Do You Know How to POLLtz?: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low

https://i.imgur.com/jljDAp0.jpg

1. Songs: Rank your top 30 songs by Low. Collaborations and covers are eligible. If you want to vote for a particular version of a song, make a note in your ballot, but different versions of songs will be combined.

2. Albums: Rank up to your top 10 albums by Low. EPs and live albums are eligible too, anything more than a single that would count as a 'release'.

3. Covers: Rank up to your top 10 covers by Low. Live covers and studio recordings are all eligible.

Send ballots to ilmlowpoll AT gmail dot com. Order ballots from highest (#1) to lowest, without numbers, and include your username.

Voting closes approx midnight GMT on 14 November 2021 (~2 weeks time)

going to be fun and difficult and also fun

I'm listening through the last few EPs/albums I haven't heard yet, and still finding great stuff. crazy how since first hearing them in 2019, this band has so rapidly vaulted into one of my all-time favorite bands. I have no idea what kind of consensus there will be at all, even for albums

i have a vague sense of which albums are more likely to be favourites here, and what some of the likely favourite tracks are, but it feels very very open.

sleep at the bottom. vote for it everyone. now.

Probably the only current artists I've consistently loved since I was 16 (now 41) besides Bjork. Except unlike Bjork, I possibly love their latest work even more than their earlier work.

Albums/EPs is going to be tough. Tracks, near impossible...

Thanks for doing this, UFO. Much needed.

A few covers sure to make my list: Transmission, Down By The River, I Started A Joke, Little Drummer Boy, and Nowhere Man. I know I must be missing some other great ones …

Just gave C’mon and their debut a respin- they really know how to make the most of their epics.

Lazy will definitely be high on my list.

"down by the river" is probably my favourite cover, and i really like "let's stay together" and "i'm on fire" too

I love their cover of Soul Coughing’s “Blue Eyed Devil.”

Their cover of "Fearless" is all-time

I'm still putting covers in the overall tracks list, right?

Covers are separate according to the OP

There's a separate covers poll but choices can be put in the songs poll too!

yeah you can vote for covers in the overall list if you want to, but there's a separate covers poll as well

2. Albums: Rank up to your top 10 albums by Low. EPs and live albums are eligible too, anything more than a single that would count as a 'release'.

Don't sleep on the Bombscare EP! Comfortably in my top 2

Really looking forward to total Low-immersion over the next week

"Surfer Girl" is a really sweet cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4xPj91GsGM

There's also the really beautiful cover of Rihanna's "Stay," which absolutely blows the original out of the water afaic

really need to spend some more time with their eps and the stuff on that boxset, but even without those this is gonna be hard as hell

I just made a playlist, it had 59 songs on it. Most of Curtain is on there— that's my desert island Low album. I quickly deleted six songs. Don't understand how people can do this.

just a note that you can take a gander at some former iterations of LOW polls below.

What is the best Low album/release?
What is the best Low album/release? (Encore version)

It's still Curtain for me, in terms of albums.

What are people's favourites from the boxset?

My initial list of 30 is no way in step with the most played on Spotify or Last FM. This is very unexpected.

People! Start pitching!

Can I urge everybody to take another listen to "If You Were Born Today". It is possibly the purest distillation of what Low is, at least to me tonight. Beautiful.

I wish ppl wouldn't pitch! I want those raw numbers

Also, I've wanted to start a band forever that does sludge metal versions of Low songs

If you ever wondered what Low would do with "Africa." From 10 yrs ago. Not voting for this one lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWPx5N3rCvU

Listening to the playlist I made earlier, it seems a lot of Low songs make me cry. Maybe I'm just emotional.

The songs are just so beautiful

They really are the only "indie rock" band I like

One the best things about them being essentially a stable husband and wife duo is that I feel like they'll just keep putting out music together as long as they're alive.

Listening to the debut in order to start whittling down my list and this is already feeling impossible.

the most essential track from the rarities boxset is "venus"

some of the curtain hits the cast outtakes on it are pretty good too, "turning over" and "walk you out"

"Venus" will def be on my ballot.

i’m fond of “tomorrow one” and “old man song” from the box

Don't sleep on the Bombscare EP!

You weren't kidding, this might be my favorite of the EPs! The Murderer EP is also up there

yeah the murderer ep is pretty essential, the alternate early versions of "murderer" and "silver rider" are great and "from your place on sunset" is up with their best epics. interestingly it's the only time they worked as a duo prior to hey what, it was recorded during the period zak sally had left the band for a bit after the trust tour - he rejoined because they got a sudden offer to open for radiohead after supergrass pulled out.

Man, "Silver Rider." That's one of the (many) Low tracks I for some reason occasionally forget (because there are a lot of them), and then I see the band live and they play it and I think, wow, this band ...

Turning my attention to the albums rankings, I just realized how many I will be forced to leave out. This is hard!

I'm going to admit that I don't think any tracks from the past two albums will make it onto my ballot, none from Cmon or The Invisible Way, either.

As for HEY WHAT and Double Negative, tho— I love the records but the first five or six albums feel like they're part of my DNA or something, and I'm finding it much more difficult to winnow down tracks from those albums because it feels like I'm denying something that's given me succor and solace for a decade-plus.

I admit tho that most of Curtain remains on the list. Why? Because it's their best album.

definitely one of them!

Voted

I am still discovering this band but I am excited to cast a newcomer's ballot with whatever I can cover in two weeks. I don't think I had heard anything by them when Double Negative came out (maybe the debut), and I listened to Curtain for the first time this morning.

I've been a fan for about 20 years and have always considered them to be a very good band, but I didn't think of them as One of the Best Bands in the World until the opening moments of "Quorum".

I will most likely have a song from HEY WHAT in my top 2.

Quorum is great

Their discography is huge. I submitted my ballot without relistening, just going by the tracklists of each album and picking the songs I remember I liked the most but I’m sure I left some great ones out and I may have overrated a few of them.

yeah the murderer ep is pretty essential, the alternate early versions of "murderer" and "silver rider" are great and "from your place on sunset" is up with their best epics. interestingly it's the only time they worked as a duo prior to hey what, it was recorded during the period zak sally had left the band for a bit after the trust tour - he rejoined because they got a sudden offer to open for radiohead after supergrass pulled out.

― ufo, Tuesday, November 2, 2021 5:34 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I was at those Radiohead shows at MSG and that crowd was definitely not there for Low. Sparhawk played night 2 with a new guitar purchase courtesy of the gig windfall iirc.

Listened to Drums and Guns again. Reminded me that it has so many great tracks and serves as a good transition to the more recent work.
Ugh, it’s going to be hard to get the list down to 30 tracks.

Will you accept unranked ballots?

oh, it's 30 tracks? not 25? that makes my task a little easier, i'm down to 37

unranked ballots are fine, just specify that's what they are

I whizzed through Trust, Great Destroyer and Drums & Guns today and narrowed them down to about six songs total. Now I’m onto C’mon and, man, I just don’t get the folks who think this is lesser Low. This album is so gorgeous.

I think because I’m going through the whole discography in such quick succession this week, C’mon is really resonating with Things We Lost in the Fire. They feel like twins to me right now.

c'mon is very solid but not much on it is up with their very best, i don't think anything except "nothing but heart" will make its way onto my ballot. it's definitely a continuation of things we lost in the fire, going further in that direction. probably their most lush & accessible album.

the great destroyer is one that has really shot up in my estimations lately, it's a really remarkably strong rock album, every song is very very good. something "just stand back" is very uncharacteristic for them but it's so good at what it does.

Yeah, that’s the one, that caught my attention on relisten - I think the more abrasive sound now feels more in line when you compile their most recent 2 albums.

yeah i think alan's talked about it being them seeing how loud they could go at the time, but they've certainly surpassed that with hey what

i do wish the studio version of "pissing" went as far as they do when they play it live, it's fantastic.

great version at 34:30 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I45V99gx25Y

it sounds kinda Harvey Milk-lite, and I mean that as a compliment

I can see "California" and "Just Stand Back" disappointing fans who were accustomed to their earlier sound but I love both songs

The band's catalog is like cresting waves in the ocean. It's constantly moving and hypnotic, but some of it is taller and more impressive.

