Low: Classic or classic?

<i>cold, inhuman, non-spiritual </i>

These are not words I would describe Double Negative or the new one. I've been the reverse of Twin - when I discovered the band (late 90's) I thought they were interesting but boring. Hadn't heard anything from them for 20 years and then Double Negative comes out and it clicks. They're peaking right now and making me revisit their old stuff again.

Maybe in time the warmth, humanity and spirituality of these last two records will shine through for you.

I'm not confusing a change of tack with an objective drop in quality. To me, what I've heard of their later work just doesn't move me as much as their earlier work - therefore I think it's not so great - it's not an even remotely controversial opinion to hold !

― ^TwIn*InFiNiTiVeS^, Wednesday, September 8, 2021 11:18 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

You'd originally framed it as the band getting worse, not just that it doesn't move you as much. I was responding to that. I have nothing against you saying the post-90s material is not for you.

I will come clean and say that I prefer everything up to and including "Trust" to anything they made after, and my preference is pretty strong. But Low are among my favorite bands, so I also love the newer stuff, barring "Cmon" and "The Invisible Way." The latter suffers from Tweedy's production and staid songwriting, and the former just doesn't click with me. I've tried many times, even within the past year because of this thread, and I just don't hear anything in it that grabs me.

The first six records tho? whew.

If we're talking the NEW new stuff, then I am much more enthusiastic. Everything since "Ones and Sixes" has been great...there were just a few years there where I get a little 'eh'

Which, yknow, addiction and the aftermath, maybe that has something to do with it.

I swear I will never understand the whole "Tweedy's production" thing on Invisible Way...like I know he's the dad rock boogie man so you gotta distance yourself but seriously it just sounds like an organically, pretty naturalistic record, not even that far from Things we Lost in the Fire....if it were the same exact record done by Jimmy McProducerhead no one would ever mention the production

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvqMfZE41pY

You're probably right, but a bunch of sub-par songs in his hands is not great.

It also sounds like he's pushing the Tweed to 11

Oh, did I hear a dustmote? Jeff Tweedy must have produced it.

they've said the acoustic direction on the invisible way was less about tweedy pushing them in that sort of direction and more just that his studio had lots of great acoustic instrumentation they decided to play around with. the songs are unusually weak for them though yeah

double negative really is a masterpiece on the level of kid a or loveless, etc., finding that real sweet spot between experimentation and accessibility

"on my own" is the single gem on the invisible way

i remember liking "amethyst" but its been a while

new album gives me "royalty free inspirational youtube music" vibes. still good tho.

C'mon is my favorite of their later period ones, the rest didn't click as much with me. still need to spend more time with double negative though

You're probably right, but a bunch of sub-par songs in his hands is not great.

― Kind regards, Anus (the table is the table), Wednesday, September 8, 2021 3:28 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think it's probably the least of their albums but if, say, they had come to his studio with all the songs off secret name or TWLITF i don't think the conversation would be about tweedy's (to my ears) fairly hands off sounding production it would be about all the great songs

ums otm. I know there's a kneejerk hatred for Wilco and Tweedy around here but I think he takes a really unfair share of the blame for that record.

i'd bet his method isn't real different than albini's - have the band play really good quality instruments and set up really expensive microphones and then record

I think we're all subject to both good or bad brand perception from time to time despite the actual quality of the product.

i'm listening to every low album in a row and i'm very depressed

Counterbalance it. Watch all the Fast and the Furious movies in a row or something.

It's funny, I don't find them depressing, I find them deeply spiritual experiences.

I don't mind the low-key (ha) production on Invisible Way as a change of pace, and the Mimi songs are great (Just Make It Stop is one of their best!).

