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

XD

Cool, glad to see Sleep at the Bottom make it (which reminds me, hats off to the other A Lifetime of Temporary Relief voter in the albums section).

only four of the songs announced so far were on my ballot. "dancing and blood" was in my top ten

I forgot to vote for "Sleep at the Bottom" because thinking about all the material on A Liftime... was too exhausting a proposition, but it's lovely. Reminds me of A.R. Kane's 69 but prettier.

the graphic design here is so sweet & it's so good to see the best band in the world getting so much love.

https://i.imgur.com/qT2u2xY.png
50. Especially Me
Released on C'mon (2011)
238 points, 9 voters, 1 #1 vote
Music video

https://i.imgur.com/o1BZTnP.png
50. More
Released on HEY WHAT (2021)
238 points, 10 voters, 1 #1 vote
Music video

5 of the first 10 tracks garnered a #1 vote. Shows the depth of the catalog and how everyone finds their own personal Low track.

'Soon' was my number one. Beautiful song.

As I mentioned on the other thread, I did unranked for tracks. Don't know how the rest of you did it.

By picking a solid top 5 and ballparking the rest

https://i.imgur.com/HQi1J1Y.png
49. Immune
Released on Secret Name (1999)
250 points, 5 voters, 1 #1 vote
Studio version

I think there is a music video for this one but it's the only one that's not on YouTube

“John Prine” was one of those tracks that hung off the list for awhile but roped itself back into orbit. Kinda has a later-era Swans vibe going.

i'd forgotten that alan & mimi do sing on swans' "lunacy" until digging deep for this poll

I remember being shocked that the last song on HW was the only one to have drums in it because it sounds so much like there are some buried in the heaviness of “More.” Great Mimi cut.

God bless whoever put "Especially Me" as their #1. It's underrated.

they did a lot of heavy side-chaining with the drums on most of hey what before removing the drums from the mix so there's still the ghost of them there pretty much. i think there might still be some electronic pulses too, but "the price you pay" is the only one with live drums for sure

https://i.imgur.com/S5potwi.png
48. Anon
Released on The Curtain Hits The Cast (1996)
257 points, 7 voters
Studio version

https://i.imgur.com/5uJmgDV.png
47. Just Like Christmas
Released on Christmas (1999)
266 points, 7 voters
Studio version

xpost the last 5 songs really capture Low's diversity pretty well. I only voted for "Anon" of these, but all of them were on my long list before I chopped it down.

Absolutely that, voted Especially Me and Just Like Christmas quite high. I can see the latter being dismissed by hardcore fans possibly? To me it's a classic and integral to my festive activities!

i never quite got into their christmas tunes. might have to remedy that this year

https://i.imgur.com/V1Rs7TN.png
46. Venus
Released as a single (1999) & on A Lifetime of Temporary Relief
270 points, 11 voters
16 points for "Venus (Time Stereo Dub Mix)"
Studio version
Time Stereo Dub mix

another that didn't quite make my ballot but is still excellent

of a piece with "over the ocean"

Just Like Christmas is Top 5 for me!

Me too!

Especially Me was my #1.

John Prine was my #2 and lots of others were my votes. Venus just outside the top 10.

I would have laid hard cash Just Like Christmas would have been top 10 in the poll.

I always play Christmas obsessively at this time of the year. I also love the lyrics for "Just Like Christmas", they really capture how memories can be both vague and sharp simultaneously.

https://i.imgur.com/kBxtZbo.png
45. Always Up
Released on Double Negative (2018)
271 points, 6 voters
Studio version
Live at NOX ORAE 2019

top 10 for me, love that organ & bass flute

they really capture how memories can be both vague and sharp simultaneously.

In many ways one of the greatest evocations of memory in all of art, some vague facts or ideas linked with a couple of specific points.

"Trust" the hardest to whittle down, but across all the records it seemed the angrier, weirder-production tracks like John Prine remained standing and left a much stronger impression over the breezier Canadas and Californias. I guess it's the name of the game, but still painful to fit into the 30. Maybe they felt cul-de-sac'd by the same since the last two records.

https://i.imgur.com/PU8peJD.png
44. Lies
Released on Ones and Sixes (2015)
273 points, 9 voters
Music video

one of the highlights from ones and sixes but i couldn't quite get it on my ballot

https://i.imgur.com/G1mwVPw.png
43. July
Released on Things We Lost In The Fire (2001)
274 points, 10 voters
Music video

'always up' was my #2-- such a beautiful song. i think the only reason it's not my #1 is because i've only lived with it for a few years

I love the triptych of "Always Up" / "Always Trying To Work It Out" / "Always In The Dark" - feels like a real descent.

Happy to see some of the C'mon tracks make it, after the album DNPed in the albums poll. "Nightingale" is one of those tracks that might sound generic or sleepy to some, but to me has an ineffable beauty

Very impressed by the variety of the tracks so far, what a band

https://i.imgur.com/lyJT2xI.png
42. California
Released on The Great Destroyer (2005)
276 points, 9 voters
Music video

Xp the word "Always" falls on the same beats in all three songs, makes me wonder if they were all born out of the same idea

https://i.imgur.com/Tcj5iLG.png
41. The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)
Released on HEY WHAT (2021)
277 points, 9 voters
Studio version

last one for today. i really meant to get through these a little quicker but i got distracted. probably should have settled for stopping at 46, oh well

one of my favorites from the new one. the way mimi's voice is consumed by and struggles with the noize section is incredible

yes, one of my faves as well, and in my top 10

I didn't vote for anything from HEY WHAT more out of principle -- too new, too many other great Low songs -- but in all fairness should have voted for The Price You Pay and one or two others. If this poll had happened next year then I probably would have.

“Venus” was a really lovely surprise while doing a deep dive through their Temporary Relief comp.

So far I've voted for Gentle, Spanish Translation, Dancing and Blood (love that pulse sound), Especially Me, Lies, Anon (too low ! that sustained note in the near-void) and July. Would have liked to vote for Immune, it was one of the last one to go.

For me, John Prine is the centrepiece of Trust, it feels like an exercise to produce a seven minute track with the maximum amount of space between the notes (even for Low). It encapsulates what the album is about, at least for me, and that's why I voted for it even though I don't think it's necessarily the best song on the album.

I just realized that Pissing (on GD) has the same chord progression (I think) as John Prine and sees them taking that exercise to the opposite extreme -- maximize the number of notes filling up the space between simple chord changes.

July ended up being my #3, they restrain themselves from taking the brakes off and doing the more maximal sun-breaking-through-the-melancholy a lot more than I remembered but when they do (Like a Forest, Soon, Will the Night etc) it's devastatingly effective.

I was the #1 voter for Immune. Secret Name was my route into Low after I had a real 'moment' with Immune during the John Peel Festive 50 countdown in late-Dec 1999 - it was played unannounced and felt so much more insistent and coiled and warm than I'd previously perceived them to be; I was really surprised and delighted when I found out who it was.

California also in my top 5 - such an addictive track!, and really interesting that this and Just Like Christmas haven't just defaulted to top 10 placings. I think that (from a UK perspective at least), these two are kind of 'the hits'.

A little shocked that Anon was so low, but then again I'm shocked that Curtain wasn't voted #1 album.

I'm starting to think I should have ranked my tracks so I'd agree with this list more.

Immune and California both in my top 10 - Immune is such a simple song but it's totally perfect; California maybe not totally representative of The Great Destroyer but it definitely unlocked that album for me.