I bet Alan would surf if he didn't live in Minnesota. Though I guess you can surf Lake Superior!

https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/travel-recreation/recreation/why-winter-is-surfing-season-in-minnesota/

Over The Ocean?

I feel like the "heavy" aspects of the band are really present on earlier tracks like "Laugh" (off Curtain) and of course "The Lamb," among others on Trust.

It is perhaps the commercial accessibility of Cmon that I find so distasteful— it simply doesn't sound like the band I fell in love with, and none of the songs stand out to me at all.

I've been thinking about why the earlier stuff grabs me in ways that even the much more recent albums don't, and while I have some ideas, I'm still not totally sure they hold up.

Hmm I don't think of C'mon as commercially accessible any more than anything else they've done. It's not as dissonant or edgy as Trust or Drums & Guns, but the aesthetic of C'mon has always been a prominent part of their palette. You could make a whole album of "Low pop" in the vein of Try to Sleep (Venus, Starfire, Immune, Dinosaur Act, etc.)

Anyway, shrug. I think Nightingale, Done, You See Everything, and Especially Me are all really lovely songs, and Majesty/Magic is a great mini-epic whose main flaw is that it's shown up by the even more epic Nothing But Heart.

i guess that I've just often thought of those songs as the worst songs on their respective albums.

funnily enough, Cmon has fallen *below* The Invisible Way for me as a result of this poll

“Nightingale” is making my ballot - probably my fave from that album.

from the last graph of the Pfork review of the record:

As such, C'mon feels more like a collection drawn from throughout the last decade than a completely cohesive album. This could be viewed as the band sorting through the progress it's made in search of the next turn-- there are even a few songs that come close to revisiting the glacial sparseness of their earliest music. This is all to say that, if you already like Low, C'mon will not disappoint you, and though it's not their best album, it's a fairly accessible distillation of where they've been.

Sums it up for me— many of the tracks feel like they're treading old ground, sort of running through the motions. Nothing on it stands out. It also doesn't help that I am infinitely annoyed by the first track on the record, a place where LOW are usually exceptional.

re-listened to the great destroyer on my commute this morning, the point upthread about fridmann’s production choices being more tolerable after their recent run of albums has some truth in it. still think the middle third kinda drags. there’s still three or four songs on it that may make my ballot

I still have most of Curtain on my ballot. I think it's just going to have to be that way.

First cull for tracks: down to 72 (from 265 non-live tracks I have in my collection).

Stats on those 72 tracks:

• 8 albums get between 5 and 7 tracks
• 2 albums get only 1 track each ('C'mon' and 'Ones & Sixes,' though I'd rate the latter much higher than the former)
• 18 tracks are non-album, from singles, EPs, compilations.
• Only 4 tracks from the years 2008-2017--so they did have a fallow period before their renewed brilliance, IMO.

It's going through the older albums for me and deciding "well, which one of these could you not liver without"

lol... live without

c'mon/invisible way/ones and sixes is probably their weakest stretch yeah, only in that none of those albums is up with their very best but they're still pretty solid.

I finally listened to Invisible Way, the only album I hadn't heard yet. The blandest production of all their albums, I think. I'll listen a couple more times, but I'd be surprised if anything on it makes my ballot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_X9zXJdZqI

another live curiosity is how they play "clarence white", it would have fit on the great destroyer in this form

oh come on, ones and sixes is an amazing record

justice for ones and sixes, still the best of the last three low records

i like ones and sixes a lot but it's not top tier low & falls off in the middle - the first three & last three tracks are all pretty great but the rest isn't as strong. no way is it better than the two since.

could definitely make the case that ones and sixes/double negative/hey what is their best three-album run on the other hand

the adjustment in textural focuses between tracks is painstakingly tuned on o&s, and the songs feel like they're written to emphasize that? which helps make it feel bigger-than-the-sum, regardless of opinion about the individual songs

it doesn't quite have the same greater than the sum of its parts feeling as double negative and its individual parts aren't quite as strong either

still a lot to like about it just it's more of a transitional record than a real high point imo

for me its twin in the low catalog is trust, which a lot of ppl described similarly at the time

trust feels less of an indication of where they were going to go (there's "canada" and that's about it) and more of a refinement and expansion of the darker end of the two previous albums ("whitetail", "don't understand", etc.). there's more to it than that but it feels like the conclusion of that aspect of their sound more than anything else

but i do also think trust is strongest at its beginning and end

i'm pretty happy with the top 30 i made a month ago but i'm also like... am i? should i listen to everything again????

(there's "canada" and that's about it)

you know what reminds me of "canada"? "no end"

Ones and Sixes is pretty great. When I was relistening to it, I forgot how many great tracks it has. I do think of it as a transition album but only because what comes after is even better!

they might not occupy similar positions in the catalog but they just echo off of each other nicely xp

i'm planning on submitting a vote! will probably be near the deadline and a (typical for me) hasty, indefensible selection

could definitely make the case that ones and sixes/double negative/hey what is their best three-album run on the other hand

― ufo, Friday, November 5, 2021 5:39 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lunacy. need i remind you:

I Could Live in Hope – (Vernon Yard, 1994)
Long Division – (Vernon Yard, 1995)
The Curtain Hits the Cast – (Vernon Yard, 1996)
Secret Name – (Kranky, 1999)
Things We Lost in the Fire – (Kranky, 2001)
Trust – (Kranky, 2002)

any three of those beat the latest three out of the water imho.

you like their early stuff best you say

I know, I keep harping on it.

For me, this poll is hard enough given those six albums, is all, and it boggles my mind that anyone could think something from "Cmon" or "The Invisible Way" is better than a single track from any of these six.

I really like their latest records, too, fwiw.

"landslide" just ascended to the near-top of my list, next to a curtain track, it's really not unfathomable imo

"Nothing but Heart" is on C'mon, so believe it!

I might just not vote tbh.

Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?

my plan for voting in this poll is to do it on the last eligible day so i'm forced to rely on gut instinct

as for early vs. recent low: i couldn't possibly say i prefer one over the other - the earlier stuff has the advantage of time obv but i find what they're doing now really exciting in its own way. "do you know how to waltz?" and "dancing and blood" both fucked my entire world up, for different reasons

Invisible Way will not make my top ten ballot, and most likely nothing from it will make my tracks ballot either ("Plastic Cup" still technically in contention as I work to slim down my long-list). But I will say, the album did rise in my estimation after listening to everything this week. It's by far their most modest album. Feels like a purposeful lack of ambition - no grandiosity, no edgy darkness. Just some nice songs. But in that way it's unique in the catalog and if that was their intent then it's a nice little record.

might be ridiculous but i believe i'm voting for "so blue"

Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?

Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?

Forest > Ocean > Canada > snowstorm > California > Belarus >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Missouri

The Lifetime of Temporary Relief has way too many gems on it. More Low in the Misfits versions!

i haven't listened to the new one because of the press release photos topless in dungarees

My list will be likely as early-centric as Table's (maybe not quite as much) but there will certainly be a high placing for Nothing But Heart, and another from C'Mon.

I was late in hearing a lot of these 00's and 10's albums, more than once but know my favourite tunes, I think by keeping seeing them live.

I have two from Drums & Guns on my list of 36 tracks— "Murderer" and "Take Your Time," the latter because I think it's the Low song that disturbs me the most.

Think I've got my 30 tracks sorted, very heavy on the two records that were my introduction to the band but nearly all of the others are represented. On the other hand, doing an albums ballot is proving much harder than I expected - going through the catalogue has thrown up some surprises, e.g. The Great Destroyer is much better than I remembered.

weird, I had no idea “Don’t Carry It All” was a vinyl-only addition to Things We Lost in the Fire. One of my favorites on that release.

Low is one of those bands where, whichever was your first album, that's probably your favorite.

“Don’t Carry It All” is also on the Lifetime of Temporary Relief collection - didn't know it was supposed to be on Things We Lost. Great tune.

