoner"? It's on the Lifetime of Temporary Relief box set (also originally appeared in the limited Finally... EP). I'm desperate to find it but the songs from the box set aren't available on emusic, amazon, or itunes. I'd be very grateful...

unless someone beats me to it i'll up it later on today for you

Someone beat you to it - got an email with the link. Thanks though! I'm writing about Low all week starting tomorrow (here) and really wanted to include mention of this song. I only have it on cassette, of all things.

LOW played a unique (one time only) 2 and a half hour, 25 song concert in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (Catharina church) on January 22nd of 2009. (Crosslinx festival)

It was a collaboration with David Dramm and these were the players: (I just copy/pasted/translated this from concertzender.nl )

Low: Alan Sparhawk, voice, guitar. Mimi Parker: voice, percussion. Steve Garrington: bass guitar.
VocalLab: Bauwien van der Meer, Elsbeth Gerritsen, Fanny Alofs, Christian Damsgaard, Job Hubatka
Margarita Kourtparadisou, Marcel Andriessen: percussion.
Dominik Blum (Steamboat Switzerland) : church organ, Hammond B3, piano, Korg.
David Dramm: arrangements.

recorded at the Catharinakerk Eindhoven, 22-1-2009.
recording technician: Kees van de Wiel

The whole concert was broadcast in two parts on the Dutch (online?) radio station Concertzender on May 18th and yesterday and the streams are still available on demand.
All in 128 kbps, unfortunately, but still, not to be missed. (I don't know how long the station's on demand content remains online, by the way, don't think they delete anything, but I'm not sure at all)

PART ONE:

http://audio.omroep.nl/cz/cz/thema/20090518-20.mp3 (LOW = first 78 minutes of the 2-hour mp3)

David Dramm.
1. The wheel of Catherina.

Low.
2. Amazing Grace.
3. Sunflower.
4. In metal.
5. Candy Girl.
6. Dinosaur act.
7. Kind of girl.
8. Point of disgust.
9. Whitetail.
10. Canada.
11. Belarus.
12. Breaker.
13. Silver Rider.
14. Shots and ladders.

PART TWO:

http://audio.omroep.nl/cz/cz/thema/20090615-20.mp3 (LOW = first 77 minutes of the 2-hour mp3)

Low.
1. July.
2. Pretty People.
3. Take your Time.
4. Monkey.
5. Evertbody's Song.
6. The Lamb / Blood of the Lamb.
7. Violent Past.
8. Laser Beam.
9. In Silence.
10. Always Fade.
11. Dragonfly.
12. Murderer.
13. &20 (My Love (is for Free))
14. Sandinista.
15. When I go Deaf. (with David Dramm joining in on electric guitar)

Thanks!

Tons of Things We Lost in the Fire material in that set. Seems kinda random but ok!

This is great, thanks.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU will dl when I get home.

Amazing setlist.

Sandinista live is always *amazing*. Do they ever do "Embrace"? I'd love to hear a live version.

Oh wow, thanks for the links - some great stuff there by the look of it.

Small detail correction, by the way: apparently I misunderstood the presenter there, this wasn't the crosslinx festival, but the heartland festival (a collaboration between two local Eindhoven museums and the Smart museum of Art in Chicago). Sorry about that.

"Take Your Time" is amazing here.

(dammit! I thought I prepared my post thoroughly, but now I find out I can't count! That's 28 Low songs, not 25)

Do they ever do "Embrace"? I'd love to hear a live version.

Yes. If memory serves, they played it in Austin a few years back.

I saw Sparhawk open for the Meat Puppets a couple weeks back, and boy was it weird. His lyrics were bizarre and often embarrassing, and his voice and guitar reverberated so much that I started to feel like I was part of a weird social experiment where my reactions were being taped while I listened to someone mentally breakdown onstage. To date, it was probably the oddest concert experi[ence/ment?] I've ever had.

interesting story

I thought the whole recording was all a bit quiet, but then it IS Low, of course... :-)

In the main, this is Low's live wonderfulness and some of the additional instrumentation works really well. But the overpowering, and frankly wholly redundant, backing vocals (ie. female voice other than Mimi) on Sandinista totally scupper the song...

I saw Sparhawk open for the Meat Puppets a couple weeks back, and boy was it weird. His lyrics were bizarre and often embarrassing, and his voice and guitar reverberated so much that I started to feel like I was part of a weird social experiment where my reactions were being taped while I listened to someone mentally breakdown onstage. To date, it was probably the oddest concert experi[ence/ment?] I've ever had.

This is a concern, given Sparhawk's past (see that documentary film about the band from a year ago, You Might Need A Murderer).

This is a concern, given Sparhawk's past (see that documentary film about the band from a year ago, You Might Need A Murderer).

I couldn't place him at first, only remembering him from Low towards the end of the set... He seemed like a local guy, certainly no one who would be recognized on a national scale; everything came off as sort of amateur (just a guy with an electric guitar, no back up band, strange and embarrassing lyrics about the perils of war, etc.). He just stood there almost motionless, strumming his guitar in a rhythmless manner way that created a giant, amorphous wall of sound. Aside from his set, which seemed like the soundtrack to a bad acid trip, his between-song banter was rather stilted, with a lot of awkward pauses and rambling comments, and an apparent lack of self-awareness. I'm not sure if this is how he always is, but it was somewhat unsettling to me. When he left the stage, he said something like "I guess I'll get off the stage now so you can see some real music."

I'm not sure if this is how he always is

Yes, it is :)

Grimly otm. I've seen Low many times and Alan's stage persona has evolved (if that's the word) into this very dead-pan, almost bereft figure on the last couple of tours. Without the band it sounds like he's even more twitchy.

Wasn't there a thing where he forcefully threw a guitar at an audience at one of the ATP festivals?

Man, I worry about that dude.

Scroll up. (xpost)

Ah, yes, I see.

I realise how incredibly lame this sounds spoken out loud, but... can anyone do something about this, FFS?

Do you mean something like a fan intervention? We're all concerned for his wellbeing, and I think us fans could voice that, but any more than that, I don't know, wouldn't that become way too personal very quickly?

he's a guy with mental health issues; i don't know that circumnavigating awkward onstage conversation would be a real triumph of intervention. it is what it is.

he has a wife who loves him and many people who love him, he's not some loner out there on the streets with no-one overseeing how he acts and behaves

You guys are right, that was my inside voice coming out... as well as a lot of personal life stuff involving loved ones with mental illness. I almost get anxiety attacks of my own thinking about Alan Sparhawk! I don't mean this in a stan-like way (hopefully), but we do get invested in the people whose music makes our own lives better. Not sure what we can do in this scenario, though.

Let's call A&E and get him on Intervention. Hey, it was good enough for Travis Meeks from Days of the New.

i wonder if they'd play the opening music extra slow for that episode

I just cried listening to the Transmission EP, so it would have to be classic.

these guys make me well up all the time.

I saw them last week at this free music+movies thing in mpls, introducing Jaws (which they picked). Alan claimed that the first day he met Mimi, in 4th grade, she gave him a betamax copy of Jaws, and told him to study it if he wanted to make it big.

'Long Division' playing now. I'm so maudlin at the moment.

Has there ever been a Low poll? I can't find one. If not, then we should have one. I'm getting deep in again at the moment. 'Songs For A Dead Pilot' now, after 'Curtain Hits The Cast' this afternoon at work.

yeah, there is an album poll around somewhere.

I'll have a more dedicated look. Searching for Low brings up a lot of things.

Found it, but it was screwed up for some image related reason, so that a load of the results don't show up at all: What is the best Low album/release?

I demand a re-poll!

Was the solo guitar album any good?

xpost: it was repolled after that, but I don't recall what it was titled.

No, imho. xpost

You know what was kinda good? The Retribution Gospel Choir album. The version of "Holes in our heads" in that is godly.

Found the re-poll: What is the best Low album/release? (Encore version)

Can't believe 'Things We Lost In The Fire' didn't run away with it, it's blatantly the best album!

it really isn't

Only recently discovered The Great Destroyer which I love. Too bad they're Mormons, though.

