Comments on: Let's get slow

Let's get slow

ardgedee — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:02:15 -0800

It's been a hectic and exciting week and it's barely half over. Let's slow down and take a trip over the ocean...

Little connects the following bands aside from being called slowcore. Regardless of how how much or little noise they make, they share the ability to conjure atmospheres of danger and mystery out of little more than playing rock very, very slowly... Galaxie 500 has been retconned into being slowcore, songs like Tugboat helping their rep. The appropriately-named Codeine had a great song in the early 90s with Loss Leader but only lasted for a couple albums. The brothers Kadane have had a fruitful career, first with Bedhead (The Dark Ages) and later with The New Year (Disease). Ida takes a folksier approach in The Weight of The Straw. And coming from nowhere, Sister Ray offers a good, strange ten minute long video called Death. Low is one of the best and longest-lived of them all, making quality music slowly for fifteen years. So here's Sunflower, Words from their first album, Point of Disgust, Because You Stood Still, and a remarkable live performance of Murderer.

By: sir_rubixalot

sir_rubixalot — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:18:23 -0800

Slowcore sounds awesome right now... MAYBE its the vicodin, I'm not sure, but thank you.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:22:12 -0800

Maybe after you've had some of that you'll like some Deep Blue Day to keep going.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:38:32 -0800

Ah, I was just listening to Luna's Bewitched today. Man, I love Tiger Lily. Seam is another slowcore band I used to listen to, way back when.

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:50:41 -0800

The best mistake I ever made was buying Curtain Hits the Cast when it came out in 1996. I thought I was buying an album by a different band that I can't even remember now who someone had told me sounded like the Jesus Lizard. It took a while for the album to grow on me as it obviously wasn't what I was expecting but I realized pretty quickly that it was one of those rare perfect 10/10 type albums.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:52:10 -0800

That's a really sweet video. Thanks!

By: electronslave

electronslave — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:33:25 -0800

I was expecting this to be a lead into the NZ parliamentary elections, being both slower and across the sea from just about everywhere, but still having some drama. But that'd be too obvious.

By: Item

Item — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:24:33 -0800

I've always been partial to the bleak, bleak video of Low's 'Words'. There's something about the imagery of three characters struggling to navigate a lifeboat across a frozen tundra that still gets to me fourteen years after I first saw it on the Matt (barf) Pinfield (BARF) era 120 Minutes. Fuck, I'd forgotten how much I hated Pinfield. Barf. Really, really hated the guy - I was in high school at the time & can remember sending him a lengthy, threat-filled hate letter composed with the one friend I had that was crazier than I was. I remember freaking out after I sent it, worried that maybe we'd pushed the envelope (har!) a little too far & the feds were going to track me down & hang me out to dry.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:34:24 -0800

No love for Slowdive?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:46:07 -0800

Man there was another band called Sister Ray from Ohio. This isn't the same one. Those are the facts.

By: medium format

medium format — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:38:34 -0800

I kept waiting for the drummer in that first video to get crushed by a chifferobe.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:56:28 -0800

> Man there was another band called Sister Ray from Ohio. This isn't the same one. There are a couple different bands naming themselves after the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray", but none that I could find info on seemed like bands that would make something like this. I'm stumped.

By: owtytrof

owtytrof — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:37:35 -0800

I've never heard of any of these bands, but this stuff is fantastic. Thanks for posting this.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:47:08 -0800

I don't much care for Low's last few albums (rarely have i disapproved of Dave Fridmann production, but Low should have remained Low), but their early stuff is pretty close to perfect. I haven't listened to them in a while, so thanks for the post. I'd add American Analog Set to the list of bands. I saw them once at SXSW, and ended up sitting down and reading a book during the show, just because that's what I always did when I listened to AmAnSet.

By: greenie2600

greenie2600 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:48:53 -0800

Tons more Low here. (Flash; isn't working in Firefox for some reason.) They really are ridiculously good.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:11:20 -0800

ardgedee: Looks like this Sister Ray is from Vancouver and is pretty cool Portishead mixed with shoegaze.

By: tiny crocodile

tiny crocodile — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:52:22 -0800

Thanks. I love Low.

By: tiny crocodile

tiny crocodile — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:04:48 -0800

Oh, and Drums and Guns (which Murderer is from) is a great album. Though if you're a long-time fan, maybe you'd need to hear it live so that you could see past the non-low-ish elements (loops and such). The songs are just as good as ever. Last time we saw them, I turned to my friend and said "Low are just consistently amazing". No word of a lie. Also, such nice, polite people.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:45:07 -0800

Was anyone else excited for a cool accelerated video of a plane's view flying shallow over the Atlantic? /a boy can dream