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.

https://i.imgur.com/YYMqkhC.jpeg

(via ned, natch)

<3

Seems this and the other two Low LPs originally released on Vernon Yard are stuck in rights hell. Universal apparently own the rights but are sitting on them and not doing anything with them. There was a vinyl reissue of this in 2011 of murky legality which now goes for silly money on discogs.

alan said earlier this year that they're getting the rights back in a few years and they're planning to reissue those albums then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4sUq-ftzgc

this is pretty wonderful

Touring Australia!

Great tune - pretty clear lineage from double negative era low

yeah it's pretty clear what the request from reznor & ross was

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)

― StanM, Tuesday, June 16, 2009 3:07 PM (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

making a priority to see if this is still available when I get home to better internet because that set list is absolutely killer.

I heard it ages ago. Really worth the effort to find a copy

I still have this (and the free EP with 4 mixes tracks from this show they released), if you cannot find it

mixeD tracks

https://archive.org/details/low2009-01-22.eindhoven.mp3f/low2009-01-22.eindhoven.t02.mp3 it's here

i just listened to a few tracks but this is a really special set wow, the arrangements are lovely

neither classic nor a dud: so so

that "Take Your Time" version is stunning

xpost Any acts you like (other than the Fall?)

4 of the tracks from this show were released as the Live at Eindhoven free EP and there's a couple more that were mixed but not released - see the link in the second comment here:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2588183-Low-Live-At-Eindhoven

Thanks for that archive, if I've heard it before it's been awhile. 'Belarus' is crazy, eat your heart out Roomful of Teeth.

First track from the album with Trampled By Turtles https://alansparhawk.bandcamp.com/album/with-trampled-by-turtles

it's very, um, HEARTY

but i like it!

doesn't sound like Low, but there's a worthy complexity to the arrangement, and if i think of it in an americana paradigm it's interesting and very worthy!

I would never have thought that I'd be more into a record with TBT than a solo electronic record from Alan, but here we are

this sounds like what i expected it would, which is decent enough

would have been really cool if he'd put glitchy beats all over it though

I don't hate this, but pretty much what I imagined.

there's obviously something to this not having percussion

I love this new song, very Harvest. Touching lyrics. Lush harmonies on words like "research" and "refrain," but without intellectualizing things. Down in the mud rather.

Well flip my toboggan, I’m feelin’ this!

Sounds great, very percussive track despite absence of drums.

hmm, he's coming to town next month, is he gonna be playing stuff like this or from White Roses....

he's playing songs from both

https://archive.org/details/low2014-06-14.aud.flac16

turns out "princess road surgery" was performed by low back in 2014 (it's "new song1")

I saw Sparhawk in Milwaukee last week, first few songs were in the style of the solo record, I was up for it but secretly hoping that wouldn't be the whole set (also distracted by what the drummer was doing, since he was just triggering some quiet additional samples over the backing track beat). Then he pulled out the guitar and it was a real moment, beautiful set after that. Some of the new tunes rearranged for guitar/bass/drums, some new tunes presumably from the TBT record. Great to see & hear him, and the vocal harmonies from Cyrus and the drummer (didn't catch his name but he was great) were on point.

Pretty much like what the show in January was like here, then. I very much liked his approach with the initial set, honestly, it's such a distinct thing.

When I saw him last year or whenever it was, it was 1/3rd funk/souljazz stuff, one third electronic dancey indulgence, one third what you might expect. Imo, the best was, go figure, what you might expect. I'm glad he's exploring, but probably wouldn't pay to see that other stuff again.

They didn't go into the funk bag except for a Roy Ayers tribute (Liquid Love), nice but abbreviated for time (they were opening for Mount Eerie, wish it had been the opposite).

I just wanted to share this memory of Alan, since it comes to mind: A friend and I went to see Low play at the Olympia in Dublin some time in the early to mid 2000s. It was a sparsely attended show for some reason, fully seated; the Kings of Convenience played support and someone was throwing a beachball around the floor seats. Anyway, on the way out after the show, we happened upon Alan in that weird lobby between the circle and the foyer, and my friend took the opportunity to approach him and ask a few questions (I stood aside and left them to it, feeling a bit awkward and starstruck). A few minutes later, someone else appeared out of nowhere and kind of barged right up to Alan, ignoring the present conversation. My friend moved away, thinking the moment had passed, but I will always remember seeing Alan turn back, like a regular human being would when they’ve been rudely interrupted, and looking a little upset that the moment ended like that. I feel sure others who know him better will concur that’s the kind of person he is.

I know White Roses, My God didn't make much impact here, and I don't listen to it often myself, but every time I do play it, I like it more. It's a brighter record than the context of its making led me to expect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJovwZ8PJUs

this one's real good

Hollis on the chorus? Stopped me cold

Stunner for sure

oh wow

yes it's hollis singing the chorus

it was also co-written by mimi

Wow. I was just badmouthing his solo stuff yesterday, and never really had any time for Trampled by Turtles, but this is good stuff.

Great song. Hollis coming in like a voice from the beyond.

And, on a different note, lol at Alan getting the most out of his long hair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HrouzZCFWg

i want him to make an album that sounds like both versions of this at once

album's very good

Yeah this is terrific. Great songs.

I like it but don’t love it