Low: Classic or classic?

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/

inspired! thanks!

honestly played the whole show kind of angry
saw one of those at SXSW...it was amazing.

This just might be my favorite album ever of Low's. It's everything I loved about 'Drums & Guns' (my previous favorite) but just taken deeper into the wilderness. . .

I'm no expert on Low's catalog, but does anyone else think this one zips by a lot faster than their other albums? Maybe because it flows like one continuous piece?

I'm in for a Low poll

This album is gonna mess with my head in a tracks poll cause I think of it as one long song still

Soundslike, thanks for that! Can I just say how much I've been enjoying your mixtapes since discovering your blog? <3 Can't wait to listen to this one.

Some cool photos here: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/low-celebrated-double-negative-with-3-national-sawdust-shows-pics-setlists/#photogallery-1=1

this new LP is fucking seminal. it's so immediate, direct, arresting. seeing them in manchester cathedral next week -- really excited to hear how these songs will work live. also if they play anything from the first three LPs i'll probably cry. hahaha

I saw them in Leeds over the summer. They played six songs from the album in a more band-style, worked well. No idea if they’ve changed the arrangements since.

Haven't been able to stop listening to 'Double Negative' and thinking about what Low has meant to me for 22 years. I'm so happy for them that it's been so well received, as it certainly wasn't the most "sure thing" move they could've made at this point. The only thing I quibble with is the notion I perceive in a lot of (positive) response to the album that it's somehow a major shirt, stylistically and emotionally; whereas to me it seems like nothing so much as a culmination of exactly the experimentation and emotional complexity that has been present in Low's music since the very beginning.

With all that in mind, I ended up putting together two mixes that explore the fundamental duality/dichotomy of Low, between their beauty and their unease, their hopefulness and their uncertainty. They are for me a band of light and dark, bleeding into one another, a battle between both but also a balance. So the "rules" were: (1) track maximum from any LP/EP/single, and sequenced in chronological order but chosen for coherence and flow as a mix. So while they have a lot of my personal favorite tracks, they're neither a "best of" nor a "personal favorites" in the traditional sense.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/low_a-light-in-darkness_1994-2018_cover.jpg?w=1024

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/low_a-light-in-darkness_1994-2018_tracklist.jpg?w=1024p

^this. Great idea and interpretation. I was going to say yes to including Drag and Down By The River and Belarus and... then I realized I would be saying yes to pretty much all the songs you picked.

xpost: very interested & would like to hear the mixes! Are you going to put them on Musicophilia?

It was surprisingly quick to come together--probably because the parameters I set up were more specific than "my favorite Low tracks". Something structureless like that would be impossible because there are at least four or five tracks from everything up through 2007 or so (and the newest album) that would qualify as a "favorite".

I don't think I'll put it up on the blog, because as a single-artist thing it feels a bit unethical. But if folks swear they own tons of Low already, or promise to go buy the new albums, I'll share it with anyone interested if they message me. Or who knows, maybe all these tracks are on Spotify and could "playlist" it? I did some segues/edits on my personal version, but nothing too intense.