Silver Rider, from The Great Destroyer, is a near-perfect slowcore song. Low is another band that should get mentioned in many Best-Of-The-Decade lists, but I think they'll be criminally overlooked.

Alex, is that the only Low album you know? A lot of people like that album, but it's my least favorite.

Among Low's hard-core fans, I imagine The Great Destroyer is the least favorite album.

It's among my favorites of theirs, tho.

Too bad they're Mormons, though.

too bad? why?

I prefer the version of Silver Rider on the Murderer ep to be honest.

Listening to it all again. "Over The Ocean" just spurred me to revive. Wonderful.

I was remembering how it was Mogwai that got me into Low, as they used to talk about them in interviews and how amazing they were, so I went and hunted it out. Mogwai were also responsible for getting me into Bardo Pond in exactly the same way.

"Venus" is their best song, imo.

http://www.jmichaelward.com/stnnng/images/sparhawk.jpg

Anyone know what they're up to? It's been a few years since D&G, tho Sparhawk has been into the various side projects & things.

not sure but the retribution gospel choir is pretty hot...like low meets crazy horse

The RGC disc comes out in January 2010, I think.

Dunno, I thought the self-titled album was a drag and I'll represent for most anything else Sparhawk has released.

xpost

hmmm i guess i'm reacting to seeing them live, i don't have the albums...live it's amazing if you have a chance

the RGC album is pretty good but doesn't nearly do justice to their live show. maybe the next one will.

Been listening to Lifetime Of Temporary Relief boxset all week and falling in love all over again again. So much wonderful stuff on there.

On a walk in surprisingly-chilly South Florida, I just listened to a Low playlist: Whore; July; In Metal; Silver Rider; Death Of A Salesman; and Breaker.

The most intense -- and one of the most fascinating -- act of the decade.

Picked up the two live albums today - "Paris '99" & "One More Reason To Forget". Life does come up OK sometimes.

Thread makes me (almost) happy.

saw a partially (intentionally?) obscured road sign yesterday that said

LOW
OWN

and i had to agree

this was the first time i saw them live:

http://www.archive.org/details/low2004-02-27.aud.flac

pissing was so good around then

First time I saw them was when they were a last minute replacement for a band at a KUCI benefit show in late 1993, I think -- I Could Live in Hope hadn't even come out yet. I was completely entranced from the get-go.

First saw them in 1996 when they opened up for Spectrum. Unbelievably most of the audience were there to see first opening band Edsel, but no accounting for taste (it was Jabberjaw after all)

I first saw them in Edinburgh circa 1996: my mate's band supported them. I'd never heard of them and they played so quietly that I missed most of their set because I was standing at the bar. Then they started doing Transmission and I thought, woah, hang on ...

First "holy shit, what?" moment came two days later when AlexT played me The Plan and I was blown away.

playing the great destroyer front to back, at primavera & then i guess elsewhere

First time I saw them was when they opened for Soul Coughing back in 95 or 96. There was the tiniest pocket of Low fans in the front row surrounded by a sea of people talking or booing. It was tragic.

ewwwww why did they open for soul coughing :(

isn't there a soul coughing cover on the boxset? i might be thinking of the supreme dicks but i seem to recall there was some crossover.

Yeah, there's a cover on there. Something about a split single planned or the like.

Soul Coughing loved them and asked them to do a tour, so they went for it. I think it was the first "big" tour they ever did. I've Alan say before that they started Low as a kind of "punk" thing - trying to alienate all the spazzy/yelpy/angry bands they were surrounded by. So I think, at least in the early days, they were prepared for audiences to not get them at all.

And yeah, they did a cover of "Blue-Eyed Devil," recorded around that time. I think it wound up on some comp back then because I had it way before the box set. I was an OBSESSIVE Low fan for a long, long time.

This is ten years old but I still hadn't seen it: Alan Sparhawk briefly commenting on every song they did up until 2000

http://groups.google.com/group/chairkickers/web/song-backgrounds

Wow, thank you. Never seen that before, but it's very interesting.

There's quite a few fantastic sounding soundboard recordings on archive.org and people are adding new ones every now and then but the new 1998 Bluebird Theatre one that was added this week sounds AMAZING. Go check it out, fellow low addicts.

Yes, I've listened to that one 3 times in the last day - really wonderful. Great to hear Words/Violence.

The new Retribution Gospel Choir (2) is now out, too, and maybe even better than the first, the Crazy Horse comparisons even more apt...

not sure how old this is but it sounds pretty amazing:

Hello friends.

Low is embarking an another unique, collobrative event with nationally renowned modern dance choreographer Morgan Thorson. Providing the musical backdrop to Thorson's piece, Heaven, Alan and Mimi are providing original music and vocal orchestration. Heaven examines the trinity of dance, music and light while exploring the various manifestations of ecstasy in religious practices and the ritualistic nature of dance. Thorson's work has garnered the praise of critics far and wide, earning her accolades in the New York Times as well as being voted City Pages' best choreographer in 2008. Heaven will be presented at various venues across the country, and more information on the shows is available here.

apparently there have already been two performances

did anyone catch this?

^^ this sounds really great. did anyone catch this?

In other news: Robert Plant has recorded versions of "Monkey" & "Silver Rider" for his next album - http://www.robertplant.com/press/first-look-robert-plants-band-of-joy/#more-1965

what the

I don't even

cool!

wow!

hmmm...trying to think of how this could have happened...i guess the most direct connect between plant and low is steve albini

A whole lotta Low.

Interesting, though.

Plant is a really big Low fan -- and I remember him talking about how much he loved "The Great Destroyer" around 2005.

(StanM, I only just saw that Sparhawk list you posted upthread, and wanted to thank you for it.)

I know RP used to rep hard for The Cocteau Twins & This Mortal Coil in the 80s (& didn't he do his own version of "Song to the Siren" at some point?), so I guess this isn't a giant leap in logic from there.

Still tho, Whole Lotta Low

RP's early 80s albums are such a weird classic rock/new wave mix

(my pleasure! xxpost)

When you think about it, there's not a massive leap between "Battle of Evermore" and early Dead Can Dance.

wow i can't wait to hear these!

From the press release (WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!):

Plant gives the blues a full-on golden god workout as only he can with ‘Silver Rider’ and his rockier side emerges triumphant on standout tracks such as ‘Monkey’.

that description makes me less interested in his cover versions.

full-on golden god

listening to the samples of robert plant covering monkey and silver rider. they're . . . okay, but pointless. they go for the same vibe as the original, and seem like they come nowhere close to the charm/power of the originals.

but whatevs. full-on golden god.

stream while you can http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129178865

I thought Plant's Silver Rider >>> Monkey. Thought they did a decent job with Silver Rider; not up to the original of course. But if it gets more folks to search the originals then cool by me.

Excellent show from ATP in 2008: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Low/

Anyone catch them on the current tour yet? Thoughts?

I didn't end up organising to get to any of the UK shows. Sad face.

xpost Thanks for the heads up - there's another version out there with the encore (a 12 minute version of Shots and Ladders), by the way.

Four new tracks during this show from last week: http://www.archive.org/details/Low2010-11-16.flac

Not playing Canada? (I mean the country, not the song, ha).

Oh, and thanks for these, fellow ILXors.

Free live EP from that Catharinakerk, Eindhoven show I linked to in this thread last year (those stream mp3s aren't online anymore unfortunately, if you haven't downloaded them)

http://pitchfork.com/news/40941-low-release-free-live-ep/

so much love for this band

this ep is really great thanks for the heads-up stan! :)

EP sounds niiiiice. i've lost track of Low over the years, but it seems like i should get back into them. what's the lineup of the band like? from the sound of this EP they're no longer a trio.

i think there's just one other dude on bass (?)

ah, maybe there's just some guests on the EP? there are keyboards on at least a couple tracks ...

anyway, this EP is making me think i should go see them -- they're coming to my neck of the woods next week.