Ones & Sixes is better than the two previous obv, also better than The Great Destroyer, possibly even with Trust, what does that make it (checking) joint 9th best album of theirs? And still AMAZING? Yeah, no way I can make a ballot for this. IF I DID it would be Lullaby (yon version from the box) first, then Murderer (which I first heard on the 10" but basically I'm easy), then I'd have to delve deeper and that would accelerate my heart too much. was Venus really never on an album? That 7" and the Secret Name CD was my entry. The Best Family Christmas Ever (cus cmon Christmas with family is always terrible) was when I gifted 5 people in the same room the Christmas EP, I had to go to both record shops to acquire all that, worth it (I'm guessing max 2 of them ever played it)

Decided not to obsess too much and just sent in my ballot

Voted, finally. Really don't know what to expect from the rollout.

fuuuuuuck I'm vacationing and won't have time to give this a proper evaluation. Curses

Low is one of those bands where, whichever was your first album, that's probably your favorite.

― Hideous Lump, Friday, November 5, 2021 4:50 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

My entry was Trust, then I got Things We Lost, and then a friend gave me a burnt copy of Curtain, and it changed everything I felt about the band...Trust is still 2nd for me after Curtain, but I think Things We Lost is closer to five or six for me.

One thing that's weird here is that I don't have problems selecting favorite albums, but tracks is proving absolutely agonizing.

Any chance we can go to top 50 tracks?

I'm realizing, as much as there are dozens and dozens of tracks I love, I still tend to think of Low mainly in terms of albums--or maybe even, in terms of eras of albums... Which I guess really means I love nearly everything, except for the dip from 2008-2017...

In particular, I'm finding that the 'experimental' albums are in many ways my favorites--'Bombscare' EP, 'Drums & Guns,' 'Double Negative'--but I think of them as a piece and don't necessarily register individual songs as strongly as on their more "traditional" work...

I have a feeling the bulk of my tracks list is going to disappear into the ether of the unranked...

Xpost, top 50 tracks would be great if pollrunner has time.

i can allow 50 track ballots if there's real demand for it - i went with 30 as it seemed like the highest to go that most people would be likely to fill out in full. it's not any extra work for me to tabulate.

I'm for it. it's been painful to see some amazing songs fall under the top 30 line

Would absolutely change this poll for me.

I still have Long Division and Drums and Guns to listen to (and I haven't even started the EPs).
So far, the most pleasant surprises in terms of albums were The Great Destroyer and Ones and Sixes. The Curtain hits the cast, Things we lost in the fire and Trust lived up to their reputation.
Secret Name was a low point, and so was C'mon. I'm not necessarily planning to listen to The Invisible Way.

I can find 30 tracks to vote for, 50 would be too big a portion of their discography for a non-obsessive listener. I expect to vote about equally from their three (four ?) different periods.

"disarray" is maybe my least favourite on double negative, i'm not really a fan of how restrained it is with that constant staccato pattern & it's weird as the album closer, all tension reaching out for release that never arrives. but wow it's great live, so much better. they actually let loose & let the vocal melody soar like it wants to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-QXr41WFgA

"disarray" at 1:24:33

oh come on, ones and sixes is an amazing record

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 12:31 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

justice for ones and sixes, still the best of the last three low records

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 12:32 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i like ones and sixes a lot but it's not top tier low & falls off in the middle - the first three & last three tracks are all pretty great but the rest isn't as strong. no way is it better than the two since.

could definitely make the case that ones and sixes/double negative/hey what is their best three-album run on the other hand

― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 12:39 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

the adjustment in textural focuses between tracks is painstakingly tuned on o&s, and the songs feel like they're written to emphasize that? which helps make it feel bigger-than-the-sum, regardless of opinion about the individual songs

― ri, Friday, 5 November 2021 13:19 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglinko

Somehow I agree with all of these posts?

The thing about Ones and Sixes is that while it's true that the opening and closing stretches are stronger than the middle, I look at the tracklisting and everything jumps out at me as being distinct and different - and also very hooky: despite the great lengths they go to not present it as such, this is actually maybe their most pop album, yeah even more than C'mon.

Also I think people overstate the extent to which it's a palette cleanser for the most recent two albums, perhaps because of the presence of the same producer. Ones and Sixes's sonic experiments feel to me more like revisiting and expanding on various particular ideas they'd played with in the past, from Spector-ish touches to keyboards, but doing so in the context of a relatively 'normal' collection of songs (which, alongside its diversity, is what makes it distinct from Drums and Guns which it might otherwise resemble, but also from Bombscare, let alone the following two albums).

I was interested to go back to Double Negative after not listening to it for a while. I was wondering if its experiments would feel at once self-conscious and redundant after Hey What anchored the same overall sound within generally more coherent songs. But no, its bruised quality is still so powerful. Listening to it I switched to thinking "maybe Hey What will now sound lesser when I put it on". Of course I then tried that, and it really brought out the satisfying immediacy and present-ness of the sound on Hey What, which I now somewhat associate with The Great Destroyer.

Like, the band who just made "More" is definitely the band who made "Everybody's Song".

i'd put both the great destroyer & c'mon as more 'pop' than ones and sixes, but it's certainly up there yeah. then things we lost in the fire in at fourth.

my impression from interviews is that double negative was (fairly unusually for them) mostly written in the studio as they were experimenting with the new sound palette they'd discovered, while hey what was a return to the drums and guns methodology of having a lot of songs written beforehand with the intention of totally deconstructing them in the studio.

but even though double negative takes a different approach with its songwriting it's still very melodically direct. it's like a whole album based on the chorus of "over the ocean"

I'm not necessarily planning to listen to The Invisible Way.

Doesn't it have an amazing Yacht Rock track near the end?

(Like many others e.g. table I sort of got off the bus at C'mon so am less familiar with the later stuff)

Doesn't it have an amazing Yacht Rock track near the end?

Isn't Gerry Beckley from America on a couple of their albums?

Nabozo, what about Secret Name don't you like? "Two-Step"? "Weight of Water"? "Starfire"? "Will the Night?"?

I dunno, I love that record.

I listened to Secret Name, Things We Lost In the Fire, and The Curtain Hits the Cast this afternoon, and I think I figured out why I never revisit anything earlier than Trust. They're quiet and mopey, but the punch to the gut is more subtle. Trust and onward tend to be more obviously sinister musically.

I have a ballot of 17 songs right now, and I'll probably rank ten albums pretty easily, but I've never really listened to any of their covers so I'll probably sit that one out.

Oh, and everyone knows they rereleased The Exit Papers on vinyl, right? I think there are still copies left on their Bandcamp.

8 copies left: https://lowtheband.bandcamp.com/album/the-exit-papers

Mopey ffs. Condescend for example is fire and hard as nails. Heavy shit.

Do You Know How To Waltz is crushing.

I listened to Secret Name, Things We Lost In the Fire, and The Curtain Hits the Cast this afternoon, and I think I figured out why I never revisit anything earlier than Trust. They're quiet and mopey, but the punch to the gut is more subtle. Trust and onward tend to be more obviously sinister musically.

I'd argue that their lyrics are just as sinister, if not more sinister, on the early records, though the music is certainly less so.

The early stuff works best as albums to me. Everything from Secret Name on feels like a scattershot collection of songs with 3-4 highlights. I like them all, but they don't make for the most cohesive listening experiences (the most recent two are better in this regard). Like Trust is song for song one of their strongest albums, but it's excruciating to listen to straight through.

Ranked Curtain and Dead Pilot high, but I'm having trouble finding songs from them to put on my ballot. Whereas Things We Lost in the Fire isn't one of their better albums to me, but I can easily pick 4-5 songs from it.

Ranked Curtain and Dead Pilot high, but I'm having trouble finding songs from them to put on my ballot

One thing this poll has clarified for me is just how highly I rate "Stars Gone Out"

All I know is that this band is responsible for a disproportionate number of songs and albums that, while I'm listening to them, make me say to myself , this is the best music ever made.

Nabozo, what about Secret Name don't you like? "Two-Step"? "Weight of Water"? "Starfire"? "Will the Night?"?

I dunno, I love that record.

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 8 November 2021 20:28 (two hours ago) link

Secret Name strikes me as the album which is maybe hardest to pin down. On the one hand - perhaps even more than Things We Lost - it feels like it contains a lot of the seeds of future directions the band would explore, and it's a very diverse record. On the other, "Don't Understand" (and maybe "Home") aside, it feels like their warmest and gentlest and (at least at times) perhaps deliberately-smallest record until The Invisible Way (which to me feels like it contains a few callbacks).

