It's still Curtain for me, in terms of albums.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 1 November 2021 20:58 (two years ago) link
What are people's favourites from the boxset?
My initial list of 30 is no way in step with the most played on Spotify or Last FM. This is very unexpected.
People! Start pitching!
― kraudive, Monday, 1 November 2021 21:01 (two years ago) link
Can I urge everybody to take another listen to "If You Were Born Today". It is possibly the purest distillation of what Low is, at least to me tonight. Beautiful.
― kraudive, Monday, 1 November 2021 21:03 (two years ago) link
I wish ppl wouldn't pitch! I want those raw numbers
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 1 November 2021 21:26 (two years ago) link
Also, I've wanted to start a band forever that does sludge metal versions of Low songs
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 1 November 2021 21:28 (two years ago) link
If you ever wondered what Low would do with "Africa." From 10 yrs ago. Not voting for this one lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWPx5N3rCvU
― that's not my post, Monday, 1 November 2021 21:59 (two years ago) link
Listening to the playlist I made earlier, it seems a lot of Low songs make me cry. Maybe I'm just emotional.
The songs are just so beautiful
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 1 November 2021 22:18 (two years ago) link
They really are the only "indie rock" band I like
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 1 November 2021 22:31 (two years ago) link
One the best things about them being essentially a stable husband and wife duo is that I feel like they'll just keep putting out music together as long as they're alive.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 November 2021 22:39 (two years ago) link
Listening to the debut in order to start whittling down my list and this is already feeling impossible.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 2 November 2021 00:03 (two years ago) link
the most essential track from the rarities boxset is "venus"
― ufo, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 00:52 (two years ago) link
some of the curtain hits the cast outtakes on it are pretty good too, "turning over" and "walk you out"
― ufo, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 01:01 (two years ago) link
"Venus" will def be on my ballot.
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 01:38 (two years ago) link
i’m fond of “tomorrow one” and “old man song” from the box
― donna rouge, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 01:45 (two years ago) link
Don't sleep on the Bombscare EP!
You weren't kidding, this might be my favorite of the EPs! The Murderer EP is also up there
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 08:45 (two years ago) link
yeah the murderer ep is pretty essential, the alternate early versions of "murderer" and "silver rider" are great and "from your place on sunset" is up with their best epics. interestingly it's the only time they worked as a duo prior to hey what, it was recorded during the period zak sally had left the band for a bit after the trust tour - he rejoined because they got a sudden offer to open for radiohead after supergrass pulled out.
― ufo, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 09:34 (two years ago) link
Man, "Silver Rider." That's one of the (many) Low tracks I for some reason occasionally forget (because there are a lot of them), and then I see the band live and they play it and I think, wow, this band ...
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 13:07 (two years ago) link
Turning my attention to the albums rankings, I just realized how many I will be forced to leave out. This is hard!
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 2 November 2021 15:49 (two years ago) link
I'm going to admit that I don't think any tracks from the past two albums will make it onto my ballot, none from Cmon or The Invisible Way, either.
As for HEY WHAT and Double Negative, tho— I love the records but the first five or six albums feel like they're part of my DNA or something, and I'm finding it much more difficult to winnow down tracks from those albums because it feels like I'm denying something that's given me succor and solace for a decade-plus.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Tuesday, 2 November 2021 18:38 (two years ago) link
I admit tho that most of Curtain remains on the list. Why? Because it's their best album.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Tuesday, 2 November 2021 19:07 (two years ago) link
definitely one of them!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 19:17 (two years ago) link
Voted
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 11:58 (two years ago) link
I am still discovering this band but I am excited to cast a newcomer's ballot with whatever I can cover in two weeks. I don't think I had heard anything by them when Double Negative came out (maybe the debut), and I listened to Curtain for the first time this morning.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 12:28 (two years ago) link
I've been a fan for about 20 years and have always considered them to be a very good band, but I didn't think of them as One of the Best Bands in the World until the opening moments of "Quorum".
I will most likely have a song from HEY WHAT in my top 2.
― cwkiii, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 13:39 (two years ago) link
Quorum is great
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:08 (two years ago) link
Their discography is huge. I submitted my ballot without relistening, just going by the tracklists of each album and picking the songs I remember I liked the most but I’m sure I left some great ones out and I may have overrated a few of them.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:10 (two years ago) link
― ufo, Tuesday, November 2, 2021 5:34 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
I was at those Radiohead shows at MSG and that crowd was definitely not there for Low. Sparhawk played night 2 with a new guitar purchase courtesy of the gig windfall iirc.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:29 (two years ago) link
Listened to Drums and Guns again. Reminded me that it has so many great tracks and serves as a good transition to the more recent work. Ugh, it’s going to be hard to get the list down to 30 tracks.