You should definitely go see them (that's what I'm doing on Wednesday).

i think they switch it up instrumentation-wise, or maybe the third dude just does whatever's needed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GppbSt1H2o

from chairkickers.com

Recorded live January 22, 2009 in the St. Catherina Church, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Track Listing:
1. Monkey
2. Silver Rider
3. July
4. Laser Beam

Credits:
Initiator of Project: Muziekgebouw Eindhoven
Executive producer: Frank Veenstra
Arrangement: David Dramm
Photography: Bram Saeys

Additional Musicians:
Chorus: VocaalLAB (Bauwien van der Meer, Elsbeth Gerritsen, Fanny Alofs, Christian Damsgaard, Job Hubatka)
Hammond Organ/Analog Synthesizer/Piano: Dominik Blum
Percussion/Vibraphone: Marcel Andriessen, Margarita Kourtparadisou

ah thanks. yeah, sounded like a big chorus behind them.

So I take it the new record is Fridmann-free, then? (I see he co-produced the new Parts and Labor, though, which is...a little worrisome.)

nels cline + low = unbelievable anticipation for this disc.

the vocal harmony on the chorus of silver rider is every bit as good on this live ep as it is on the disc -- maybe better? it's astonishing.

Many thanks to StanM for posting a link to the full show last year. Great to see that the transcendent versions of Silver Rider and July are getting wider circulation. And Mim's vocal on Laser Beam, wow.

Yeah see this tour. The show I saw consisted of a few old songs to start things, then their new album in its entirety (or at least 10 new songs, all played in a row), then most/all of the Christmas EP, then an all-request encore. Mimi's solo vocal on Laser Beam was in fact pretty stunning.

They're also performing as a four-piece for most of it, with a new guy on electric piano and enough drums to create a full kit between him and Mimi, and Charlie Parr accompanied at a few points.

how are the new tunes?

gonna miss this in SF this week, supremely bummed

anyone know if they're coming to the east coast anytime soon? this tour sounds fantastic.

The electric piano was only really present on the first of them, where it takes a pretty prominent lead. Sounds in a lot of ways like a continuation of where they were going on Drums and Guns. I really liked one listed on the setlist as "Witches" (Alan brought out a Les Paul baritone for it). Lots of one-word choruses, a few moments of very noisy guitar playing. Really curious as to how this is going to sound with studio treatments and with Nels Cline on it.

I've renewed my love affair with Low in the last few months and have been catching up on the last few records which I passed on at the time of their release. Bought Trust last month and The Great Destroyer a couple of weeks ago. Trust was solid but didn't do a whole lot for me. But man, The Great Destroyer. I had totally written this record off based on the couple of songs I heard from it at the time, but to my surprise it's quite excellent! Been listening to it nonstop since I got it. It's not perfect, but it's really good.

new one's really good—it's called C'mon, comes out in three weeks or so—few throwaway songs but 2/3 or so is utter gold

er... utterly golden? whatever. who knows

Low covers 'Africa' by Toto for The AV Club's 'Undercover' series

predictably, it is awesome.

Damn, I'm getting an error, it's not showing.

That's fantastic, thanks for the link!

Obnoxious Starbucks advertising though - urgh.

download http://videos.theonion.com/avclub_video/2011/undercover/AVUC2_009-Low.flv

This band can do no wrong, really.

I am completely blanking on the name of the Low song-by-song blog, anyone remember it?

http://youcanttrustviolence.blogspot.com/ ?

Thats it, thanks!

http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Low_Route_du_Rock/

^excellent, thanks for the link

(fyi, setlist: Nothing But Heart / Nightingale / You See Everything / Monkey / Silver Rider / Especially Me / Sunflower / Try To Sleep / Canada / Violent Past / Last Snowstorm of the Year / Murderer )

Awesome, thanks for this.

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/07/22/low-things-we-lost-in-the-fire-round-70-toms-selection/

something about early low is hitting me hard lately, like it hasn't in several years

Same!!

Classic.

"words" is a perfect first song first album statement.

You know that there is a part of Low that just wants to record an album where they croon "You're gonna die..........." over and over again for 40 minutes.

You could play "Shots and Ladders" 5 times in a row and achieve the same result tbh

Sometimes I can't handle "Pretty People" because it occasionally sounds like Low in self-parody mode, now I'm imagining it running 40 minutes.

new album double negative out in september, produced by b.j. burton

Press release uses the terms "abrasive" and "defiant." fun!

Also, that has to be the ultimate Low album title

Low - Fun!

lol

If "abrasive" and "defiant" mean "sounds like [their best album] 'Drums and Guns'" I'm very in.

It sounds like it's a noisier, tighter version of the last album.

alan was rocking this incredible disintegrating guitar tone when i saw them a few months back, can't wait to hear that on record

like the classic Neil Young jet engine guitar sound?

close to dead man but instead of letting the notes ring, they crumble

Has the album been announced? They seem to have disappeared from the Sub Pop website. Looking forward to the Leeds show next week. I have a spare ticket if anyone's after one.

only via this listing AFAICT

https://www.cargo-records.de/en/item/126785/katalog_art.123.html

hope this is as great as The Great Destroyer/Trust/Secret Name/Things We Lost In The Fire because nothing they have done since those has been as compelling imo

I'm a little sad it doesn't seem like we're ever getting a Mimi solo album as I seem to imagine Alan teased quite a long time ago. (Though for anyone who hasn't heard it, his Solo Guitar is a neat bit of soundscaping.)

first 15 mins of the new album:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6nfpfcAiNLaxyFxwcj0lkm

holy shit @ glitch ghost Mimi!

oh good this sounds like autechre

I really hate to make this comparison ever but this is sounding very Kid A and I'm into it

it's amazing that The Invisible Way was only two albums ago lol

aoty probably

:D

whoa

Very excited for this. I thought that Ones and Sixes was a great look for them (especially the colder parts like the first two tracks and "DJ") and am pleased that they seem to have travelled some distance further down that road.

"Quorum" really does sound like Autechre.

Going #fullBrad here but aoty. This is amazing.

I've listened to these 4-5 times and I'm just mad we have to wait three months for the rest

For real.

Didn't see this coming at all. Awesome music.

There's video too, suitably glitchy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvEozu4Obfs

Sub Pop is offering a pretty good deal for a bundle of their last 5 LPs.

holy shit these new songs are amazing. i'm so gutted that the local show for me (leeds, UK) is sold out... though i did see them in LA last year, and briefly met alan. he was sweet.

wowowowowowow

excellent video too

when did they turn into Andy Stott?

each of the three are so good in different ways. "dancing in blood" in particular raises goosebumps at times. if they hadn't done anything since trust/great destroyer times, then released this, it would sound like a portishead third kind of return. really refreshing to hear their voices and some of the same guitar tones in a new context

Wow. I'm surprised and amazed. These are utterly unexpected, but progress into something that is unmistakably them and really beautiful. Dancing In Blood gave me goosebumps too, then the latter stages of Fly hit and... just wow.

This is fucking fantastic. Exactly what I've been hoping for from them since 'Drums & Guns'. They're wonderful even when they're just doing what comes naturally, and sometimes amazing with it (i.e. 'Secret Name'). But they're always so exciting when they take the sweet simplicity of their elemental sound and just absolutely fuck with it (i.e. 'Bombscare' EP, 'Drums & Guns').

I've been listening intently for 22 years, and based on these three songs, this has the potential to be their best work yet, at least for ears like mine.

Karl Malone, if you're digging this--the way you're referencing Trust/Great Destroyer as their last great work--did you hear 'Drums & Guns'? If not, you're in for a huge thrill.

If somehow there are folks that don't know the 'Bombscare' EP, it's fantastic and maybe the most direct precursor to the sound of these new tracks, from 18 (!?! I'm old) years ago, and what firmly cemented my love of Low:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRoIbBbJx4U

the bombscare EP is really good! thanks for posting that. it does have a very different sound from their other work around the turn of the century, but i dunno, these new tracks still sound like a different place altogether to me.

i listened to drums & guns exactly in full exactly once, but the last two tracks are the ones i always go back to.

hasitleaked.com says it has - two and a half months early!?

that's a bummer

wtf? I remember Invisible Way leaked before it even had a cover or title.

maybe a daft question how do records even leak anyway. is it always an advance press copy that some naughty journo has uploaded to soulseek?

