Low: Classic or classic?

The show was excellent as has always been the case when I have seen them. The three concerts (touring "Things We Lost in the Fire", "C'mon" and "The Invisible Way") I had attended before had all been in quite small, almost cosy places, this time it was a bigger venue. So the atmosphere was different, more like in a usual rock concert, less spiritual and quiet than the other times. People did not hold their breath. Everyone was not spell bound and mute like when the pastor gives the sermon in a church like it had been the other times. Still the audience was silent when they played but expressive - applause, whistling and shouts - in between songs. My favourite ones were "The Innocents" and the phantastic "Fly" from the new album. Just to listen to Mimi intonating that one syllable is incredibly uplifting. There was a boring instrumental in the middle of the set (I don't know the name) where they played the same chord for at least ten minutes. It was kind of noisy but not very loud, so it was ok. In general I liked Alan's guitar work with quite some distortion which reminded me a lot of Neil Young especially on the "Dead Man" soundtrack. Somehow Low tmake me think of My Bloody Valentine, especially the way they marry noisy parts - where they are fortunately by far not as loud as MBV - and simple, otherworldly beautiful melodies and vocal harmonies. They could not escape the encore, they finished off the concert with "Murderer". According to the setlist 9 out of 20 songs were from "Double Negative", somehow I would have guessed only three or four would have been new. "Double Negative" for me is already a classic. With Low this kind of thing happens to me every time they tour a new album. Btw they did some electronic trickery with some new songs but no voice treatments which was fine with me. As always in Low concerst I was amazed that people hardly moved, ok they do not really make dance music but there are still beats. Something else I was thinking during the show is the fact that I really have a soft spot for bands which are trios. Others being Yo La Tengo, Dinosaur Jr., Galaxie 500, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Meat Puppets, Nada Surf, Nirvana, The Police (at the time), Wipers, ZZ Top, 16 Horsepower etc.

I can see why they might hate C'Mon given where they were in their lives at the time, but wow that album is top three for me.

yeah at the time i was disappointed with it as a follow-up to D&G but now i consider it one of their best

Of the albums I know I consider C'mon the second best after the new one. I like Drums and Guns fine but besides Breaker and Take Your Time I do not find any really outstanding songs on it.

Dust on the Window is my fave on D&G, I love Murderer too but I slightly prefer the EP version.

“Murderer” is one of my favourite Low songs, if not one of my favourite songs full stop, but I’ve never really taken to ‘Drums and Guns’ as a whole.

Knowing they're not atheists gives their sinister or doubting songs about religion and God (see also "Little Argument With Myself") an extra kick for sure

Both ep songs that are on 'proper' records are superior on the ep imo.

I think I know why Murderer is their standard encore these days.

The Book of Mormon: "It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief."

In 2003 when they wrote the song they were thinking about another POTUS, I suppose.

Murderer is absolutely one of Low's best songs IMO. The single version they put out before Drums and Guns is good too.

I think it is a nice song but firstly I don't think it is transcendental like for example "In the Drugs", "Monkey" or "Fly" and secondly its half-life is quite short. The diminishing returns by repeated listening are immense.

The Murderer EP is one of their best releases def. Didn't mind paying the relatively high price to own that

C'mon is probably my least favourite Low album tho?!? After The Great Destroyer and Drums and Guns it just seemed like by-the-numbers. I've never gone back to it to give it another chance tho.

murderer is absolutely transcendental in my experience—hearing this song and mark hollis yelling "take my freedom" are the two times i've ever questioned my atheism

re: c'mon Especially Me is one of my favorite mimi songs ever. also Nothing But Heart is just incredible

Nothing But Heart unaccountably makes me think of The Lost Boys. Sparhawk's descending guitar line recalls Cry Little Sister, I think.

Especially Me is amazing. I like C'Mon far more than I like Invisible Wilco

Personally I rate C'mon very high, but I can understand if it's not someone's favorite. I can't see how it could be ranked lower than Invisible Way. Which I don't mean as a major dis to IW, only that if your complaint is that C'mon is "by the numbers," then IW is more by the numbers.

Breaker and Nothing But Heart are probably my favorite Low songs (and favorite use of Nels Cline on the latter).

Sparhawk's descending guitar line recalls Cry Little Sister, I think.

Oh god, you're right, I think that's been nagging at me for years

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

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 14 September 2018 02:41 (one month ago) Permalink

^^^^ the guitar on this album is amazing

spellbinding in manchester cathedral the other night. the new songs sounded almost just like on record, sans distortion. steve doesn't get enough love, either. his playing on the last two records has been rock solid. the whole fifteen minutes of 'do you know how to waltz', medley'd into 'lazy'...!

seeing them soon in TO, v much looking forward to it. only seen them once before, on the TGD tour I believe?

