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.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
Going #fullBrad here but aoty. This is amazing.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
I've listened to these 4-5 times and I'm just mad we have to wait three months for the rest
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 18:43 (five years ago) link
For real.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 18:47 (five years ago) link
Didn't see this coming at all. Awesome music.
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 19:07 (five years ago) link
There's video too, suitably glitchy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvEozu4Obfs
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 19:12 (five years ago) link
Sub Pop is offering a pretty good deal for a bundle of their last 5 LPs.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 19:12 (five years ago) link
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.
― meaulnes, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:05 (five years ago) link
wowowowowowow
excellent video too
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 22:20 (five years ago) link
when did they turn into Andy Stott?
― boxedjoy, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 22:30 (five years ago) link
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
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 22:31 (five years ago) link
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.
― brain (krakow), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 23:19 (five years ago) link
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.
― Soundslike, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 00:07 (five years ago) link
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.
― Soundslike, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 00:08 (five years ago) link
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
― Soundslike, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 00:13 (five years ago) link
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.
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 20:10 (five years ago) link
hasitleaked.com says it has - two and a half months early!?
― StanM, Saturday, 30 June 2018 05:21 (five years ago) link
that's a bummer
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 June 2018 05:23 (five years ago) link
wtf? I remember Invisible Way leaked before it even had a cover or title.
― Simon H., Saturday, 30 June 2018 11:30 (five years ago) link
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?
― meaulnes, Saturday, 30 June 2018 11:41 (five years ago) link
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
― Simon H., Saturday, 30 June 2018 11:46 (five years ago) link
I hope Prins Thomas or Koze or somebody gets their hands on "Disarray"
― Simon H., Saturday, 30 June 2018 12:30 (five years ago) link
yeah well looking forward to manchester cathedral show.
― meaulnes, Saturday, 30 June 2018 12:48 (five years ago) link
really love how "tempest" sounds like my speakers are being fed through a spiralizer
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 June 2018 13:38 (five years ago) link
this is absolutely some portishead third shit
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 June 2018 13:42 (five years ago) link
That's an excellent comparison I should definitely have thought of
― Simon H., Saturday, 30 June 2018 13:46 (five years ago) link
karl brought it up upthread, h/t karl
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 June 2018 13:49 (five years ago) link
*gets to "the son, the sun"* these songs are all black holes vibrating at different frequencies
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 June 2018 13:50 (five years ago) link
Whoa portishead third??? Curious
― Y'all (Ross), Saturday, 30 June 2018 13:51 (five years ago) link
it'd be a shame if "rome (always in the dark)" never gets used in a movie trailer
― lowercase (eric), Sunday, 1 July 2018 16:02 (five years ago) link
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
― lowercase (eric), Sunday, 1 July 2018 16:03 (five years ago) link
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*
― Simon H., Sunday, 1 July 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
i am so excited to hear the rest! glad to hear that the other songs are just as engaging
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 1 July 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
trying to decide whether this is samey and overproduced or genius
― meaulnes, Wednesday, 4 July 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link
low is at their best writing pop songs imo
― rip van wanko, Wednesday, 4 July 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
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
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 July 2018 22:51 (five years ago) link
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.
― meaulnes, Wednesday, 4 July 2018 22:54 (five years ago) link
obv I find that personally heretical but I get it. this Low shit, it ain't for everybody. it's a motherfuckin vibe
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 July 2018 23:24 (five years ago) link
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, 5 July 2018 09:31 (five years ago) link
also the master is disgustingly loud, what's up with that? guess it's bathed in distortion anyway.
― meaulnes, Thursday, 5 July 2018 10:34 (five years ago) link
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.
― meaulnes, Thursday, 5 July 2018 10:40 (five years ago) link
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.
― matt h, Thursday, 5 July 2018 11:26 (five years ago) link
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.
― akm, Saturday, 7 July 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
p meticulous marking then!
― lowercase (eric), Saturday, 7 July 2018 16:25 (five years ago) link
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.
― meaulnes, Monday, 9 July 2018 20:23 (five years ago) link
listening to their first couple of LPs today. man, i wish kramer was still producing records.
― meaulnes, Monday, 9 July 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link
OK im decided. the use of compression on this LP in accordance with its dynamic range is fucking phenomenal.
― meaulnes, Monday, 9 July 2018 21:18 (five years ago) link
I noticed that too - the quiet parts are *actually* quiet and not just in comparison to the walls of noise
― Simon H., Monday, 9 July 2018 21:42 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7088HRmhNaE
wasted good silverware on ya.
― meaulnes, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 12:14 (five years ago) link
"Disarray" is now officially available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXaLOVeWOdU
Awesome.
― Jeff W, Sunday, 19 August 2018 19:44 (five years ago) link