Also just learned that the guy who produced C'mon (which sounds amazing imo) was Katy Perry's touring guitarist/MD and does vocal production for huge pop records: http://mcdman.com/beckley

first two albums are pretty depressing, to me, it's different after that though

secret name has one of their bleakest atmospheres imo

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

secret name has one of their bleakest atmospheres imo

― ufo, Thursday, September 9, 2021 2:36 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i guess we're all revealing that we have very different ideas about low and certain low records, but i find the atmosphere of secret name overwhelmingly warm. just on the surface the addition of strings and keyboards and albini's recording does so much to make their sound inviting instead of what it was before: awesome but at times forbiddingly minimal, especially in the stretched out silences of the curtain hits the cast (which is not a criticism, curtain is still my favorite early low record). and these new additions are only applied with the subtlest of touches! it's remarkable

if we were talking about long division though, absolutely

low songs that somehow contain their entire career within them:

do you know how to waltz?
don't understand

Nice review on p4k today, as if I wasn't already excited enough to hear this. I've avoided everything so far and my copy should be awaiting me when I get home from work today.

oh yeah long division is the other one i find really bleak, probably their most glacial apart from songs for a dead pilot, which is a real extreme of their sound.

the curtain hits the cast & i can live in hope aren't quite as bleak to me, there's a faint warmth to them, while at times on secret name that warmth goes out completely - "i remember", "don't understand" and "days of" especially.

i guess even on the darker parts of i could in hope, like "cut", there's still some sort of catharsis

maybe the more appropriate contrast how warm secret name seems to me is songs for a dead pilot, which is slowcore so pushed to its limit that it fragments and goes abstract

this is btw the best band of all time

there's definitely moments of real warmth on secret name but when it's bleak it's really bleak, which is what colours it that way for me. i get what you mean

i really can't think of any band with a better overall discography, it's really ridiculous how good they are

there's definitely moments of real warmth on ________ but when it's bleak it's really bleak

This is the description of pretty much every Low album. No album is entirely warm nor entirely bleak. What’s interesting to me is that they have been bleak in a dozen different ways, and their warmth is one of the most beautiful things in music.

Hell, there are some individual Low songs that are both warm and bleak. The verses of "(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace" are spare and glacial-feeling, and the chorus is soaring and warm.

I resisted downloading before just now, eugh this record is so good.

Ok this rules.

I wanted to love the last two like I'm loving this.

Yes it does. The way White Horses starts is amazing, as is the way it segues into I Can Wait.

did not know:

Fun fact: the vinyl mix of C’mon is actually different than the digital, as we kept skipping the needle during vinyl mastering, so had to re approach the mix ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

— matt Beckley (@teneightEight) September 10, 2021

That's pretty common, right? Gotta be increasingly common given how loud records are often mixed/mastered these days.

Esp lots of deep electronic bass, the first record by the band Police is actually mono because they couldn't accommodate the bass in stereo

Nice review on p4k today

lol "8.4," I guess that's where the dart landed. It's shame the band just played the 'Fork fest in 2019, because if ever there were a weekend when Low should be on the bill it's this one.

they are playing a really cool outdoor festival called the square lake festival tonight and tomorrow night in mn, hoping to score a way in, but it should be lovely, i would imagine this is more their speed, hoping to get a way in even though it's sold out

https://www.squarelakefestival.com/

The album fucking rules

xposts warm and bleak go together naturally i think. depression/sadness is often like a warm blanket you wrap around yourself; it can become the most comfortable

Lol @your dn DJP

Andy Bell & co. singing "HEY WHAT the hell you think you've done" every time I think about this album

I thought about going to the Square Lake thing, bet it will be awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et6SgyP7zMU

tons of evidence on this very thread that the invisible way has a reputation of sounding typical and unadventurous for a low record and i think it's like... at least a little undeserved. for one thing, it's got its own sound (ums otm about tweedy's production, which is one of the best parts of it), sorta like they built a country-rock record out of flourishes only, and the result is the gentlest low album (which is still, at an audible depth below the surface, unbearably tense). idk i didn't spend a lot of time with it when it came out but during this run-through i discovered i really like it

i am a weirdo tho, i think the worst/least distinguished low record is the debut