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

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.

only voted for one of these tracks so far, but I like a lot of them!

I've been thinking a lot about any reasons beyond sentiment and age that might influence my feelings toward Low's output, and I realize that there might be something about the earlier albums *lyrically* that could be part of it. The lyrics of the early records feel hermetic and cryptic yet strangely associative and narrativizing (I think of "Mom Says" or "Cut" as good examples). Starting around "The Great Destroyer," there was a sense (for me) that their lyric was expanding and becoming more outward-facing, and I think that the more recent records certainly put that in relief, in that they're pretty direct sociopolitical statements. And maybe that's why the more threatening and cryptic vibes of tracks like "Murderer" or "Take Your Time" or "Dancing and Blood" tend to be the tracks from the later records that feel most like older Low to me, and why I like them best of the newer stuff...there's something about suggestion that is much more interesting to me than directness.

That could just be me spitballing too much, tho.

so far:
61. Nightingale - 176 points, 5 voters
61. I Remember - 176 points, 5 voters
60. Gentle - 177 points, 6 voters
58. Spanish Translation - 186 points, 7 voters, 1 #1 vote
58. Like a Forest - 186 points, 6 voters
57. Days Like These - 202 points, 7 voters
55. John Prine - 206 points, 7 voters
55. Belarus - 206 points, 6 voters
54. Soon - 216 points, 8 voters, 1 #1 vote
53. Sleep at the Bottom - 233 points, 8 voters, 1 #1 vote
52. Dancing and Blood - 237 points, 7 voters
50. More - 238 points, 10 voters, 1 #1 vote
50. Especially Me - 238 points, 9 voters, 1 #1 vote
49. Immune - 250 points, 5 voters, 1 #1 vote
48. Anon - 257 points, 7 voters
47. Just Like Christmas - 266 points, 7 voters
46. Venus - 270 points, 11 voters
45. Always Up - 271 points, 6 voters
44. Lies - 273 points, 9 voters
43. July - 274 points, 10 voters
42. California - 276 points, 9 voters
41. The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off) - 277 points, 9 voters

https://i.imgur.com/9nQOrwL.png
40. Tempest
Released on Double Negative (2018)
278 points, 7 voters
Studio version
EarthQuaker Session

What is that thing on the cover anyway

some sort of mask i think

i really love "tempest", those waves of sidechained distortion are gorgeous

https://i.imgur.com/whaWxK5.png
39. Last Snowstorm of the Year
Released on Trust (2002)
279 points, 8 voters
Studio version

I love Tempest so much! I discovered that EarthQuaker session yesterday while following the rollout, and looked back in disbelief at how low I had it on my ballot. Really a perfect summation of what's so great about Double Negative: there are amazing, amazing songs at its core.

Last Snowstorm of the Year is also incredible. :)

https://i.imgur.com/XX4CDB1.png
37. Whitetail
Released on Things We Lost In The Fire (2001)
285 points, 8 voters
Music video

https://i.imgur.com/GpBCMwN.png
37. Landslide
Released on Ones and Sixes (2015)
285 points, 11 voters
Studio version

I know you can probably say something like this about pretty much any song so far, but how does the band that wrote Landslide have 36 better songs? They really might be the best band.

I am here for the content-free filler while everyone else is busy.

Oh shit, they're playing here in February! I should snag tickets.

“tempest” didn’t make my ballot but it’s a really incredible track - those last 30 seconds where it sounds like the band is drowning

https://i.imgur.com/nEItCQr.png
35. Weight of Water
Released on Secret Name (1999)
291 points, 9 voters, 1 #1 vote
Music video

https://i.imgur.com/cUMZQMo.png
35. No Comprende
Released on Ones and Sixes (2015)
291 points, 11 voters
Studio version

“whitetail” otoh did make my ballot - amazing creeping dread

I had Weight of Water at number one and I can't quite believe that it's so far down in the rankings
Same for Whitetail which was second in my list