Meanwhile the vocals are often quite startling, in particular Alan's frequent use of high falsetto.

"i remember" is in line with the darker sound of "don't understand" and "home", but then there's things like "starfire" which feels more directly indebted to galaxie 500 than anything they'd done before

Yep - agree with that.

trust is kinda the mirror image of secret name, they both capture a fairly similar (though also quite wide) range of styles, but trust ends up emphasising the darker sounds over secret name's preference for the light

my favourite from those first six albums is certainly the curtain hits the cast, which keeps the darkness consistently at 'dim campfire in the night' levels

Secret Name (and Songs for a Dead Pilot) is the big pivot point for the band - the one where they figured out how to free themselves from their own sound without sacrificing their perspective. It’s still “Low” but they stopped being pristine. The production is raw, Alan becomes a much more courageous singer, and Mimi allows a few cracks to show in her otherwise flawless voice. And they push the limits on what they’re “supposed” to sound like (Don’t Understand).

They made many records that are better but Secret Name feels in a way like their most important album— they learned how to transcend themselves.

This bit from the end of glenn mcdonald's review of Things We Lost... reads as very prescient now:

"They aren't the first band to make the long journey from isolationism to expansiveness, and they haven't traveled as far as Mark Hollis (surely the name "Hollis" is a coincidence?), but in both relative magnitude and unexpectedness, Low and Talk Talk's journeys seem comparable to me, demonstrations of the inexorable power of an artist's patience, and the profound rewards for a listener's. Secret Name seemed like an end-point, and then Christmas seemed like an epilogue, but now I'm not so sure. After Things We Lost in the Fire, it all feels like part of one long story to me again, and one that is far from over.

And therein, maybe, is the explanation I was looking for, for how I feel while I listen to it, half thinking I have more than enough information to make up my mind, half thinking that I'm missing something critical. On one hand, if Alan and Mimi decided to quit music now and raise Hollis as organic farmers or innkeepers or border guards, I think they've done enough to secure their place. Many have lived forever on less. On the other hand, though, if there was this much immanent in Secret Name that they didn't yet know how to express, then it's insane to think that Things We Lost in the Fire is the end, either. If the distance from I Could Live in Hope to Things We Lost in the Fire isn't as great as the distance from Talk Talk to Mark Hollis, maybe that only means Low are that far from done. And if that's so, or that's what it feels more true to believe, then maybe the uncertainty I'm experiencing is my instinctive respect for incompletion. You don't clap in the middle of a song, just because you like the first half so much. So Low aren't one of my favorite bands yet, not because I don't believe they will be, but because what these records have earned from me isn't capitulation or acclaim, it's presence. No banners yet. Parades? Maybe when Hollis is older. For now, just pay attention. If you want to give them a gift, give them more silence to fill. There's nobody into whose care I'd rather silence be entrusted."

But what I had in fact been looking for was the following extract from his Secret Name review which I think gets at the point being made about the album above:

"Trying to convey the experience by describing it is inherently hopeless, of course. Low has spent six albums retreating, and I've followed them, getting closer and closer because it was the only way to hear them at all, and from farther away Secret Name's explosion of noise would probably barely sound like a fizzle. Buzzing that wouldn't qualify as background texture in a Prodigy rant sounds, in a Low song, like the Earth methodically sawing itself in half. These drums won't crash, in your ears, unless you've internalized the way Mimi usually taps them. If you haven't heard how she can making not singing sound tenser than singing, the tiny rasps as she leans into the lines of "Days Of..." won't sound like the hibernating dragon at the heart of the world gradually shrugging off sleep. A thousand other bands have hired string sections; if you don't know how empty these spaces in Low songs would have been before, you won't stagger when you hear strings materialize in them. You've heard other Steve Albini recordings, perhaps (and I used to think I didn't like him, but between this and Vent 414's album I realize that position has become firmly untenable), but you can't appreciate from them what an accomplishment it is to find nuances in Low's performances that escaped their previous producers (including themselves)."

Yeah, wonderfully put. And the last couple of albums prove there is no end to the journey in sight.

yeah, i love both of those quotes. i came to them late, in the things we lost/trust time-frame, so even great destroyer sounded like some sort of betrayal to me. they have always been changing from the beginning, while always retaining their low-ness. that's extremely hard to do, although easier to do for a duo that are both incredible singers

Their path reminds me a bit of Depeche Mode, who after a few albums with roughly the same sound, worked with a variety of producers and produced a much wider spectrum of music while keeping a specific identity. DM have stubbornly stuck to the same producer for the last few albums, maybe feeling comfortable, and I wonder if Low will stick with Burton for a fourth album (Low's recent albums are magnitudes better than DM's)

they've already said they want to stick with burton for their next one too, obviously they could change their minds before then but they really seem to love working with him

Makes sense, it's a very fruitful partnership, and they haven't repeated themselves with him yet

Yeah listening to Double Negative and Hey What back-to-back really underscored for me the differences in approach between the two, which can be obscured by the fact that sonically they're obviously closer to one another than they are to any of the band's previous albums.

Nabozo, what about Secret Name don't you like? "Two-Step"? "Weight of Water"? "Starfire"? "Will the Night?"?
I dunno, I love that record.

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 8 November 2021 20:28 (two hours ago) link

It's by comparison. I miss the electricity, gravity and personality of their other records. Secret Name sounds like slowcore. Mopey yes, plodding, pretty in a boring and precious sense, slowness is excruciating, too spare and simple. I think I like Immune best. I cannot analyze their directions as others can, but it's an incarnation that would have killed my expectations.

I really commend Glenn’s Low reviews generally. They run from Long Division to Trust and are the reason I was initially interested in the band (though I took a long time to actually get across their entire discography) - and start off more like actual reviews and then become increasingly personal and reflective, which I think reflected both a development of Glenn’s style and a development in his relationship with Low. But also, even if it wasn’t a true causal factor, that transformation feels like it reflects something in Low’s music, considered as a developing whole, the way that all of it has acquired lustre and depth and meaning and resonance through accumulation, as each decision they make underscores the deliberateness and importance of each prior decision.

I miss the electricity, gravity and personality of their other records. Secret Name sounds like slowcore. Mopey yes, plodding, pretty in a boring and precious sense, slowness is excruciating, too spare and simple. I think I like Immune best. I cannot analyze their directions as others can, but it's an incarnation that would have killed my expectations.

― Nabozo, Monday, November 8, 2021 11:53 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This is perhaps one of the most wrong opinions I've ever read about this band.

the part where mimi comes in on two-step is one of the most transcendent musical moments i now of

i know

the back half of secret name is not my favorite. when i think of that album, i guess, i'm thinking that incredible first 20 minutes or so, and i admit that i probably just need to listen to the second half more often. it's almost impossible to not be wiped out by the first side, though, that's the thing. it's an all-timer side for me

I really need to list to the studio work more. I mean, I have all the CDs but I keep losing myself in all those great live recordings on archive.org

like many of you, maybe, i'm doing a big ol' chronological listen. and i'm remembering how good "pissing" is, from The Great Destroyer

might need to make my display name "another secret name fan boy"

This is perhaps one of the most wrong opinions I've ever read about this band.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Tuesday, November 9, 2021 6:20 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It probably sounds harsh said like that, and I would immediately nuance it because I find the band still very consistent, but you asked why I liked that album less. Mind you, I still have a couple days and the time beyond the poll to refine those opinions based on first impressions.

the back half of secret name is not my favorite. when i think of that album, i guess, i'm thinking that incredible first 20 minutes or so, and i admit that i probably just need to listen to the second half more often. it's almost impossible to not be wiped out by the first side, though, that's the thing. it's an all-timer side for me

― just staying (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 10 November 2021 05:15 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Feel like both Secret Name and Things We Lost... have this issue (though both close strongly), though in different ways or for different reasons.

While Things We Lost may be the more consistent album the issue is perhaps heightened because "Sunflowers" and "Dinosaur Act" feel like such monumental pop songs.

Trust feels stronger and more consistent than both to me, even though its general reputation is the opposite of that.

