Low: Classic or classic?

Man.

everytime i think i'm done getting teared up over her passing...

yep, that wrecked me

"All of the things that inhabit (and sometimes define) damn near every artist you’ve known and loved: some desire to be recognized, paid attention to and lauded - she didn’t have it. In fact, I’m sure she didn’t want it when it came her way

What she did have, and what you heard and saw - it poured out of her so naturally that she didn’t identify it as “talent” or a “unique ability”, and she found it strange when others viewed it as such"

I just read Zak's tribute. It's beautiful. Midway through I thought "omg Mimi was a Virgo" and I googled it and yes she certainly was

Just got an automatic notification of a refund for what would have been the March show. Even knowing subconsciously it would come doesn't make it any better.

Talking about Low in the past tense is so sad

Yeah, really is. I almost haven't felt this much of a past/present divide in talking about an artist now gone since Bowie.

Guardian obit today:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/18/mimi-parker

this paragraph jumped out at me because a. first sentence is wrong lol but also b. didn’t know this bit about TRW (i was only 9 or 10 when it aired so i never watched that season):

Low’s 1995 LP, Long Division, included the single Shame, on which Parker sang lead for the first time. Picked up by the MTV reality show The Real World: San Francisco, it soundtracked the story of a gay man living with HIV. Parker told the Guardian in 2018 that it “became kind of a gay … I won’t say anthem. But a lot of gay men come up to me and talk about that song. They say that it really spoke to them.”

Just got an automatic notification of a refund for what would have been the March show. Even knowing subconsciously it would come doesn't make it any better.

My friend got the same message today (assuming you had tix for the Chapel show, Ned) and hadn't realized Mimi had passed until reading it and shared condolences via text with me.

I think it's always interesting to see how far a band's impact can reach. For example, I never would have expected Rick Beato to chime in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Mj4Nv_ip0

There should be a word for the empathyless triggering of human pain by automated systems. I feel the same way when Facebook reminds me of the birthdays of dead friends.

someone recently uploaded this 2004 documentary about the band to youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6BkD5ivYww

i think most of it was shot while they were touring 'trust'. there's a sweet clip of alan singing 'little surfer girl' to baby hollis in the SPIN offices. also, an unexpected but delightful celebrity cameo at the 29-minute mark!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXxBE1qi_24

also, an unexpected but delightful celebrity cameo at the 29-minute mark!

I sent this to my wife and asked her to guess who it would be and she somehow guessed immediately before watching it lol.

Re: Trust. I only listened to it for the first time a couple weeks ago but it struck me as “countryish”. I’ve been going through the catalog chronologically after writing them off as slowcore way back in the 90s and then idly checking out Double Negative a couple years ago and being blown away.

Has any band had such a subtle stylistic evolution over as long a period as these guys? Like album by album over almost 30 years they slowly morph into something else, like watching day by day a tree change colors in the fall.

That's pretty apt. Though with Low, I want to say the ingredients were all there from the start; famously, Alan supposedly heard both Joy Division and the Velvet Underground for the first time the same night in college, which adds up. The country element that you cite, I think that's maybe the Neil Young influence, which does start to creep in more prominently a few albums in.

Looks like Alan is returning to (local to him) live performance. He also posted a link to this 2021 music store set he did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DaU8X7yBt0

I have tickets for tonight's show, will be very interested to see what happens.

How was the show?

From last night. Thank you all for the joy. Most of our set is original instrumentals but this is such a fun song to play and sing. Have a great weekend everyone. ❤️🥁❤️ https://t.co/J2JatYhfLv

— LOW (@lowtheband) December 2, 2022

over almost 30 years they slowly morph into something else, like watching day by day a tree change colors in the fall.