Happens a bunch of different ways, lately I'm guessing the most common is people getting + redeeming download codes early and sharing

anyway I fully intend to buy this when I see them in September so I feel comfortable saying the record is bold and brilliant in all the ways the already-released tracks suggest

I hope Prins Thomas or Koze or somebody gets their hands on "Disarray"

yeah well looking forward to manchester cathedral show.

really love how "tempest" sounds like my speakers are being fed through a spiralizer

this is absolutely some portishead third shit

That's an excellent comparison I should definitely have thought of

karl brought it up upthread, h/t karl

*gets to "the son, the sun"* these songs are all black holes vibrating at different frequencies

Whoa portishead third??? Curious

it'd be a shame if "rome (always in the dark)" never gets used in a movie trailer

anyway this is gorgeous and weirdly feels like an intuitive endpoint, the way the rhythm of "always trying to work it out" pulls everything inward is just mesmerizing

This thing is so cohesive and flows so expertly that I got too annoyed with the leak's track gaps and had to mix it down to a single 49-minute file before I could let myself relisten

The way the clouds part just long enough for "Dancing And Fire" to peek through relatively unobstructed is *kisses fingers*

i am so excited to hear the rest! glad to hear that the other songs are just as engaging

trying to decide whether this is samey and overproduced or genius

low is at their best writing pop songs imo

Not even trying to defend them when I say that complaining that a Low album is "samey" is wild to me, nearly every Low album is them "trying on" a couple sonic ideas and flexing them to various extremes for 40-60 minutes

haha yeah fair shout actually simon, my gripe is completely moot. i think it's maybe why, even though i love them to bits, i almost never make it through a full play of their LPs. the second halves are often a drag.

obv I find that personally heretical but I get it. this Low shit, it ain't for everybody. it's a motherfuckin vibe

i know the last album i heard from low was ten years ago, but i wasn't expecting this at all. i'm mesmerized.

also the master is disgustingly loud, what's up with that? guess it's bathed in distortion anyway.

also xxp simon -- i was more fussed about the overproduction than the sameyness really. i love alan's guitar tone, and think low have done distortion and production perfectly to date. the distortion on this is the kind of distortion that grows old quickly to my ears. sounds very digital and full of odd harmonics. im sure its intentional. i dunno. its almost annoying, i just want to hear the songs that are hiding behind it.

even though the new record is destined to become one of my favourites - there is the same tension with albums like "drums and guns" where deliberate production choices set that particular song in concrete - and more power to the band for doing that. but the live versions of these new songs necessarily break them open in quite different ways, i genuinely can't wait to hear them again later in the year.

luckily theyre bootleg-friendly: https://archive.org/details/LowMusic - so i can have the jaunty "breaker" as well as the doomy live version on hand.

wow, yeah...hard to tell if this is supposed all sound like this or whether they did something to it to mark the leaks. at least one song is pretty unlistenable to me. but there is beauty in it.

p meticulous marking then!

it's not marking, since the officially released singles are of the same production. matt h is otm tho -- hearing them live will shed some light.

listening to their first couple of LPs today. man, i wish kramer was still producing records.

OK im decided. the use of compression on this LP in accordance with its dynamic range is fucking phenomenal.

I noticed that too - the quiet parts are *actually* quiet and not just in comparison to the walls of noise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7088HRmhNaE

wasted good silverware on ya.

"Disarray" is now officially available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXaLOVeWOdU

Awesome.

Needs a remix EP imho

How I love that Transmission cover - 2nd song - from the 1996 show. By playing it slower they make it better as it lasts longer. That simple trick works like a charm here.

For you polite non-leak-listeners, now streaming at NPR:

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/06/644584017/first-listen-low-double-negative

This seriously has to be one of their 2 or 3 best albums ever.

i'm not polite, but i was kind of just waiting until i could stream it somewhere, thanks!

holy shit this album

otm

heavier than a death in the family

"tempest" is like falling between two vibrating pixels

effect of the whole album is like listening in on someone's nightmare

yeah it has such a profound cumulative effect that in retrospect I wish they hadn't released any advance tracks at all (though releasing the opening trio was a smart compromise)

this makes at least two dark & (spatially) deep albums w a song titled "tempest" this decade

the other being koi no yokan hell yeah

yesterday i saw 'first reformed' and 'double negative' came to my mind all the time. after week listening to it i'm still speechless.

Crushing.

Wow, this is not starting out like I expected it to.

Yeah, I listened to it yesterday and loved it. Looking forward to my first cold sad winter night listen, it’ll be absolutely perfect then.

Completely blown away by this. Who does this twelve albums into their career?

neil young released "hawks and doves" for album 12

That's quite a good album!

Others:
Joni Mitchell - Dog Eat Dog (oh dear)
Bob Dylan - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (never listened to it)
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street (!)

I see more UK & European dates have been added to the tour for the new year, including a Glasgow gig in January. Yay!

This is amazing. The way they alter abrasive, sound sculpture pieces with their spiritual, harmonic tunes is absolutely breathtaking. There is a lot to bite on here.

longtime Low-ambivalent human here to say: what the FUCK

what the FUCK

otm

I don't know why people are so surprised by this, since they've experimented with drone/noise/electronic elements plenty before. Not always on their albums, I suppose.

I really want to love the album but it hasn't really clicked for me yet, hoping I just need to hear it in the right context. Mimi does sound amazing on the ones where she's singing lead.

Yeah, I also feel like this album is a logical extension of some of the ideas they were pursuing on Ones and Sixes, which I also thought was a super-strong album.

I'm surprised by the notion that people who have long been ambivalent about Low would suddenly be won over by this album - it strikes me as standing in relation to their prior work in much the same way as the new Jon Hassell album does to his (Hassell is also a good answer for "who pulls this kind of trick some 12 albums or more into his career?") - an invigorating incorporation of new elements to expand the existing blueprint rather than replace it wholesale.

fwiw, i'm not saying i'm won over, although being ambivalent and then maybe not ambivalent might imply as much.

i'm not even sure i'm won over yet. this is more my experience:

i know the last album i heard from low was ten years ago, but i wasn't expecting this at all. i'm mesmerized.

― Nourry, Thursday, July 5, 2018 2:31 AM (two months ago)

basically i'm saying: "I listened to Curtain and Lost in the Fire and Great Destroyer several times each and thought I knew what Low was but this album is not what I thought Low was"

The only thing I don't like about this album is that it makes Ones and Sixes retroactively sound like a tentative, tame attempt at what this album is up to.

basically i'm saying: "I listened to Curtain and Lost in the Fire and Great Destroyer several times each and thought I knew what Low was but this album is not what I thought Low was"

― alpine static, Monday, September 10, 2018 11:48 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah that's fair - this album makes more sense in the context of Drums and Guns and Ones and Sixes and some stuff they put on EPs over the years.

i only heard 'ones and sixes' after 'double negative' and now i get where this is coming from. but i'm still mesmerized. and it is possibly my favourite record of the year so far (with the new jon hassell and opn's age of).
i'm kinda of ashamed that in the last years i stopped paying much attention to their records. such a stupid "decision".
in the end of the month i plan seeing them live (the last time I saw them was in 2007!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRoIbBbJx4U

Best thing they've done since 'Drums & Guns' and the 'Bombscare' EP 18 (!) years ago.

I'm surprised by the notion that people who have long been ambivalent about Low would suddenly be won over by this album - it strikes me as standing in relation to their prior work in much the same way as the new Jon Hassell album does to his (Hassell is also a good answer for "who pulls this kind of trick some 12 albums or more into his career?")

Since I made that comment, I'll answer. I was a consistent listener up to The Great Destroyer, but outside of the occasional "Drone Not Drones" show I've been one of the ambivalent - dutifully listening to each new album since, but never making a deep enough connection to keep coming back. Maybe I wanted them to go further?

Forgotten but great track - "Half Light" from the Mothman Prophecies soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY-LaFHAfQc

I'll be the first to admit I didn't pay close attention to the last two, but this new one is so incredible it makes me think either a) I should have listened closer or b) they were indeed forgettable, because I doubt they were as memorable/amazing as this one. Getting ... Depeche Mode vibes here?

ones and sixes is an awesome record

Other vibes I'm getting from the new one is ... Fennesz? I also suspect this might be the best, prettiest album my family might make me turn off.

Or, like, Wolfgang Voigt?