Just occurred to me that the cover of Double Negative looks a lot like the youtube dead link placeholder.

Heads up...

Watch Low perform their 'Double Negative' tour live from the historic and majestic Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul, Minn. on November 2, 2018. The show is expected to begin around 9:00 p.m. CDT.

https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2018/10/19/watch-low-live-in-concert-at-the-fitzgerald-theater-double-negative

Going to be there in person, very excited!

I hope some folks here watched. Terrific show!

several audio issues :(

This was far-and-away my favourite Low album on first listen and now it might be one of my favourite albums, period

Sounded great last night in Philly, even if I had to endure the odor of someone’s vomit through the entire show. I think they may have been at an all Frito-Lay buffet earlier in the evening?

Someone in the audience, umprompted, announced the Minnesota election results to them at the Toronto gig

They were fantastic in Boston a couple nights ago. They've developed an effect that seems to remove all initial attack and sustains/loops notes until new ones are played, and simultaneously give a jittery, digital-decomposition sound with some octave/chorus sounds, which they use on most of the 'Double Negative' tracks (and retroactively apply to some of the earlier songs) and I found it entrancing and really effective. In particular, parts from the record I would've assumed were guitar if not some non-string instrument turned out actually to be Steven's bass, played very high on the frets. Really beautiful. Overall I'd say it was the most impassioned I've ever seen them (saw them play aggressively and angrily on the 'Drums & Guns' tour, which was interesting, but lacked the tension and restraint and impact of how they're playing now). They seem to know their new work is among their best, almost seem proud of it--deservedly so.

otm

fgti if you have more thoughts about the album I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd all love to hear 'em

that vomiting was right by the chair i was standing on. when i saw them open for slowdive at union transfer a few years back, the lead singer of nothing puked in a garbage can right by me, too. i have that effect on people i guess

i'm nothing but heart

Perfect pairing of band and venue tonight, just utterly gorgeous on both counts. As Alan said, it was so pretty he didn't want to mess it up by saying anything. Looks like the setlists have been pretty similar this tour. They have a million songs but don't seem like the sort of group that can just pull something out.

Classic.

IDK how the other shows turned out, but hearing people flip out at the opening notes of "Do You Know..." was hilarious to me. Like, here comes the hit!

Also, a couple of the recent songs were almost funky/groovy live thanks to Steven

(sold out) crowd here was dead silent during each song.

Occurred to me that as moody as the band is I really have no idea what any of their songs are about.

simply, politics/existential anxiety/faith/hope. the material on double negative mostly concerns current political climate - theyve expressed that frustration fairly directly across other records (drums and guns). sure some of its cryptic. issues with the church of LDS too ('quorum'). they occasionally divulge in interviews - 'no comprende' was about alans/mimi's domesticity and endurance in their relationship. as for older stuff, 'starfire' is about their friend who had a pirate radio station... dunno!

Lots of Secret Name is about the LDS I believe.

Yeah Sparhawk's Mormonism coupled with his, um, quite un-Mormon lifestyle has always fascinated me

I guess I can see how “No Comprende” could be about their relationship but wow what a dark framing for it.

xxp oh, I have to listen again to really think about it, but the way that the songs are at the service of larger production theses is a big one, they found ways to subvert the blunt appeal of Mimi+Alan=pretty bedrock of their vocal approach while still keeping it as the bedrock. It's really a marvellous trick when a band/artist keeps the same thing that makes their music appealing but finds ways to obscure and withhold it, and make that appealing feature essentially more valuable as a result

I need to actually listen to the lyrics I guess, never a high point with this band in the past ime but I hope they're good

lol there is only one Low lyric (just a single line) that I really can't stand, and it happens to be in my favorite song -- "man in the box wants to burn my soul"

In Metal is about having a baby

xp some of the lyrics on the first LP are a little cringy - 'rope', 'fear'... but i return to it again and again many nights just for the atmosphere. i must have played 'down' a hundred times this year.

wonderful live set from the era here: https://archive.org/details/low1994-03-29.flac

"you can't trust violence" is one of the great economical phrases of rock tbh

Was nice to hear Lazy last night sort of float out of the noise of Waltz.

Speaking of which, "Lazy" sounds remarkably like Labradford, distantly presaging their switch to Kranky.

xpost "Words" - love that song as well ... curious why you find that "man in the box" line so bothersome?