Low: Classic or classic?

So are the vocals going to sound like that on the whole album?

kinda broadcast-y?

hope he checked himself for ticks after shooting that.

press release indicated that he's messing around with vocoders and autotune on this entire album

I like this, reminds me of La Düsseldorf. As far as the autotune vocals go I'd rather hear him do a Trans than an Everybody's Rockin', if you know what I'm saying.

everybody's rockin' would actually be a much more interesting move in 2024

Eh I'm much more excited about this approach than coming back with another Retribution Gospel Choir record

I will always take another RGC record, but I get this being a distinct thing. I like the second single much better though. Reminds me a bit of Kim Gordon's recent records.

i feel like this "oh we're an indie artist but we've discovered SYNTHs and AUTOTUNE and BEATS!!" is just as much of a cliche as "back to basics" at this point, even Decemberists did it

I mean, that's not wrong, but this also feels like a somewhat natural evolution of where the Low albums had been heading.

That's how I feel about the KG record and most other stuff (KG or John Cale with trap beats, no thanks I'm good). But this feels different to me, like a catharsis and a way for him to make music without sounding like Low minus Mimi. Hard to know what I would think if I didn't know the context though.

xp

xpost

that's true

i love the last couple but also the most revolutionary music they made was the early stuff

listen i don't begrudge him anything at all...i saw the first derecho show and the first alan sparhawk band show, i enjoyed them okay but in both there was a nagging thing like do i really *like* this or just wish him well?

actually the more i think about it an alan sparhawk weird rockabilly record could rule

Yeah, I mean I don't think this is the best music he's ever made and who knows how it will feel in a few years, but this seems like a necessary transitional phase if there ever was one. I'm glad there's a record for it.

xp maybe that will be the Trampled by Turtles record, lol

I have at least one song recorded from the live set I saw with the band he has with the Trampled by Turtles guy in it - sounded way more trad obv but different than Low, I'll try to find it and post

my frustration is that "get still" is decent but him making a synths & autotune album and not getting bj burton involved just feels like a waste of potential

here's tracks that are probably going to be on the album with tbt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZwriY0HEaE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCu0uLb8AkY

okay found some stuff, first up Tired Eyes, Alan playing guitar in the world's greatest Neil Young cover band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl821lPCQbc

Speaking of, I could absolutely see Sparhawk having a Youngian approach to his latter career, tossing off different ideas in different modes.

We've probably done this before but how did their songwriting partnership work? I seem to recall reading somewhere that whoever did the lead vocals, the song was theirs, Lennon/McCartney style. If that's the case then he should certainly have it within him to write more Low-type stuff. Which, for the avoidance of doubt, is what I'd like to see him doing.

There was an interview I saw where he talked about how Mimi was often the person who would tell him when to stop - that she would give his ideas some direction and could figure out what the song needed, while left to his own devices he would want to push every idea as far as possible.

https://thegreatnorthernfestival.com/tgn-blog/low-interview

they talk about it in this interview a little bit - typically the one who wrote it is the one who sings lead, but there are exceptions - mimi mentions that there's songs where she ended up singing lead even though that wasn't the original intention, just because it worked better, and there's plenty of songs they sing together

Metal

Aha, that is the comment box on this Zing app, not the search box. An error I will make exactly once.

Alan has a new noise rock thing w/a friend of mine called Feast of Lanterns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4BZto7Gf0M

that sounds cool, hard to keep track of all his bands

first up Tired Eyes, Alan playing guitar in the world's greatest Neil Young cover band

back at Turf Club in October!

Metal

Which Low album was it that had "There Will Never Be an Edit Button on ILM"? Trust, probably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2qukBhLLIc

That whole episode of the Life of the Record podcast is excellent. RIP Mimi

boggles my mind that i'd never heard of their springsteen cover until today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy_bQq2sAoA

same

the only reason i knew about it because i collect different versions of that track lol

Oh that's nice.

I like the Electrelane version a lot. What other good versions are out there, Table?

Listening party (i.e. preview stream) happening on Bandcamp right now. Only just tuned in but the album seems to be pretty short, just 34 minutes.

Another new single. Sadly I’m to the point where I find it all pretty unlistenable. Will wait for the next thing he does.

I saw one of his other new projects, Feast of Lanterns, just this past weekend, an excellent noise-rock trio and let me just say...the 90s are back baby!

mild apologies, but my store (LUNA music) did (alongside Electric Fetus) our own variant of the new LP...that are signed by Alan. Not too many copies left. https://shop.lunamusic.net/ALAN-SPARHAWK-WHITE-ROSES-MY-GOD-LUNA-music-El-p/098787165531.htm

Lovely feature

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/arts/music/low-alan-sparkhawk-white-roses-my-god.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NU4.X1pz._XYArhaQL9LR&smid=url-share

thank you for that link, Ned

meanwhile, heard the album but I could only handle half of it in one go - it's not *bad*, the vocoder vocals are just not very accessible.

I saw him and his band play last spring or so. It was about 1/3 vocoder stuff, 1/3 soul-jazz (like Roy Ayers covers) and 1/3 heavier Neil Young-inspired stuff. The Neil Young stuff was best, the soul-jazz surprisingly solid and the vocoder stuff kind of not fully formed. I haven't heard the new album, but speaking of Neil Young, I did get to see Tired Eyes twice this summer, once here and once up in Milwaukee, and boy was it a blast.

album's ultimately just a curiosity - it's interesting to hear him work in such a different mode and some of it's decent enough but it's just not up with his best work overall

I've had "always trying to work it out" stuck in my head for days. must be ruminating about something plus the song is an earworm

Wouldn't the vocoder stuff just be his Neil Young "Trans" tribute?

My LP came today and I regret buying it. Its dreadful. Might need to start listening to pre-release songs in future to avoid it happening again.

Surprised at how much I like it. Minimalistic beats and weird vocoder effects, what's not to like? It's sorta like Brat, only very different.

Much worse than most Low albums, though.

Album is very much a curiosity, better in parts than I expected and far, far worse in other parts ("I Made This Beat" has to be the absolute worst Sparhawk associated song ever), but I can't begrudge him for chasing down this likely necessary detour to process things. I'm not sure I'll be returning to this very often though.

On the positive side, "Feel Something" is kinda heartbreaking.