The new record, and especially the way it starts off, reminds me of Microphones' Mt. Eerie record. Crawling from out of the rubble and noise to find a pitch-perfect, pastoral and awe-inspiring beauty in quietness and precision. It's everything and more you could want from Low.

xxp you should've been listening closer imo. what's so remarkable to me about this album is that it manages to be top 3 in a band with consistently excellent output

I was a consistent listener up to The Great Destroyer, but outside of the occasional "Drone Not Drones" show I've been one of the ambivalent - dutifully listening to each new album since, but never making a deep enough connection to keep coming back. Maybe I wanted them to go further?

I admit this is kinda where I've been at, and ever since the leak earlier this year the sheer avalanche of praise has kicked in my...I will never call it 'contrarian,' but simply my 'okay, I'm sure it's great so that actually means I can wait to get around to this' reflex. (Which has kept my sanity more than once over the years -- rather than rushing into something which I'm sure I'll like I'd rather get to it when the impulse strikes.) That said everyone mentioning about how it suits the current sociopolitical situation has left me even more guarded; I specifically avoided ANOHNI's album the other year for that reason, but unlike ANOHNI I geniunely like Low's music and have from the get-go so I'll approach this a little more warmly. Still, though.

enh I think the "this is the Low album about Our Moment!!" or whatever argument doesn't hold up at all

the sonics are more blwon-out but it's no more emotionally fraught than say Trust

That said everyone mentioning about how it suits the current sociopolitical situation has left me even more guarded

these people are wrong

Good to know!

i compared it to twin peaks season 3 the other day (a stupid comparison but one i can't get out of my head) which can either be read as "of the moment" or not, but the former is prob the least interesting lens through which to view it

i guess one could make the argument that the sonics reflect the sociopolitical feeling of the moment. but that could really be said about most music

I think the "this is the Low album about Our Moment!!" or whatever argument doesn't hold up at all

actually thinking about it now, drums & guns was an 'of the moment' album too in the wake of 9/11. that's also their best album

i compared it to twin peaks season 3 the other day (a stupid comparison but one i can't get out of my head) which can either be read as "of the moment" or not, but the former is prob the least interesting lens through which to view it

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, September 11, 2018 5:01 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i guess 'the tempest' would be episode 8?
stupidly, when i hear the album i can only think about paul schrader's first reformed.

the oppressive atmosphere this album transmits is one which seems to me be very much of the moment

I guess cause sonics aside it's so much of a piece with every Low album since the debut? Idk I find their music has such a timeless, totemic quality that I hesitate to forge associations like that. (Then again I'm also hesitant to see the current political moment as being totally distinct from what came before, so...)

(Then again I'm also hesitant to see the current political moment as being totally distinct from what came before, so...)

yeah this is mostly it in general

Then again I'm also hesitant to see the current political moment as being totally distinct from what came before, so...

not really, maybe, yes, sure. but these are all things that built up over decades anyway

and don't seem to have much to do with the new low album unless you're projecting hard onto it

which is honestly fine

what brad said

Can the Low experts talk about other precursors to this album in their discography that more casual fans might've missed (hinted at by a couple of people earlier)?

ones and sixes, drums and guns, bombscare

btw thanks elvis for posting "half light" upthread, a version of low i had never heard before

it reminds me of "down by the water" kinda

they have so many great odds and ends, I hope one day they make a worthy rarities/loosies comp (too much of A Lifetime of Temporary Relief is inessential)

Also the Drones Not Drones thing people have mentioned: https://drone-not-drones.bandcamp.com/track/low-2

And some of the Retribution Gospel Choir stuff (esp. earlier on).

xp

wow this is gorgeous. i'm feeling them after not listening for a long time.

is this thing even out or are all you hosers just listening to the low bitrate NPR stream

i'm just listening to a few tracks on bandcamp

low bitrate NPR stream here

out on friday. will be buying.

NPR stream. I haven't listened to their albums since Trust but this seems markedly different from what they were doing before then? There were some noise/drone elements at times but they always struck me as somewhat peripheral to the sound of what was a m/l soft pop/rock band.

yeah it's not like it's really that abrasive, it has a very soft sound imo, richly produced classic rock vibes, harmonies more slick than i remembered

i didn't really catch all that many of the lyrics but i still got this feeling that they somehow seem more honest and less portentous, idk.

It was always there even when it wasn't there

portentousness is sort of their backbone but they seem to have aged well around it

It's not about the abrasive noise/drone you play, it's the abrasive noise/drone you don't play

I'm not saying it's a Merzbow album but it's still pretty surprising to me.

I wouldn't deny that the sound is quite different here (though again it was suggested by some of the tracks on Ones and Sixes), but I feel that the way the band use keyboards and static and processed sounds here (a lot of the arrangements seem to be built on distorted samples of their own vocals) is strongly consistent with their prior general songwriting/arranging approach: especially the way that some of the tracks seem to be almost a grim caricature of sidechain compression with the melodies being obliterated by a regular but slow overwhelming kick like they're constantly disappearing into and re-emerging from a black hole. It's very much a digital counterpart to their original trick of focusing the listener's attention on stark, very slow, endlessly repeated guitar chords.

It's also interesting to me that the band has complicated their close-harmony vocal attack by writing (or arranging) these songs where it's like neither singer can "complete" the song by themselves but also there's a certain fragmented feel to the way their vocals overlap: these songs feel born of structural conflict in a way that their darkest and most comparable prior work (e.g. much of Trust and Drums and Guns) do not.

another release that foreshadows this one a little bit is their EP for the Travels in Constants series, The Exit Papers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TMgOwP8M_8

Is the thing on the cover of Double Negative supposed to be something?

i have somehow never listened to this band before but the new album is very cool, like if Fennesz made a pop album

i know this one isn't supposed to be particularly representative for them, but where do i go from here? what are the essential low albums?

i imagine that like a lot of bands, the first one you hear (and play on repeat) is the one that sticks with you the longest. for me, that was Things We Lost in the Fire.

first LP I got and listened to extensively was Long Division, which is fantastic and contains my favorite Low song "Shame", but it was Secret Name that just pwned me and made them one of my very favorite acts

my parents bought me the curtain hits the cast for christmas when i was in high school. it blew my mind but i also found it kinda hard to listen to. what really sealed the deal was hearing the great destroyer when it came out

curtain was my first & still my favorite, it's such a good depression album

i had secret name early on but didn't really get it. saw an all-ages show they did at a tiny comedy club in provo, was electrified. fell in love with things we lost in the fire. lost track of them after that because my bf at the time did not like them. he thought they weren't ex-mormon enough or something. i think he was snooty about them because he had been part of a troupe of folk/indie/psych musicians and coil worshippers from provo who probably thought they were more interesting than low. anyway, now i'm like hey i like this band and they made a bunch of albums since 2001, cool.

my parents bought me the curtain hits the cast for christmas when i was in high school

wow your parents rule

Things We Lost.... was my gateway

they bought it bc it was on my christmas list! i was a hip, pfork-reading kid

I think seeing them live on the Trust tour really sold me on them. It was in a venue that held maybe 150. Their performance of In Metal from TWLITF was especially awe-inspiring. Mimi Parker, eight months pregnant, playing the drums and singing lead on that one: a song about their first child growing up and Mimi wishing she could keep her body in metal because she doesn’t want her to grow anymore...anyway Low is dark and awesome.

For me it was a small show at UC Irvine, about a month before their debut appeared. They were a last minute replacement and it was just a small dimly lit conference room without chairs or tables in mid-December. Aside from one or two people, nobody had ever heard of them or heard anything by them. And in front of forty people, they started playing “Words” and I was sold.

I like all their albums and you can’t really go wrong with any of them. If you want the albums most like this (in relative terms) try ‘Ones and Sixes’ or ‘Drums and Guns’. If you want an album that is more ‘representative’ of their overall approach across their career than probably ‘Things We Lost In the Fire’ or ‘Trust’ .

if you want a bunch of kickass melodies and guitar tones then try the great destroyer

sorry i really love that record even though it's kind of an anomaly (trust sets it up though)

Yeah The Great Destroyer is awesome! But it’s sort of at the far end of one of their aesthetic poles.