Not going to vote as don’t have enough in depth knowledge of theirs catalogue. However that cover of Rihanna’s ‘Stay’, OMG! One for the ages, just incredible. Thanks to table is the table for posting this.

I can’t vote because I love them too much to rank them. But I will say that “In Metal” has brought me to tears multiple times.

i'm doing a quick chronological listen this week before voting. i really want to appreciate more from their great destroyer - invisible way era, i really do. that's when i dropped off listening to them, in real time, and i was hoping to find a bunch of gems. but apart from a few tracks (violent past, murderer, plastic cup, when i go deaf) i just really have a hard time with that era. i don't like fridmann's production much, although low makes him sound better than most bands can.

with c'mon and invisible way...i don't know. they're certainly not bad, and it's interesting to think about what i would think of them if they hadn't released all of their other albums, if they were the only Low albums. i'd probably love them. maybe i'm just reading too much into sparhawk's battles with depression and suicidal thoughts, but to me they _sound_ like depression, and not in any sort of good way. depression can be like a heavy blanket, partly comforting but a real physical force on your body and thoughts. you're still the same person, you just don't move as much and everything becomes compromised before it even escapes from the brain. sparhawk seems to be an incredibly functional depressed person, but it takes its toll on everyone.

^a bunch of speculative bullshit in that paragraph, sorry.

bj burton must put magic tablets in everyone's tea, because i'm giving Ones and Sixes a good listen now for the first time in a while and it's just like they were able to find their way back to themselves.

Good god this is proving to be hard. I've loved them for so long but never attempted to rank my favorites. I have a list of 50 or so I need to cut down and order

because i love so many of their songs, i'm kinda rooting for all of them and decided not to worry too much about the ranking or where they end up in the rollout.

This was really tough! In the end I went with the approach of only voting for songs that I can immediately call to mind from the title, which had the effect of mostly limiting it to pre-early 2000s material. (I love the last couple of albums too, but for whatever reason - perhaps just changes in how I listen to music - I can't match a single song to a title.)

But it was still really hard to get down to 30, and I also have very little idea what will be in the top 10, a couple of songs aside.

I can get a ballot up by the end of the weekend, but I also wouldn't mind having until the next Friday. Anyone else needs more time ?

Yeah, a two week deadline can be difficult if you're doing a deep dive into the catalog.

did we ever decide to do 50 instead of 30? or is it still 30?

"I Hear...Goodnight" is so beautiful, sigh. I'd forgotten.

Another song title with ellipsis that i re-encountered just now after not hearing it for years: "...I Love", which is so sweet it got me choked up.

yeah was also struck by “I hear…goodnight” this morning listening to that ep

going through the box now and man, most of those “curtain”-era non-album tracks are so killer, eg “turning over” and “tear down”

agreed

oh funny my ballot is exactly at 50 rn

I sent 45 tracks and left the decision up to ufo how many to use

I can get a ballot up by the end of the weekend, but I also wouldn't mind having until the next Friday. Anyone else needs more time ?
― Nabozo, Thursday, November 11, 2021

even earlier than the end of the weekend on the us west coast! I started late, may not get one in in time

I have been enjoying going back and listening to Low albums from the beginning, though!

i'm happy to extend the voting period as needed, i'll see how people are doing in a few days.

i think at this point it doesn't seem likely that there'll be enough 50 track ballots to really be worth including in full though, sorry to those that were interested in that

I'll take the opportunity to recommend (as I probably have other times here) that everyone be sure to hear the 'Bombscare' EP from 2000 before they sumbit their ballots.

I loved them a lot before that--'Secret Name' had been the latest obsession, and the first album had been too. But 'Bombscare' was an incredible thrill, and the first time I really knew Low could do anything they wanted. It's the direct forerunner of 'Drums and Guns,' 'Double Negative,' and 'Hey What'.

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

can't really get my mind around a Low ballot but I finally saw Alan Sparhawk's Neil Young cover band last night and it was such an amazing show. didn't know "Powderfinger" could still get to me like that.

^very jealous

Just working on my ballot. I'm glancing at a songlist rather than doing a big re-listen though.

I recommend anyone who's doing a last-minute ballot to give 'Soon' a listen - such a beautiful track. I'm not sure what it's actually about, but its always a source of comfort for me in difficult times - often it'll slip into my head - "soon it will be over" yes - thank you - i needed to hear that Low.

didn't know "Powderfinger" could still get to me like that.

oh dang, i'd love to see that

i'm happy to extend the voting period as needed, i'll see how people are doing in a few days.

i think at this point it doesn't seem likely that there'll be enough 50 track ballots to really be worth including in full though, sorry to those that were interested in that

I won't be able to put together a ballot until after Sunday. Would you mind extending a week? or is that too much time?

TIL “…I Love” is a cover of a Tom T Hall song he took to #1 on the country chart in the 70s. Sounds great with Mimi singing as do most songs.

Man I just watched the video for Monkey and now I'm not sure I can rank any of these.

great video and one of my favorite songs of theirs. The Great Destroyer was not loved as much as other Low albums when it came out or since, but it in retrospect is one of my favorites.

as far as the videos go, if I get around to voting I will have to vote for Breaker from Drums and Guns (not one of my favorite Low albums) because of the masochistic video, where Alan stuffs an entire frosted layer cake into his mouth with his fists as Mimi and Matt Livingston stand behind him with vacant stares, clapping to the music

the last couple of days, going back and listening to them in order, the songs from Trust also stand out to me

i went from being lukewarm on 'trust' to now thinking it's top 5 albums for me

My ballot leans newer Low, perhaps because I started there, but almost every album has one or two glorious moments at a minimum. Even some of the Invisible Way songs grew on me, might have made my ballot if we extended to 50

(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace is so great

'Trust' always felt underrated, to me. I liked it better than 'Fire,' which seemed so beloved.

"The Lamb" is amazing!

I think "texture" will win against "melody" in my ballot, and it just happens that their later career has added whole new layers and complexity to their sound, whereas the many similar delicate ditties crowd each other out.
I'm really curious to know in what order the openers will come out in the results.

my favourites are typically where they're at their best at both texture and melody

i am happy to extend voting up to a week if that would help more people get ballots in. i know octobeard would like a week, do others need that too?

I should be able to get a ballot in before the end of this weekend.

I think "texture" will win against "melody" in my ballot, and it just happens that their later career has added whole new layers and complexity to their sound, whereas the many similar delicate ditties crowd each other out.

this is a false dichotomy, and an inaccurate one at that. spend more time with the older albums.

I know I've hammered home my preference for the early albums everywhere on this board, but it's plain insulting to dismiss them as "similar delicate ditties."

xxp I don't want to hold things up for everyone else but I wouldn't mind an extra week. I'm pretty good on my top 20 but have been struggling to rank anything beyond that, basically a 50 way tie for #21 at this point.

could use a couple more days. I don't think I will have one ready by tomorrow

I'd also like a few more days.

I'm really liking Witches from C'mon

Witches is my favourite on that album - the guitar part glows like burnished metal.

yes. I also like the broad haphazard lyrics which could mean anything

hearing The Invisible Way again I like it more than I thought I would. At the time I felt sure that that was finally it for the band, but in retrospect it is an interlude, and the open, natural live-sounding live quality of it is nice

Just Make It Stop is a really great pop song

yes, and So Blue is also great. Mimi comes through

going to go ahead and extend the deadline a week, until 21 november, seems like there's enough demand for that to be worthwhile

the invisible way might be their least essential album but it's still not at all a bad album & manages to do something distinct within their vast catalogue. i really like "on my own" at the very least

thank you ufo

Love the guitar solo second part of “On My Own”, definitely a highlight from The Invisible Way.

very heavy

there isn't a single bad Low album

Listening to Low - and in particular Trust - always makes me think of The Paradise Motel, whose first album had very Trust vibes some six years before the fact. But it’s always weird playing Low and then playing something vaguely like Low straight afterwards - they make everything else seem a bit impatient, rushed, too anxious to climax by comparison. Strange to think of The Paradise Motel - so reserved and cautious - in those terms, but there it is. Low makes other music sound overly driven by stage directions.

from the Pitchfork Trust review:

“And then came 2001's Things We Lost in the Fire. Low, it seemed, had suddenly realized that their songwriting could not sustain with reverb alone, and hired producer Steve Albini and a group of contributors with more explorative backgrounds, resulting in their freshest-sounding album to date. One would expect this to carry over to their follow-up, the newly released Trust. In fact, it doesn't. Only now do Low seem to be struggling with the constraints of their genre. The album preserves their defining qualities: superb lyricism and powerful tension. But it's missing two key elements of Low's last outing. That is, the engaging songs and captivating production.”