― that's not my post, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 17:36 (two years ago) link
Will you accept unranked ballots?
― kommafeil, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 20:24 (two years ago) link
oh, it's 30 tracks? not 25? that makes my task a little easier, i'm down to 37
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 20:57 (two years ago) link
unranked ballots are fine, just specify that's what they are
― ufo, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 23:40 (two years ago) link
I whizzed through Trust, Great Destroyer and Drums & Guns today and narrowed them down to about six songs total. Now I’m onto C’mon and, man, I just don’t get the folks who think this is lesser Low. This album is so gorgeous.
I think because I’m going through the whole discography in such quick succession this week, C’mon is really resonating with Things We Lost in the Fire. They feel like twins to me right now.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 4 November 2021 01:00 (two years ago) link
c'mon is very solid but not much on it is up with their very best, i don't think anything except "nothing but heart" will make its way onto my ballot. it's definitely a continuation of things we lost in the fire, going further in that direction. probably their most lush & accessible album.
the great destroyer is one that has really shot up in my estimations lately, it's a really remarkably strong rock album, every song is very very good. something "just stand back" is very uncharacteristic for them but it's so good at what it does.
― ufo, Thursday, 4 November 2021 02:59 (two years ago) link
Yeah, that’s the one, that caught my attention on relisten - I think the more abrasive sound now feels more in line when you compile their most recent 2 albums.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:02 (two years ago) link
yeah i think alan's talked about it being them seeing how loud they could go at the time, but they've certainly surpassed that with hey what
― ufo, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:15 (two years ago) link
i do wish the studio version of "pissing" went as far as they do when they play it live, it's fantastic.
great version at 34:30 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I45V99gx25Y
― ufo, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:26 (two years ago) link
it sounds kinda Harvey Milk-lite, and I mean that as a compliment
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:44 (two years ago) link
I can see "California" and "Just Stand Back" disappointing fans who were accustomed to their earlier sound but I love both songs
― Vinnie, Thursday, 4 November 2021 05:09 (two years ago) link
The band's catalog is like cresting waves in the ocean. It's constantly moving and hypnotic, but some of it is taller and more impressive.
I bet Alan would surf if he didn't live in Minnesota. Though I guess you can surf Lake Superior!
https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/travel-recreation/recreation/why-winter-is-surfing-season-in-minnesota/
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 4 November 2021 12:06 (two years ago) link
Over The Ocean?
― kraudive, Thursday, 4 November 2021 12:51 (two years ago) link
I feel like the "heavy" aspects of the band are really present on earlier tracks like "Laugh" (off Curtain) and of course "The Lamb," among others on Trust.
It is perhaps the commercial accessibility of Cmon that I find so distasteful— it simply doesn't sound like the band I fell in love with, and none of the songs stand out to me at all.
I've been thinking about why the earlier stuff grabs me in ways that even the much more recent albums don't, and while I have some ideas, I'm still not totally sure they hold up.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 16:43 (two years ago) link
Hmm I don't think of C'mon as commercially accessible any more than anything else they've done. It's not as dissonant or edgy as Trust or Drums & Guns, but the aesthetic of C'mon has always been a prominent part of their palette. You could make a whole album of "Low pop" in the vein of Try to Sleep (Venus, Starfire, Immune, Dinosaur Act, etc.)
Anyway, shrug. I think Nightingale, Done, You See Everything, and Especially Me are all really lovely songs, and Majesty/Magic is a great mini-epic whose main flaw is that it's shown up by the even more epic Nothing But Heart.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:17 (two years ago) link
i guess that I've just often thought of those songs as the worst songs on their respective albums.
funnily enough, Cmon has fallen *below* The Invisible Way for me as a result of this poll
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:27 (two years ago) link
“Nightingale” is making my ballot - probably my fave from that album.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:32 (two years ago) link
from the last graph of the Pfork review of the record:
As such, C'mon feels more like a collection drawn from throughout the last decade than a completely cohesive album. This could be viewed as the band sorting through the progress it's made in search of the next turn-- there are even a few songs that come close to revisiting the glacial sparseness of their earliest music. This is all to say that, if you already like Low, C'mon will not disappoint you, and though it's not their best album, it's a fairly accessible distillation of where they've been.