If you want an album that is more ‘representative’ of their overall approach across their career than probably ‘Things We Lost In the Fire’ or ‘Trust’ .

― Tim F, Thursday, September 13, 2018 7:34 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i also think c'mon might fit in here

Probably yes, it’s not as happy as it’s made out to be.

i made this mix for a some friends: https://i.imgur.com/AetN9eV.png
but really they're the greatest band on earth so you can't go wrong with anything

lol now i'm relistening to the curtain hits the cast this album breaks my heart

Wish they’d release ICLIH/Long Division/Curtain on proper vinyl and cancel out the Plain Recordings pressings, they’re basically a bootleg label.

I knew and loved the Kranky stuff, they were never as one-dimensional as they were made out to be, but I remember hearing the Great Destroyer and being blown away. That When I Go Deaf/Broadway pairing in particular.

we're gonna have to repoll the albums after the new one has been out a while

lmao, multiple xxxxxp with the brad's parents story (yr parents rule!). that would make a great thread about albums parents bought their children.

ufo, thinking "drums and guns" is a good followup based on this album, but it's the outlier. might recommend "things we lost..." and "the great destroyer" for flavors of the band with glossier production and then go back to "i could live in hope," but that's slightly because i think "lazy" is the greatest low song and gives you an idea of the slowcore label they got tagged with.

I've said it before but I didn't get hooked until Drums & Guns, and don't have much attachment to the earlier records. That and C'Mon are my favorites by a long shot.

If you're really loving 'Double Negative,' then 'Drums & Guns' and the 'Bombscare' EP are the place to go next (which are both in my top four all-time, along with 'Double Negative' and 'Secret Name').

In addition, my favorites are 'Trust,' 'In the Fishtank EP,' 'Curtain Hits the Cast,' 'Things We Lost In the Fire' and 'Long Division'. Honestly, though, the only ones I don't love (and merely like) are 'C'mon,' 'The Great Destroyer,' 'Ones and Sixes,' and 'The Invisible Way'. But there are winners on every album, and the b-sides/rarities box set has tons of winners. Been listening for 22 years, and they've far and away stick with me far more than any other "indie rock" band from my youth.

btw, there are dozens of great and early live recordings on archive.org - 12 minute long versions of Lullaby etc

lol now i'm relistening to the curtain hits the cast this album breaks my heart

The back to back of “mom says” and “coattails” is devastating.

Obviously made clear already in this thread but all of Low’s albums are great though some much better than others. No true duds in the bunch, and probably at least a third of their output is transcendant. That much I think most fans would agree on, though the disagreements come when you try to say which albums fall into which categories.

A good pathway into their discography is by braking it into the eras of the labels they’ve been on.

Vernon Yard years: I Could Live in Hope, Long Division, Transmission EP, Curtain Hits the Cast
These are the years when Kramer was their producer and everything had a beautiful, pristine sheen. Curtain is the the fullest and best realization of their sound in this era; if you like that then you’ll like all of these albums. They are all incredible.

Kranky years: Songs for a Dead Pilot, Secret Name, Things We Lost in the Fire, Trust
The band starts to sand off some of the prettiness. Alan and Mimi both show a little strain or imperfections in their vocals - less reverb, less multitracking. Songs for a Dwad Pilot is positively jarring following the previous albums. Multiple moments on that EP are, for Low, almost alienating (the muffled “Will the Night”, the ten minutes of a strummed chord on “Born by the Wires”. It sets the stage for the next series of albums that sees the band explore a rawer sound, not afraid to get louder, moodier, poppier. They just feel more free to explore what they really want to be. Secret Name is fantastic and that’s followed by Things We Lost in the Fire, which is easily one of their best and definitely the best of the Kranky era. (Obviously there are a lot of Trust fans out there but personally I think it falls off from TWLITF; too many long dirges that feel a little limp to me. It’s one of my least favorites by them.)

Sub Pop era, part 1: Great Destroyer and Drums & Guns
To my ears there is before Drums & Guns, and after Drums & Guns. Great Destroyer is another one that I like but don’t love. It seems a reaction to Trust - much more upbeat and shorter songs. But the overall mood, for me, isn’t there. Definitely has some great songs but a few clunkers too. In any case it doesn’t prepare you for Drums & Guns, which is their nerviest, most agitated album. It feels very connected to the anxiety of the 00s (post 9/11, Iraq war, etc). And it coincides with Alan’s breakdown—watch the documentary from this period. It’s not my favorite Low album but I totally get and appreciate those who feel it’s their best.

Sub Pop era, part 2: everything else
I feel like expectations for Low changed after Drums & Guns, like people did not think they’d ever top that album, and I think as a result a lot of people underrate the Low albums of the last 8 years. But they remain phenomenal. C’mon, in my mind, is like the morning after Drums & Guns. It’s a beautiful record and Mimi in particular has a bunch of stealer moments. The Invisible Way is solid but is probably the most rote Low record. And then Ones & Sixes comes alon and elevates their game again.

Which finally brings us to the new one, which, yeah, is the reason a bunch of people in this thread are wondering about past Low albums because it feels like the band hit on something new while still being “Low”—which is why they have one of the best discographies of any band of the last 25 years.

loving the low love-in

new record is amazing

we're gonna have to repoll the albums after the new one has been out a while

― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Friday, 14 September 2018 03:25

They're only a few away on the artists polls, which I know because I'm down to do it.

Because of this album I think it's worth deferring for a few months so it sinks in properly (despite me suggesting it three years ago or something).

Of course now it's come round I'm not actually sure I've got time to run it ...

re "getting into Low" I bought I Could Live In Hope second hand sometime around 99ish having never heard anything by them, liked it OK (esp Words) but wasn't blown away. Then I briefly went out with someone in 2000 who was a big fan and used to play Long Division when I was round hers, I downloaded Things We Lost In The Fire off Audiogalaxy then 2003 got together with my wife who was also a big Low fan and our first proper date was a Low gig in London. We've seen them a few times since then but tbh we kinda lost interest with C'mon. I only v recently listened to the albums after that. Ones and Sixes is really good so I told my wife we need to listen to the new one because everyone is raving about it.

Great post pgwp, thanks.

The Kranky era was when I first discovered them (I think I was led to them by Mogwai/Stuart Braithwaite championing them very heavily in interviews) and Things We Lost In The Fire is probably my long running personal favourite. I remember getting Alan to sign my CD of it after a gig a good few years ago and he was so gracious and lovely about my typically dorky exaltations.

I am a terminal dilettante and so only have a spotty knowledge of their catalogue. I do find a little Low goes a long way but, fwiw, Secret Name is 'the one' for me. I find it devastating. I've seen them live once - at Green Man on a humid, overcast afternoon with a massive storm brewing over the black hills, a storm that never quite arrived. They were mesmerising.

This album kills.

kind of annoyed that the P-fork review leans hard on the "timely" angle

^ kind of inevitable given the band's own rhetoric around the album?

I've been slowly seduced by the singles leading up to this and love the fragmented nature of it. Is there something vaguely unsettling about the 'feed this into the Burton studio and seeing what comes out' narrative (as spun in the P4K review, but they're hardly going to be the only ones)?

Always Trying to Work it Out is fantastic.

wasn't aware of the rhetoric, is there a relevant interview kicking around?

That recent Wire interview is pretty explicit in that regard (anti-Trump despair) - albeit, from memory, I don't know that the link is quite as direct as implied in the P4K review.

The Guardian review (which is a rave 5*****, "album of the year" one) heavily features the timeliness/state of the world angle as well.

At any rate, I'm pleased that it's being so well-received.

When I saw them live in Leeds over the summer Alan made clear his frustrations with the current political situation in the US.

Drums & Guns cycle was similarly “political,” insofar as Low gets political. Both albums do a good job of capturing a certain mental instability as a result of the awfulness perpetrated in the name of the US, without being strident or framed as protest songs.

good album, "tempest" and "always trying to work it out" are amazing; honestly though a lot of the "crazy production" sounds like kid a/amnesiac

if every track were "like spinning plates" sure

Well, anyway, got my ticket their show here in March, that'll do.

a propos of nothing, the only explicit reference to Low in popular music that I know of is still from the song Minneapolis by that dog.