The opposite seems true to me. Things We Lost in the Fire has good songs but the production is so polished that it kind of sets them a little at a distance. (It’s still a great album.) Almost every song on Trust is great, the ambience is dark, and the production makes them feel immediate. Looking at their reviews over the years, Pitchfork got a lot wrong about Low

speaking of Things We Lost in the Fire, "Kind of Girl" reminds me of Elliott Smith

Is there a handy list of just the cover versions Low have done? To help with that poll category. Sorry if this question has already been asked and answered.

La La La Song could be from the Magnetic Fields

I managed to be on time in the end.
I have seven openers in my top 20 and six songs in total from my #1 album. I nearly thought I would not vote for Lullaby then thought better of it. I also left out a lot of their longer songs except from Trust. Didn't have time to send to Table for a check on accuracy and rightness, but overall quite happy about my ballot.

If you suckers delay this poll you run the risk of the band releasing something else awesome.

I'm pretty sure their press kit is peppered with all sorts of bad takes for lots of (reasonable) reasons. For one, it's hard to know how an album or its songs will stand the test of time; turns out in Low's case ... pretty well! I think also a lot of writers assume that a band that's been good or great for several albums is bound to take a slip eventually so are more or less primed or predisposed to write that review at every turn, but in Low's case ... no real slips! Third, as we've talked about here, the band's evolution has been slow but steady, with what initially might seem a case of "here we go again" in retrospect turning out to be a vital part of the band's progress. For example, "Ones and Sixes," it got a pretty positive response, but not quite on par with that accorded the next two, because my god, *no one* expected the next two.

It's been remarkable listening to how the production has radically altered our response to what has been at least on paper a seemingly pretty predictable framework, and all credit to the band for recognizing the importance of taking risks within said framework, which has turned out to be far more flexible than many might have predicted.

And hey, they've somehow managed to remain an incredible live act to boot, which is like icing on the cake.

I just noticed reading through the liner notes of Trust that one of the additional musicians was Brad Nelson.

want to throw “Songs for a Dead POLLot” out there for the results title.

Can I POLL It For a Week

Poll was not supposed to make you cry

It sounds like polls in my ears

I am the poll and I'm a dead man

Submitted. That was painful.

Their live show in Eindhoven from 2009 is stunning. They recorded it a cathedral with a small chorus + a couple extra musicians.
A full version of the show used to be out there. Now it seems only a few songs are available via a free EP they released in 2010. Anyway well worth seeking out.

Did a little digging into the few post-'A Lifetime of Temporary Hope' rarities that I didn't already know.

The jewel (along with the Japan-only 'Double Negative' track "It's All Been Done") seems to be "Not A Word," from a 2016 split 10". Very much verging on the 'Double Negative' sound and approach, pushing forward a lot from 'Ones & Sixes'. Worth seeking out. Don't know if it would make my top 30, but another piece of the puzzle for their immense creative resurgence over the last few years.

https://www.discogs.com/release/8393991-Low--S-Carey-Not-A-Word-I-Wont-Let-You-Fall

the story behind that split is low & s. carey both had an unfinished track each & bj burton brought them together to collaborate on finishing both of them for the split. it's pretty good

"Not A Word" is streamable here:

https://soundcloud.com/b-sse-265281877/sets/low-s-carey

Realise now I've left off Half-Light.

Finding I'm quite comfortable with my Albums list, but could probably keep rearranging +/- 75 tracks into a top 30 Tracks list endlessly...

So going to give up and send in the list tonight.

corrections/changes to ballots are easy to make if you want to

Is it giving too much away / vote tampering to discuss our ballots in terms of number of tracks per release, without giving away our albums or tracks lists?

If it's not too difficult then can I put Half Light in below Don't Understand and shift everything else down 1?

If it's a pain then I'm fine with it.

Is "Landslide" (Ones & Sixes) just a faster version of "Don't Understand" (Things We Lost in the Fire)?

I've just sent in my poll
I whittled my list down from 122 favourites and it got harder with every cut!

Nabozo, it's just clear to me that you and I have completely opposite sensibilities when it comes to this band, and admittedly, I feel protective of the early records because they've meant a lot to me over the years. I encourage you to listen to them more carefully and maybe one day you'll recognize why Secret Name or Trust are as powerful as Double Negative, if not more so

it's hard to know how an album or its songs will stand the test of time; turns out in Low's case ... pretty well!…
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, November 14, 2021

I liked that they had moved on, but didn’t really enjoy Ones and Sixes when it came out, I thought it was a not altogether successful foray into an electronic sound and it initially felt slightly impoverished to me like Drums and Guns did earlier

Now hearing it again after the two recent albums I can see where it was coming from and it sounds subtle and really good. The individual songs don’t necessarily stand out (except Landslide) and it is lighter than those, but in retrospect it is mysterious and self-effacing and is unlike anything else they’ve done

the adjustment in textural focuses between tracks is painstakingly tuned on o&s, and the songs feel like they're written to emphasize that? which helps make it feel bigger-than-the-sum, regardless of opinion about the individual songs
― ri, Friday, November 5, 2021 

makes complete sense to me

Deadline is technically up, can I still sneak mine in?

it's been extended for another week I think (at least I hope)

I actually think the songwriting on Ones and Sixes is really strong for the most part?

"No Comprende" in particular has some of my favourite Low lyrics, and the interplay of Alan and Mimi's vocals here is some of the most thoughtful of any song of theirs - in particular how Mimi clearly plays the part of the "you" in Alan's lyrics, such that almost paradoxically a song about a failure of communication becomes a dialogue (it's like a highly abstracted version of Taylor Swift and Justin Vernon's "Exile").

Relatedly, the shift from the first half to the second half of "Gentle" - it feels both inevitable and like a totally different song.

yes it's been extended for a week, plenty of time still

xpost Ones & Sixes, I first encountered Congregation as soundtrack to a brutal fight scene in Devs. I ended up listening to it on repeat and ultimately put it fairly high on my ballot.

No Comprende is a force

you can't just throw it in the trailer
you've got to stack so it's stable
got to wind up all the cables

and
You say it out loud
Our house is on fire
You better get out now

like a lot of their other songs, not sure what it means but it is very intriguing and the music is memorable

there's a little bit of a spaghetti western quality about some of their music

xpost Ones & Sixes, I first encountered Congregation as soundtrack to a brutal fight scene in Devs

Heh, I watched that episode about a week after I first heard the album. It certainly solidified it as a standout track on that album for me

While we're on the subject of Low songs in TV shows, I thought the show Rectify used "Silver Rider" to beautiful effect, in one of the pivotal moments of that show

did we talk about Robert Plant's cover of Silver Rider? it's ok but not a patch on the Low version. Really misses Mimi's high notes on the la-la-la in the chorus.

he seems to be a huge fan of the great destroyer, he's convered quite a few tracks off it

Now hearing it again after the two recent albums I can see where it was coming from and it sounds subtle and really good. The individual songs don’t necessarily stand out (except Landslide) and it is lighter than those, but in retrospect it is mysterious and self-effacing and is unlike anything else they’ve done

― Dan S, Monday, November 15, 2021 1:12 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The songs are lighter but intense and captivating and the sound is fuller, so it feels like an emancipation, a balance. The electronic touches add a lot of cold-warm atmosphere, you can imagine landscapes and snow storms, which work excellently as a backdrop to the vulnerability. There is no song that approaches a "definitive Low statement", but each song is both intimate and expansive, and together they feel very comfortable, easy and natural. My #1 is from the album and I have neither Landslide nor What part of me on my ballot and I even reluctantly had to let go of DJ. I don't know if it's their best, but I find it's the album where all the different facets of their sound came together.