Sums it up for me— many of the tracks feel like they're treading old ground, sort of running through the motions. Nothing on it stands out. It also doesn't help that I am infinitely annoyed by the first track on the record, a place where LOW are usually exceptional.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link
re-listened to the great destroyer on my commute this morning, the point upthread about fridmann’s production choices being more tolerable after their recent run of albums has some truth in it. still think the middle third kinda drags. there’s still three or four songs on it that may make my ballot
― donna rouge, Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link
I still have most of Curtain on my ballot. I think it's just going to have to be that way.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:40 (two years ago) link
First cull for tracks: down to 72 (from 265 non-live tracks I have in my collection).
Stats on those 72 tracks:
― Soundslike, Thursday, 4 November 2021 22:01 (two years ago) link
It's going through the older albums for me and deciding "well, which one of these could you not liver without"
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 22:24 (two years ago) link
lol... live without
I do like "too LOW" as a title.
If we're punning, then how about "sometimes your CHOICE is not enough".
But if it has to have poll in there, "On our way from Stockholm, it started to POLL"?
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Sunday, 21 November 2021 22:55 (two years ago) link
do you know how to poll
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 21 November 2021 22:56 (two years ago) link
oh i see that's the name of this thread
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 21 November 2021 22:57 (two years ago) link
let's bring it out for an encore though!
― just staying (Karl Malone), Sunday, 21 November 2021 22:59 (two years ago) link
If you were polled today, we'd vote you in place eight
― Tim F, Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:00 (two years ago) link
Cause there's nothing as sad as a man on his back counting polls
I verified the math and double checked the poll
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:01 (two years ago) link
Fear of polls and a disappointing father
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:02 (two years ago) link
A poll shot up like a bright red snowflake
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:03 (two years ago) link
"...But here we sit debating math"
― Tim F, Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:04 (two years ago) link
filling polls with tiny sounds
― just staying (Karl Malone), Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:05 (two years ago) link
And if I POLL the mighty and strong will be rejected
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:06 (two years ago) link
There'll be just enough votes / For one special poll
― Tim F, Sunday, 21 November 2021 23:08 (two years ago) link
60-80 More Reasons to Forget
― donna rouge, Monday, 22 November 2021 00:19 (two years ago) link
― donna rouge, Monday, November 1, 2021 6:45 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
hear hear
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 22 November 2021 00:37 (two years ago) link
The video for Over the Ocean is nice
The track at my #1 was above everything else for me (I avoided mentioning it in this thread) and the next of the top 15 were somewhat easy, but it was hard to decide on most of them after that, except on feelings in the moment, because there were too many great tracks to fit in
In retrospect I wish I had place Little Argument with Myself higher
― Dan S, Monday, 22 November 2021 00:38 (two years ago) link
xp to brad only one of those ended up on my ballot ha
― donna rouge, Monday, 22 November 2021 00:43 (two years ago) link
well i sure hope it was "old man song"!!!!
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 22 November 2021 00:45 (two years ago) link
ballot sent
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 22 November 2021 03:14 (two years ago) link
ok that's a wrap, voting closed
― ufo, Monday, 22 November 2021 07:56 (two years ago) link
results are a little weird honestly, but that makes it exciting
― ufo, Monday, 22 November 2021 10:38 (two years ago) link
All You Pretty PeoPOLL, You’re All Gonna Die
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, 22 November 2021 11:10 (two years ago) link
Too Low is an excellent poll name.
― hocus pocus, alakazam (PBKR), Monday, 22 November 2021 12:41 (two years ago) link
Can you reveal early--how many ballots received?
― Soundslike, Monday, 22 November 2021 13:42 (two years ago) link
too low!
― just staying (Karl Malone), Monday, 22 November 2021 15:55 (two years ago) link
either that, or Low with a bunch of drudge sirens on both sides
― just staying (Karl Malone), Monday, 22 November 2021 15:56 (two years ago) link
🚨🚨LOW🚨🚨POLL🚨🚨RESULTS🚨🚨
very catchy
― just staying (Karl Malone), Monday, 22 November 2021 15:57 (two years ago) link
whelp, after a week of immense jet lag, I ended up DJing a party yesterday, got very wasted and was exhausted and missed the deadline. Fail. Well, my top 10 would have been 80% from the last 2 albums, so probably a good thing to avoid adding recency bias to the tally.
I'll be watching intently though. ufo, thanks for running this!
― octobeard, Monday, 22 November 2021 17:30 (two years ago) link
recency bias would have been fine though, there's a lot of different views of low among the ballots, but my apologies for not being able to wait further for you octobeard.
here's the results
Too LOW: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low - RESULTS
― ufo, Monday, 22 November 2021 22:32 (two years ago) link
whoa, awesome! for some reason i was expecting tomorrow, although now i realize it's because you're in my tomorrow now! :D
*HEADS THERE*
― just staying (Karl Malone), Monday, 22 November 2021 22:33 (two years ago) link