How about getting covered multiple times by Robert Plant!

Not to get all Low-nerdy, but when did Alan switch to tuning (iirc) almost exclusively to open G? I could have sworn that was a thing, and that it affected the direction of his songs.

Listening to Ones and Sixes right now and yeah, don't know why I didn't listen to this one more the first time around!

Hmm, maybe he's been using open g all along? If that's true that's super cool.

I believe so

This felt timely to me more in the sense that the sonic approach felt like a brilliantly contemporary advancement on their characteristic themes and methods. Low have a long-standing interest in noise and quietness (not silence, quietness; more ambiguous, no neat gesture towards the abstract). Pgwp’s breakdown upthread describes those Kranky albums exactly (muffled edges, vocals veering off-harmony, that nagging feeling....). When they turned up the volume on Drums and Guns it had the same effect, still that same sense of straining to hear, voices on the edge of hearing. This album feels like a push forward and and brilliant resolution of that paradox. The way voices are obliterated by absent noises and drums; noise and silence are resolved into one thing. That first harmony you hear on Quorum, where the empty space of that characteristic snare instead gouges hollows out of their voice. Like that air-raid sheet of guitar that blares out over the vocals on Breaker it sets a similar precedent for how noise is now a strategy for effecting that same shellshocked ("giant Xs on yr eyes") shattered sense of their voices as human, vulnerable, receding, only this time the noise is strangely a kind of silence. They sound like they're gasping for air.

this album has REALLY resonated with me.

Their songwriting feels drone-based and minimal and sort of electronic or uncanny even when they're playing acoustic. Which I think is why my partner doesn't connect with them, when I was like "hey, here's an indie song-based band that I like!" and she's like "but they're not, really". And also why this new one doesn't feel like a radical re-invention to me, just another version of Low.

yeah, i think that's what people are generally saying here

Just listened today. This album is absolute bonkers

It does sound like Fennesz to me... I assume most of the drones are actually guitars being sent to digital hell so it’s not a bad comparison.

a lot of Oval too.

also Ekkehard Ehlers, I guess (whatever happened to him?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8RRy8AIuGk

OwL remix Low from 1998 should get a mention too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8IHnd_KF9o

Pretty sure Sparhawk plays open G. Or at least learning reading chord progressions of their songs introduced me to it.

Their covers of "I Started A Joke" and "Lord Can You Hear Me" both feel like guilty pleasures but I've worn them both out

I'll just keep posting this because I have the feeling lots of people loving 'Double Negative' won't have heard a fairly obscure (UK-only?) EP from 2000. But it's definitely the work that firmly cemented my love of Low back at the time, and made me hope for (but not be surprised by) an album like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRoIbBbJx4U

Definitely not UK only. When it came out I just thought of that EP as a novelty, since Low collaborating with Spring Heel Jack was, at least on paper, as random as them touring with Soul Coughing, even if the SHJ collar worked out.

I would've thought it a novelty, too, based on Spring Heel Jack's work to that point. But the marriage works so perfectly, and it suggested more fully than anything else to that point that Alan and Mimi's melodic and lyrical sensibilities could be served wonderfully by music that wasn't just guitar/bass/tiny drum kit (much as I loved that formula for them, too).

Y'all made me listen to Low for the first time since, I think, Things We Lost in the Fire. This seems way more promising than I would have guessed!

Best Low collab of all time is this one:

https://youtu.be/YlU8hY_xOYs

Feat transient waves and piano magic. ImI

^^yeah that's a beaut

Anyone who hasn’t heard Low in a long time should check out the pair of Low covers Robert Plant included on his Band of Joy album, they’re extremely good.

listened to Drums and Guns and I like it a lot, I love the sound palette of drones & shambolic drum loops layered over each other, except for when the vocals are hard-panned which is something I really dislike. all the other panning is very cool but having vocals or other leads hard-panned just makes it feel very unbalanced listening on headphones

yeah, to this day i have never had the opportunity to listen to drums and guns through speakers at a loud volume, as i'm sure was intended. listening to it on headphones is uncomfortable because of the panning. it sounds good at a moderate volume but i'd love to just crank it the way you can with headphones.

The more I listen to it the more I think that maybe I never listened to "Ones and Sixes?" Because I've been listening to it a lot the last few days, more than the new one (for now), and I love everything about it.

When did low become a £30 concert ticket band? I'm sure the last time they were here it was around half that.

Demand? My ticket over here was only $20, plus $7 for service charges.

of course, demand-pull inflation but I'm not entirely sure that justifies the sharp hike. I want them to be paid well, of course (musicians get little enough recompense these days) and I can afford it but i do balk at it a little. it's entirely possible that they are doing something that makes this a particularly expensive thing to get on the road but i was surprised at the cost.

let's just blame brexit and go see Low.

That's a great LCD Soundsystem remix.

:)

i am really loving Double Negative, it's evoking very strongly imagery for me of tides drifting in and out on a remote beach, with the occasional wave crashing

feels more like a drone album that happens to contain fragments of songs in it rather than the other way around - with the way the tracks flow into each other it really feels like one continuous piece

just listened to it. bits were nice but it didn't leave much impression. might give it another go, maybe it's like a magic eye painting

got philly tix last night. STOKED

it's entirely possible that they are doing something that makes this a particularly expensive thing to get on the road but i was surprised at the cost.

Pretty sure it's a standard Low trio tour? But I'm looking forward to hearing these songs in that format.

Just bought Double Negative but have decided to replay the album/EP catalogue in its entirety, in chronological order, before listening to it.

Currently on Long Division, which is new to me.

One of my happiest memories in my brief music career was getting to share a bill with Low (and Soul Coughing, lol) at the Black Cat in DC way back in the mid 90s. Had never heard of them at that point, and was utterly blown away by their performance. Felt bad that they had to go on and perform in front of a loud and rowdy audience after my own goofy rock band antics.

my friend played the guitar on that low/piano magic collab. still in my top five low tracks ever.

Giving a listen on this Sunday morning. The praise is accurate.

(Referring to Double Negative, but akm's comment is also correct.)

One of the very few remaining bands whose albums I will buy on release day, every single time. I’ve still only seen them live once, amazingly.

I've seen them a shamefully few times all told. The upcoming March show will be my fifth, if you count the radio session they played on my show back in 1994.

their live show is not to be missed and i try to see them live any time they come to town. their finest, most transcendent artistic achievement imo is silver rider as performed live

I'd almost wonder how a show for this album will work. I just said elsewhere that I would be fine with the March show simply being them performing the album straight through, no encore and no other songs.

They played a little over half the album at their show in Nashville last spring. They did two 35 minute or so sets sets - one new material and one old.

I've seen them a bunch, in multiple contexts. Small club, big club, unconventional venues, as an opening act, headliner, on a mismatched bill, perfectly pair bill, Christmas show ... always great. I think the next show here is in a chapel.

my favorite show i've seen of theirs is when they did a 28 minute version 'do you know how to waltz' in front of 10,000 89.3-ass NPR The Current craft beer people. I immediately ran down to the front of stage in glee once I realized what was going on. people were infuriated

They *opened* their show the time I saw them in Portland, OR in 2007 or so ('Drums & Guns' tour) with a 20+ minute, wicked loud take on 'Do You Know How to Waltz,' and honestly played the whole show kind of angry. While I hope some day to see a lots-of-silence show in a church-type setting--it was kind of amazing to see them play that way.

i saw them once, at the metro sometime in the mid-2000s, and the crowd talked the entire time and i wanted to scream

Does anyone have information about the bonus track on the Japan edition - https://www.discogs.com/Low-Double-Negative/release/12528289 ?

I'm kinda hoping it's some epically lengthy track, given it's on a second CD.

my favorite show i've seen of theirs is when they did a 28 minute version 'do you know how to waltz' in front of 10,000 89.3-ass NPR The Current craft beer people. I immediately ran down to the front of stage in glee once I realized what was going on. people were infuriated

I love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI5-MuV5NSo

oh hell yeah

i've never seen low live but i've always wanted to see the extended "waltz"

the crowd talked the entire time and i wanted to scream

The Low live experience in a nutshell.

holy shit this is heavy

That rules so much

Also anyone who hasn't heard Alan's solo guitar album or the third RGC album...get on that

lmao this is the greatest performance i've ever seen

Last time I saw them was in a small barn, very intimate. Alan seemed a little uncomfortable with that actually, which I thought was weird since they must have done a million small shows like that.