Another thing that poll has brought home is what an incredible voice / vocalist Alan is.

yes it's been extended for a week, plenty of time still

Thank you, ufo! You have one ballot that wouldn't have made it with the original deadline incoming, at least.

Really wish we'd gone with 50. I'm at 35 right now. Impossible choices.

Album and covers all done, but tracks are just impossible.

Did we not do 50? Because I did 50.

considering including no tracks from the Low album I’m putting at #1, there are too many songs to whittle down already

could vote for 50 easily

the main count is just going to take ballots of 30 tracks max

i'll tally up a version including the few extended ballots i have received as well, since they're there, but it's not going to be the main results or anything

Is it possible Low is just a band that is too consistently good for so long and (contrary to general assumption) too diverse in sound for a consensus to form?

That would be an interesting result... But I'd guess there will be one, and my tracks reflecting a preference for their darker, stranger, more textural work will probably not make a showing.

I feel like their prettier and rockier sides will probably win out?

some of their prettier songs are also dark and strange though. In their middle albums there are a lot of reference points to drug addiction and overcoming it - Trust definitely but also The Great Destroyer and Ones and Sixes

“When I go deaf” seems like it would be a devastating topic for a musician to write about. Alan says he won’t mind but the music says otherwise.

If I'm not a lion
And I'm not an island
If time is the diamond

Well all right

i'm not sure if the poll was extended, but i'm going to submit tonight regardless. i'm going with 30, even if 50 is better. fewer is better, more hard decisions. poll of one! poll of one! (i don't believe that. no wrong way to vote in this poll, imo)

yes, it was extended until sunday

you can't let me know that! i work on a deadline-motivation scheme!

*fades away in low motion*

i am having a really hard isolating songs from Double Negative and HEY WHAT. i'm doing it, anyway, but it's taken me so much longer to pick a few songs from them, compared to what it was like to listen through all the others leading up to it.

"poor sucker", for example.

what a beautiful piece of music

xp having the exact same issue - they’re both so fresh to me that separating “moments” compared to their previous material is proving difficult.

Double Negative in particular is so wonderfully sequenced, with all the transitions. I don't have a particular love for "Tempest" but it's essential connective tissue between two songs I do love

yeah, both otm!

it's new, and that's harder, but also the flow of it. very hard to isolate certain sections

Tempest is my favorite part of the album! That and “always trying to work it out”

i already predict that i'll have the most average/ilx ballot. i'm sorry i always vote for the most obvious things in all the polls. But 2-step is one of the greatest moments of all time when Mimi enters

There's maybe like 3 Low songs I think of as obvious favorites and beyond that, haven't got a clue. That's why I'm so excited for this poll! I had no idea "2-Step" is a favorite, if indeed it is one (I do also like the moment when Mimi comes in)

i have no idea. low is a weird band to talk about. some of the most <3 intimate moments of my life have had the low soundtrack. just these crazy, early 20s conversations, late 20s, mid 30s, there's always low there at these intense moments, the best and worst. for me, the entirety of 2-step is this thing that happens every single time to some degree, and sometimes and burning degrees

a lot of that is nostalgia talking too, of course. it's really hard for me to figure out what low songs are "better".

it's crazy, these songs are more proustian than most. i always think of myself as having a bad memory, but in certain songs i can see the room, the shades, the lighting, the door frame, these places i haven't thought of in years. no one likes to talk about the intimacy in some music, the soft warm volume, holding each other for the whole song, listening, open windows, cool breezes. but low is perfect couples music, for the heights of love, and then also, a few years later, for the absence of that, for listening by yourself, for remembering what happened, drinking yourself to sleep again. they smell like fresh sheets and pbr

(i don't expect 2-step to make top 20 but i have no idea)

all of double negative is great but "fly" through to "always trying to work it out" is one of their very best series of tracks

all among their most gorgeous songs with incredible textural work on top

some of the most beautiful distortion on record since loveless

The funny thing about Double Negative for me is that in my head it's this really distorted, shadowy album - which, well, it is is - but then when I play it again I'm always bowled over by all the pretty melodies I've forgotten - "Fly", "Always Up", "Dancing and Fire", "Poor Sucker" etc.

Hey What might be the opposite: in my head it's more tuneful / straightforward than it actually is.

this poll IS TEARING ME APART, LISA!

sorry

but getting ready to wrap up a 30-track ballot and then just flat out improv an albums ranking, totally skip the covers

*ducks, covers*

I AM SORRY LISA!

I’d been aware of Low for years but the first time I’d listen listened to them was pre “Drums and Guns” so none of the OG era VS current is in my line of view.

ballot sent!

*passes out*

My favourite obscurity, maybe my favourite song (although I couldn't bring myself to vote for it) was a song that Low played to my knowledge once, in a mid-afternoon show in a public park in 1999 (Loring Park MPLS) about a kid that's got lice. On the Low List it used to be called either The Lice Song or Be Nice To People With Lice.

I have no idea if anyone else posting these days has even heard it. I managed to get Alan to sing it during downtime in a show in Wolverhampton in 2000.

And now the internet tells me Alan recorded it for a kids album in 2006 so I'm off to find that.

can i have a voting extension? will get my ballot in today

I've gotten down to 34, cutting these last four is going to be so tough... but I think I know what's getting the axe.

but I think I know what's getting the hatchet.

sounds like a low lyric

'Double Negative' is their most album-as-a-singular work, so even though it's among my very favorites, it didn't immediately put as many individual songs in my first cull as others I don't love quite as much.

For their next album, I'm hoping they go toward the ambient and textural even deeper. Like the transitional parts of 'Double Negative,' or "Hey," but with some 'Bombscare'-like components, and string quartet. Maybe no guitar or drums at all--Mimi switches over to vibrophone and electric hammer dulcimer, Alan goes all concertina and harmonium and ondes martenot. Six tracks, each between 7 and 10 minutes.

Finally got it down to 30, last song to make the cut was..."Cut"

or shall i say, GET the cut...

Sent my ballot in.

I couldn't rank tracks, I tried to start and it was too difficult. I *did* rank albums and covers, though.

but I think I know what's getting the hatchet.
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, November 16, 2021 2:48 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

sounds like a low lyric

― a (waterface), Tuesday, November 16, 2021 3:03 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

is it “hatchet”?

they really figured out to recreate the sound of listening to music on a flight with their shitty headphones, but in a way that plays to their strengths.

Ones and Sixes definitely laying the foundation for the following albums. Makes me think there’s an interesting rework of getting that album into the mold of DN and HW.

I do think that some of the longer, more ambient tracks from earlier albums also indicated a direction that they could have gone in much earlier, but they took a longer path toward it.

btw if anyone hasn't gotten a reply to their ballot then i haven't received it & you should send it again

When is the final deadline pls?

11:59pm US EST on Sunday 22 November is about the absolute latest i can do

rollout will start tuesday morning my time which will be monday afternoon in the us

Thanks again for doing this, UFO. Results will be fascinating.

finally got my ballot sorted out and submitted

so many great lines from Low

“tonight you will be mine, tonight the monkey dies”
“you're facing windows, outside forever”
“she passes through you like a knife”
“and when you have finally submitted to embarrassing capture”
“especially me and probably you”

and many others

sometimes your voice is not enough

One of my favourites is:

"Sometimes there's nothing left to save / That's how you sing 'Amazing Grace'"

A ridiculous amount packed into such a simple couplet, and indicative of the wallop of that song in general (capturing so much with so few lyrics).

Also in "Mom Says" - everything mom says is followed by "but I don't know" except the final line, "Mom says / We ruined her body".

Low are pantheon-level for me when it comes to lyrics doing so much with so little.

agreed, that ended up being the difference maker with my album submissions

I was pressed for time so I compiled by ballot mostly on instinct. About half of my songs ballot are locks, the rest could slip in and out of my top 30 depending on my mood.

I kind of regret not going back and listening to more stuff but I have a feeling I'll be doing plenty of that after the results roll out.

I remember the first few times they played Laser Beam and, knowing the title, everyone was sure the lyric was "freeze me in the carbonite".

Ballot sent :)

Songs ballot made (slightly) easier by a strict limit of two per record, no Christmas music and nothing from my #1 album.

