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.
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Sunday, 14 November 2021 22:21 (two years ago) link
Is "Landslide" (Ones & Sixes) just a faster version of "Don't Understand" (Things We Lost in the Fire)?
― Hideous Lump, Sunday, 14 November 2021 22:47 (two years ago) link
I've just sent in my pollI whittled my list down from 122 favourites and it got harder with every cut!
― treefell, Sunday, 14 November 2021 22:54 (two years ago) link
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
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Sunday, 14 November 2021 23:11 (two years ago) link
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
― Dan S, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:12 (two years ago) link
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
― Dan S, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:16 (two years ago) link
Deadline is technically up, can I still sneak mine in?
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 15 November 2021 00:26 (two years ago) link
it's been extended for another week I think (at least I hope)
― Dan S, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
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.
― Tim F, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
yes it's been extended for a week, plenty of time still
― ufo, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:35 (two years ago) link
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.
― that's not my post, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:50 (two years ago) link
No Comprende is a force
you can't just throw it in the traileryou've got to stack so it's stablegot to wind up all the cables
andYou say it out loudOur house is on fireYou 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
― Dan S, Monday, 15 November 2021 00:59 (two years ago) link
there's a little bit of a spaghetti western quality about some of their music
― Dan S, Monday, 15 November 2021 01:02 (two years ago) link
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
― Vinnie, Monday, 15 November 2021 01:28 (two years ago) link
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.
― that's not my post, Monday, 15 November 2021 04:00 (two years ago) link
he seems to be a huge fan of the great destroyer, he's convered quite a few tracks off it
― ufo, Monday, 15 November 2021 04:21 (two years ago) link
― 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.
― Nabozo, Monday, 15 November 2021 08:52 (two years ago) link
Another thing that poll has brought home is what an incredible voice / vocalist Alan is.
― Nabozo, Monday, 15 November 2021 08:55 (two years ago) link
Thank you, ufo! You have one ballot that wouldn't have made it with the original deadline incoming, at least.
― octobeard, Monday, 15 November 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link
Really wish we'd gone with 50. I'm at 35 right now. Impossible choices.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 15 November 2021 18:06 (two years ago) link
Album and covers all done, but tracks are just impossible.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 15 November 2021 18:07 (two years ago) link
Did we not do 50? Because I did 50.
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Monday, 15 November 2021 18:40 (two years ago) link
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
― Dan S, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 01:31 (two years ago) link
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
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 01:35 (two years ago) link
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?
― Soundslike, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 01:53 (two years ago) link
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
― Dan S, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 02:02 (two years ago) link
“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.
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 02:28 (two years ago) link
If I'm not a lionAnd I'm not an islandIf time is the diamond
Well all right
― Dan S, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 03:04 (two years ago) link
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)
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 04:59 (two years ago) link
yes, it was extended until sunday
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:02 (two years ago) link
you can't let me know that! i work on a deadline-motivation scheme!
*fades away in low motion*
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:18 (two years ago) link
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.
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:21 (two years ago) link
"poor sucker", for example.
what a beautiful piece of music
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:22 (two years ago) link
xp having the exact same issue - they’re both so fresh to me that separating “moments” compared to their previous material is proving difficult.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:30 (two years ago) link
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
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:33 (two years ago) link
yeah, both otm!
it's new, and that's harder, but also the flow of it. very hard to isolate certain sections
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:42 (two years ago) link
Tempest is my favorite part of the album! That and “always trying to work it out”
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:43 (two years ago) link
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
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 05:57 (two years ago) link
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)
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:03 (two years ago) link
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
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:05 (two years ago) link
a lot of that is nostalgia talking too, of course. it's really hard for me to figure out what low songs are "better".
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:07 (two years ago) link
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
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:12 (two years ago) link
(i don't expect 2-step to make top 20 but i have no idea)
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:15 (two years ago) link
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
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:27 (two years ago) link
all among their most gorgeous songs with incredible textural work on top
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:28 (two years ago) link
some of the most beautiful distortion on record since loveless
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:36 (two years ago) link
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.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 06:48 (two years ago) link
this poll IS TEARING ME APART, LISA!
sorry
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 07:04 (two years ago) link
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!
― just staying (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 07:05 (two years ago) link
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.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 07:05 (two years ago) link