I love that there is only one recording of them doing "Waltz" with GY!BE, and the quality is horrible. (You can find it on YT.)

all the RGC albums are really good, even the overly compressed poorly produced second one (or third one, depending on whether you count the self-released first thing). Alan's brought a fair amount of that energy into live Low sets in recent years. Maybe because they share a bass player now.

Does anyone have information about the bonus track on the Japan edition

I for one am stoked for this Barenaked Ladies cover

Haven't heard any new stuff in years, i guess i'll redress that. I bet i coulda won Brooklyn tix on the radio in the wee hours the other night.

even the overly compressed poorly produced second one

"hide it away" is one of my favorite songs he's ever written. the production on that record is inexplicable but i kinda love it

Agreed on both the greatness of “Hide It Away” and the poorness of the production.

I mentioned on some other Low thread that Sparhawk and the bass player also form half of a Velvet Underground tribute band. No-one on that thread was interested at the time, although personally I thought it was quite interesting, so I'm trying my luck again here.

it's true too: https://www.facebook.com/VelvetsBand/

Holy fuck that version of "Cast".

I meant Waltz! My kids came in and found me blubbering.

The seemingly official "unofficial" film for "Disarray" is a curious thing.

without really trying to or thinking about it too hard, i've seen Low more than any other band, at least a dozen times, and seen alan's side projects half as many times.

years ago i saw them at an all-night event at orchestra hall in minneapolis. it must have been around the Trust release. if i recall, their profile outside of local scenester and muso scenes was for the christmas EP! and, again if i remember right, this was when bars here closed at 1am, and they were on later in the wee hours, so it was kind of a novelty to be out in public that late. they looked pretty tiny, just the 3 of them on a big concert stage, but by the end of the show they seemed immense, totally commanding the whole hall. i do remember they played "lust," one of my faves, and it was enormous.

i think that's a common theme with a number of the shows of theirs i've seen: they don't really begin with the crowd on their wavelength but by the end of it, totally reverent, can hear a pin drop, the whole bit

just this past summer i saw them at the eaux claires festival (which was kind of a bust honestly). they played the post-headliner slot, after midnight, on a tiny stage in a clearing in the woods. the first song was intro'd by the Iron Boys, a native men's singing group from wisconsin; kicking myself i can't remember which song. it was incredible. could have been the circumstances but i'd never seen them play as well or as intensely, and i got to hear some more straightfoward, guitar-y versions of the Double Negative material. it was all really stunning. i walked away thinking, ok, this is the greatest band on earth and i'm a superfan

you know what is a really good album? trust

Still my fave probably, great example of an album that feels like a best-of comp

I love all of Low’s albums and have my personal favorites (which posted here a few days ago). There are certain albums that aren’t my favorite but I totally get why others would call it theirs (usually it’s Drums & Guns or Secret Name). But honestly I’ve never really been able to fathom anyone calling Trust their favorite. For me it’s the album that, on paper, sounds like the best Low album—lots of long moody tracks! They stretch out more than other albums!—but in practice is a bit of a chore.

Trust is the album that made me go from liking them to loving them. Easily my favorite.

Also one of the first times I was incensed by a pitchfork review

I’ve never really been able to fathom anyone calling Trust their favorite

Ha! Trust is my favorite too (generally I prefer the Kranky albums). Great cover of "Fearless" on the Canada EP.

I was about to belabour the Trust thing but honestly I’m listening to Double Negative again right now and there is just no room in my brain to talk about anything other than than this monster of a record.

Been listening to the 19 hours (!) of Low I've bought over the decades on random the last couple days. It's amazing how even the things I didn't think I rated as highly at the time really work for me now. And it reinforces that for me 'Double Negative' isn't a surprise at all, but a record I knew they'd make one day.

Glad to see the 'Trust' love here. I remember it not being as well received at the time by other folks(at least compared to 'Things We Lost,' which I love, but which is overshadowed by 'Bombscare' and 'In the Fishtank' and 'Secret Name' and all the other work immediately before and after). Whereas for me it was what cemented them as a really all-time group.

Anyone else hearing echos of Portishead's Third? Machine Gun specifically.

yes, it was invoked a couple of times when it first leaked!

Trust is great, who doesn't like Trust? Maybe around this point people conditioned by typical band trajectories started to think it was about time to take Low down a notch, because come on, they can't all be great, can they? (Six more albums arrive.) OK, so maybe they can.

The Invisible Way is the only Low release I find dull - I choose to blame Tweedy. ("Holy Ghost" is lovely, though.)

I think it's fair to blame Tweedy (as much as I'm sure he meant well) considering it was followed by two of their absolute best.

it sounds fine, I don't mean to knock him in that way, but in the same way that some bands are best suited by a hands-off approach, Low seem to do their best work with producers who are willing to act as active collaborators. (How the Albini albums worked out so well, I have no idea, beyond the fact that the songs were all killers.)

Maybe the Albini albums work so well because he allowed them to strip themselves right back to a raw state. Great songs coming through unadorned, connecting directly and without the washy gauze of the Kramer era.

just another casual (at best) Low fan here weighing in to say this new album sounds amazing

"tonight" is my favorite low song

has there been a low poll, i'd vote in a low poll

There's one coming up apparently!

Trust is a fantastic headphones listen... I recall listening to it, years ago, sitting up late at night drinking beer and marveling at its subtle details.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/21/low-we-want-to-punch-new-holes-in-the-possibilities-of-music

Big Fennesz - Venice vibes off this now. Absolutely great.

poor sucker is so good

I'm so in love with this album, and so happy to see Low--the one "indie rock" band I've continued to enjoy since 1996--do something this great 25 years into their journey. It's a soundspace and an emotional territory I find deeply compelling, and the only way I could respond was with a mix that tries to get to the same spaces. It can't really sound like Low--they're too unique. But I hope it causes some of the same feelings for others as this album gives me.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/musicophilia_00_various_cancels-out-a-tribute-to-double-negative_1958-2018_cover.jpg

Various – ‘Cancels Out‘
(A Tribute to Low’s ‘Double Negative’) | (1958-2018)

01 [00:00]
Gottfried Michael Koenig – “Function Blau” (1970)
David Bowie – “Neukoln” (1977)
Codeine – “Pea” (1990)

02 [05:10]
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man – “Mysteries” (2003)
Bernard Parmegiani – “Matieres Induites” (1975)
Alan Sparhawk – “1:45” (2006)

03 [09:55]
Dead Can Dance – “The Fatal Impact” (1984)
Daniel Menche – “Concussions (CD1 Track 2)” (2006)
Max Richter – “Laika’s Journey” (2002)

04 [14:45]
Monton – “Hz Waltz'” (1982)
Flaming Lips – “Turning Violent” (2013)
Tod Dockstader – “Wah” (2005)

05 [19:30]
Pierre Henry – “Negation” (1988)
Radian – “Kinetakt” (2009)

06 [24:10]
Tia Blake – “Yellow Hair” (1976)
David Toop & Max Eastley – “Hydrophone” (1975)

07 [28:20]
Charles Hayward – “Thames Water Authority” (1989)
Arthur Russell – “Answers Me” (1986)

08 [33:40]
Balmorhea – “On the Weight Of Night” (2010)
Heldon – “Bolero” (1979)

09 [38:05]
Hilary Woods – “Kith” (2018)
Neu – “Elanoizan” (1986)

10 [43:30]
Tanakh – “Tells” (2002)
Shellyan Orphan – “Host” (2008)
Iannis Xenakis – “Concret PH” (1958)

11 [50:20]
Susumu Yokota – “Light Of the Sun” (2003)
Bark Psychosis – “Dr. Innocuous Ketamoid” (2004)

12 [53:45]
Zola Jesus – “Doma” (2017)
Earth – “Mirage” (2005)
Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Panaiotis – “Lear” (1989)

[Total Time: 60:00]

Give it a listen here: https://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2018/09/24/low-tribute/