Sent! God, that was difficult. :)

S E N T

Getting hyped for the rollout

Also in "Mom Says" - everything mom says is followed by "but I don't know" except the final line, "Mom says / We ruined her body".

Lyrically, Mom Says is one of my favorite Low songs. Each verse is mom’s subtle shutting down of the child over the years—a lost balloon, a request to go out for some fun, a desire to leave for college. Followed by that unquestioned statement at the end. The song is so simple and so brutal.

IN METAL
IN METAL
IN METAL

Done. Fun, and what beautiful music.

Thanks again for doing this, UFO. Results will be fascinating.

― Soundslike, Friday, November 19, 2021 10:28 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

The results seem so unpredictable, I'd really love it if ppl refrained from doing the whole "hmmm, OK 18 more votes lets see what hasn't placed" and then making a list of songs that haven't placed.

idk if this is an essential part of poll rollouts for anyone, but I personally find it annoying

Oh god yes, that's annoying

i have lost my shit about that a few times before, too. i find it annoying and it kind of ruins the surprise for people who aren't meticulously tracking and analyzing and predicting. but i get how that's fun too (i do that with baseball)

I think this thing is gonna be like 90% surprises, so it would be very fun to not have that and just enjoy the jams

that sounds good

Going in confident most of my faves won't place makes it more fun--just curious what others conmect with, how a "concensus" could exist, and being pleasantly surprised if my faves do place. But their whole oeuvre is so strong, I couldn't really be "disappointed" with any results.

Still hope there's *some* love for the 'Bombscare' EP, but not holding my breath : )

I also think Alan himself would probably check out the results--such a low-key and unselfconscious presence on Twitter.

I was so overwhelmed by all of the amazing tracks from their main albums that I didn't even get to their EPs, covers, Christmas records or live albums. I’m sure there’s a lot of great stuff there

If you can, Dan, search 'Bonbscare' out on Youtube. It's 17 minutes, and presents almost an entire other world Low could brilliantly inhabit. I find revisiting it deepens my appreciation of 'Drums & Guns,' 'Double Negative,' and 'Hey What'. It certainly cemented my love for the band, twenty years ago.

'Bombscare' that is.

I will

Would you (soundslike or anyone) recommend Spring Heeled Jack's other music? Bombscare is great, wondering if it extends to them

Xpost, how about the time honored “too LOW” during the rollout ;)

it's just a shame
my hand just kills and kills

but here we sit debating math

(and two glasses of milk)

If You Were Born Today, I think I voted it too low

just hearing it for the first time. a great song

I really love that Low Christmas album cover image too, will have to listen to the whole thing

a rare ILM artist thread where I think everything is up in the air.

The Belarus video is really nice

Lullaby is the most streamed Low song on YT. Around 20 million views. Few of think their other songs even break 100 thousand. Based on the YT comments, Lullaby seems to have become very popular in Turkey - bleakness and beauty.

that is surprising

a lot of tracks on I Could Live in Hope remind me of early 80s The Cure (Seventeen Seconds, Faith)

xposts re: Spring Heel Jack, The Sweetness of the Water is kind of like Bombscare if you replaced Low with a jazz quartet. I've only heard a couple of their records, so I can't say much about their catalog as a whole, but that's probably my favorite right now of the few I'm familiar with.

I was trying to figure out if “Lullaby” was in a movie or something but it’s probably just tired parents googling “lullaby”

since it's specifically turkey that it seems to be particularly popular in it might have been used in a tv show there or something, but i couldn't figure out if that was actually the case

It’s currently their most popular song on Spotify as well. “Words” from the same LP is #2. Nothing else comes close.

less than a day to get ballots in for anyone still wanting to submit

I'm going to predict Amazing Grace as the winner, I think it's the closest we come to consensus.

Did the early Breaker https://archive.org/details/Low2007-02-17.aud.flac/low2007-02-17t04.flac ever got released as a B-side or similar to vote for, or only on the Retribution Gospel Choir lp? As fun as the jaunty Fridmann version was, hearing the live version first was the one that stayed with me - after all those years their anger finally spilling out like that.

only on the retribution gospel choir album, but you can vote for "Breaker (live version)" or anything like that if you want. it'll be counted with the studio version but i'm keeping track of votes for alternate versions of tracks

the retribution gospel choir version is more aggressive than low's live version, it's interesting but ultimately my least favourite version. i really love the studio version, it makes sense that alan was obsessed with arular at the time.

Yeah, it gets a vote regardless. Subsequent performances didn't make as much of an impression as that first time seeing what would become drums and guns. Also the 'Ohio' version of Sandanista, but reckon I was misremembering as it looks like they only started playing that version after the album came out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE_srr4l5xU

test

Oh cool I've been unbanned, I was worried I couldn't participate in the poll when it starts

gtfo tbh

Until we have nicer things to say to each other, I'd be very happy if you stopped addressing me and I will return the favor. I will not accept any more bullying / censorship / childish behavior from you or your team.

v rich to be accused of bullying and censorship(????) for thinking your ideas about coercion are retrograde and dangerous. seems like you learned a lot from being banned. if you're in the results thread, i won't be there!

sorry for ruining the thread like this y'all, i'm just still very mad

palate cleanser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3--uA82cLfg

fitting given that i can't stop listening to everything but the girl this week

just submitted my ballot. went with gut instincts and tried not to overthink it, but still, so hard. incredibly excited to see this rollout!

Voted!

1 thru 5 ranked precisely, the rest are in the right general vicinity.

Love that Ben Watt collaboration. Interesting to hear Mimi’s voice on what could easily be an ETBG track.

Sent a ballot, if it's still open

yes there's still a bit longer - still open for the next 8-9 hours if anyone has last minute ballots

how long of a rollout do people want? thinking top 60 tracks but i can make it a bit longer, we have more than enough ballots to get something meaningful out of going a bit beyond that.

& more terrible pun thread name suggestions welcome (i can't think of any more beyond the few that were suggested upthread)

Do it as long as the results are interesting...

There's a point where it just becomes stragglers and loosies: everything above that imo

it'll be somewhere from 60 to 80, any more than that and it's the real stragglers

I do like "too LOW" as a title.

If we're punning, then how about "sometimes your CHOICE is not enough".

But if it has to have poll in there, "On our way from Stockholm, it started to POLL"?

do you know how to poll

oh i see that's the name of this thread

let's bring it out for an encore though!

If you were polled today, we'd vote you in place eight

Cause there's nothing as sad as a man on his back counting polls

I verified the math and double checked the poll

Fear of polls and a disappointing father

A poll shot up like a bright red snowflake

"...But here we sit debating math"

filling polls with tiny sounds

And if I POLL the mighty and strong will be rejected

There'll be just enough votes / For one special poll

60-80 More Reasons to Forget

i’m fond of “tomorrow one” and “old man song” from the box

― donna rouge, Monday, November 1, 2021 6:45 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

hear hear

The video for Over the Ocean is nice

The track at my #1 was above everything else for me (I avoided mentioning it in this thread) and the next of the top 15 were somewhat easy, but it was hard to decide on most of them after that, except on feelings in the moment, because there were too many great tracks to fit in

In retrospect I wish I had place Little Argument with Myself higher

xp to brad only one of those ended up on my ballot ha

well i sure hope it was "old man song"!!!!

ballot sent

ok that's a wrap, voting closed

results are a little weird honestly, but that makes it exciting

All You Pretty PeoPOLL, You’re All Gonna Die

Too Low is an excellent poll name.

Can you reveal early--how many ballots received?

too low!

either that, or Low with a bunch of drudge sirens on both sides

🚨🚨LOW🚨🚨POLL🚨🚨RESULTS🚨🚨

very catchy

whelp, after a week of immense jet lag, I ended up DJing a party yesterday, got very wasted and was exhausted and missed the deadline. Fail. Well, my top 10 would have been 80% from the last 2 albums, so probably a good thing to avoid adding recency bias to the tally.

I'll be watching intently though. ufo, thanks for running this!

recency bias would have been fine though, there's a lot of different views of low among the ballots, but my apologies for not being able to wait further for you octobeard.

here's the results

Too LOW: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low - RESULTS

whoa, awesome! for some reason i was expecting tomorrow, although now i realize it's because you're in my tomorrow now! :D

*HEADS THERE*