I like this :)

ha that's my friend i went with, our table was front and center

fun show, no acknowledgment of anything that's been going on which i suspected. did some cool covers - roy ayers, funkadelic, gambino, curtis mayfield, sparhawk really got out there channeling eddie hazel on the funkadelic song

overall i like the vibe of it, definitely feels like they are still figuring out what they are, sometimes it could feel a little underbaked on certain jams. sparhawk was using an envelope filter, a pedal i have mixed feelings about. other jams were fantastic. sometimes reminded me of the budos band.

his son is a really great bassist! funky and clever lines. drummer and percussionist were great as well.

there was one song i should have recorded that felt like it took aspects of low and turned it into something totally different, was by far the most "song" song and less jammy.

overall, fun and very promising band but feel like they need to figure a few things out.

Funny you say that Trust feels "country-ish"— I think it's one of their most aggressive and noisy records, but with a few country songs on it.

As an avid poster collectors I was kicking myself for not having a Low poster. Then I saw on the Chairkickers site a limited edition foil tour print from this year designed by Zak Sally and I immediately remedied the oversight.

I am a rare ilx poster but sadly not sought after. It's a pathetic contradiction.

Limited edition of one, don't undervalue yourself.

We're getting that framed as I type, actually— we got one on the tour.

The Low in Europe documentary has popped up recently.

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

This is a worthwhile recommendation. I rewatched it on YouTube a few weeks ago after Mimi passed away.

Also worth checking out is Low: You May Need a Murderer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WjuOc0Mhc0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6BkD5ivYww

the moment at 22:50 where their daughter recognized they were playing "little surfer girl" hit hard

With Al's blessing, Silversun Pickups have recorded a cover of "Just Like Christmas," Butch Vig produced, as a charity fundraiser:

https://silversunpickups.bandcamp.com/track/just-like-christmas

^nice cover

Per another post on Mastodon: "Alan is hosting a listening party tribute to Mimi on 12/21 of the low xmas album. live (if you live in duluth) and streaming"

Yeah, here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmFQlABsWs1/?hl=en

❤️🥁❤️ https://t.co/SkT72mUZEY

— LOW (@lowtheband) December 21, 2022

that got me. Really would love one for my house.

All I want to contribute today is that I'm listening to Ones and Sixes and enjoying the hell out of "The Innocents" and "No Comprende."

Christmas on the stereo right now. Of course I burst into tears during the first minute of "Just Like Christmas."

There's a lot of a really beautiful church music around this time of year, imho, but nothing compares to Low's version of "Little Drummer Boy." It's massive and just astonishingly gorgeous.

:(

When you hear of someone falling off or becoming homeless or a hoarder after someone close to them dies, it’s not the grief that put them there - it’s the mountain of cold bullshit they have to cut through just to function and go on with life. The crowning gift of capitalism.

— LOW (@lowtheband) January 13, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUBp4EWieEc

xpost - that is indeed a depressing sentiment, one that hits really hard after having suddenly lost my father-in-law recently. the amount of red tape and bullshit that my wife has been through already is enough to stress anyone's system and she's just barely hit the tip of the iceberg

Narayama seeming like a more humane option these days

I haven't been able to listen to Low much since Mimi passed, but I put on an old playlist the other day that included "Whore" and it feels like that particular song got about 20% slower while I wasn't looking/listening.

Today it was "Dancing and Fire" that caught me off guard with the lines, It's more "Let it out" than "Let it go" / It's not the end, it's just the end of hope.

O stands for overrated (indie darlings along with yo la tengo or swans)

troll

Wtf, does CC ever talk about something they like or do they just pop in to shit on threads? Have they been around under a different name before this?

What would bring a troll here to waste their time? It doesn’t seem like there’s enough traffic to be satisfying.

Well and to counter CCs trolling a bit, call Low whatever you want but I do not know really any other band that I am a fan of that seems to cross the lines across people I know and other musician's tastes in regards to being admired as much as they do. A very very broad cross-section of people love Low, which is cool. Can't imagine finding this band to be lacking personally, but hey that's just me.

O stands for overrated (indie darlings along with yo la tengo or swans)

― CerebralCaustic, Saturday, February 18, 2023 6:00 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Imagine being this cloth-eared, heartless, and uninspired. I feel pity, and then I flag post.

all caustic no cerebral