Low: Classic or classic?

still can't get over how good the guitar on "white horses" is

have been going through rarities i'd never heard before and wow "half light" sure is unique in their catalogue. kinda reminds me of songs of faith and devotion?

oh yeah, that Mothman Prophecies OST thing, right - hadn't heard that in a long time. you're not wrong!

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

that's an interesting video -- all fake, plastic, manufactured tools and items, but with real human force to drive them to use them, all for nothing

I had to go look up The Knife's Handyman video to see how similar I remember it being (not very)

Exploring Peter Rehberg's catalog since I had only heard a few things over the years, this song reminds me too much of Double Negative (specifically the noisy part of "Tempest") not to share here:

https://pitaemego.bandcamp.com/track/get-out-3

classic

https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/low-band-alan-sparhawk-hey-what/

nice interview, alan thinks 100 gecs are great

nice boots

Only one more week. I've put off listening to anything form this so far, after Double Negative I want to wait and savor the whole thing.

didnt realize theyd lost their bass player? i liked steve!

I want to see technology break as much as it has broken me.

damn

yeah that line hit me like a ton of bricks too

The same thing as ever ; great early on and got worse as they progressed.

*AIR HORN*

hhhYYOOOOOoooooooonk

you make a good point i guess i'd never thought of it that way.

welp, you've convinced me - I'm no longer a fan. Thanks!

they did start out really well

but an attack is followed by a decay. that's the physics of sound. the decay may be sustained, but in will eventually be released. i think we know what stage of low we're at now

seeing their release show next weekend. intimate affair in the woods (~250 attendees? if that?). stoked

"the same thing as ever" is really funny to say about a band that has made shifts in their sound as radical as double negative & drums and guns

Always hitting a new LOW

More goes really hard and I love it.

I haven’t paid attention to them since Long Division, since their sound did nothing for me (I was all about beats n’bass in 1996), and just figured since then it’s been 25 years of the same. Boy was I wrong!!! :(

The same thing as ever ; great early on and got worse as they progressed.

― ^TwIn*InFiNiTiVeS^, Saturday, September 4, 2021

don't feel this. they are one of the few bands who got better

their best periods are their early stuff & this current one

Haven't heard the new one yet, but I don't care for their avant stuff. I like them soft & mellow.

btw the new (touring, at least) bass player is Liz Draper

http://giantstepsmusic.org/liz-draper/
https://www.instagram.com/lizdraperbass/

xp you probably won't like the new one then, it's the loudest they've ever been. imo it's one of their very best though

Low have made one of my favorite albums of the decade for every decade they’ve existed. Curtain (90s), Fire (00s), Double Negative (10s).

that's because they're the best

https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-077-low

good interview in tone glow, really gets into their dynamic as a band

yes was also coming here to post that, its a great read

i've been going back through the early instagram performances of the new material & it's fascinating to see how their ideas evolved from very straight forward arrangements before they got into the studio, to the album's walls of distortion with barely any percussion at all

i never even realised there's only prominent drums on a single track until i saw it mentioned in an interview recently

alan thinks 100 gecs are great

― ufo, Thursday, September 2, 2021 6:01 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

does he? I didn't necessarily get that impression from the quote. I think he was referring generally to stuff like the Paul Anka thing that was hyperlinked. Sorry but I'm having a difficult time imagining Alan and Mimi listening to that between like harvesting their beets and praying before bed

it's ambiguous but "That’s what young people should be doing—they should be smashing it and building their own vocabulary" sounds more like 100 gecs etc. than the Paul Anka Playing From Another Room video.

it'd make sense if he's at least a little familiar enough with them to think they're great, he's actually not too far removed from that whole world via the bj burton connection

it's ambiguous but "That’s what young people should be doing—they should be smashing it and building their own vocabulary" sounds more like 100 gecs etc. than the Paul Anka Playing From Another Room video.

it'd make sense if he's at least a little familiar enough with them to think they're great, he's actually not too far removed from that whole world via the bj burton connection

ah whoops

anyway i can totally imagine burton having played them for him & alan going "oh the distortion rules" etc

Alan and Mimi listening to that between like harvesting their beets and praying before bed

the fact that they do both is kinda what makes them so fascinating

The same thing as ever ; great early on and got worse as they progressed.

― ^TwIn*InFiNiTiVeS^, Saturday, September 4, 2021

don't feel this. they are one of the few bands who got better

― Dan S, Sunday, September 5, 2021 2:21 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
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Dan, I suppose I should have explained that better. As some people here are implying, I don't mean that Low still sound "the same as ever" - more that (for me anyway, and like a LOT of bands I am a fan of), they just stuck around too long, making not-so-great records compared to their first flush. I do like some of "Trust" but "Things we lost in the fire" just sounded tired. From what I heard of subsequent albums, I wasn't enthused - didn't have any of the qualities that drew me to the band in the first place. Particularly disliked "Double negative" - just sounds like someone off WARP remixing Low. Hate that cold, inhuman, non-spiritual sound.

they just stuck around too long, making not-so-great records compared to their first flush. I do like some of "Trust" but "Things we lost in the fire" just sounded tired.

This is like challop bingo.

xp

Hate that cold, inhuman, non-spiritual sound.

I have the feeling Low are now what My Bloody Valentine was in 1991. The cutting edge of rock music. Making noise tuneful (and soulful). Truly innovative.

they just stuck around too long, making not-so-great records compared to their first flush. I do like some of "Trust" but "Things we lost in the fire" just sounded tired.
This is like challop bingo.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, September 8, 2021 2:20 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

===================

I am sorry Josh in Chicago, that does not compute.

seeing as Double Negative was ILM AOTY, you're going to have a hard time getting people to agree with you on here

xpost Well, to me they do not sound like a band that's stuck around too long, "Things We Lost" is a contender for *best* album, "Trust" came out *before* "Fire," etc. Regardless, the new one and the last one show a band that's been around for decades still capable of surprise, even if said surprise may disappoint or annoy some. There are other (often still good) bands that have clearly stuck around too long, imo, especially compared to Low.

"they just stuck around too long, making not-so-great records compared to their first flush. "

This is an absurd opinion. You might not like their direction but this description seems totally off the mark.

I used to write comments like that when a band branched out from a genre style I was overly dedicated to. Sounds like they developed their sound and it wasn’t to Twin’s taste and they’re confusing that with the idea that band itself is floundering.