Free EP

January 11, 2011 4:22 PM

Happy Holidays from LOW – Free EP Recorded live January 22, 2009 in the St. Catherina Church, Eindhoven
posted by edgeways (26 comments total)

Robert Plant recently received a Grammy nomination for his version of Low’s “Silver Rider” found on the Band of Joy CD (which features two Low covers -”Silver Rider” and “Monkey”)
posted by edgeways at 4:23 PM on January 11, 2011

An EP is a size of phonograph recording, isn't it? Might as well say "free cd, download here".
posted by gjc at 4:28 PM on January 11, 2011

EP refers to the length of the recording. It's not a single, and not a full album.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 4:31 PM on January 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

Extended Playing, but not Long Playing.
Where's my free cassingle!?
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2011

In high school they would play Low on Radio K, the local college station in Minneapolis. "Like a Forest" is the song I remember. A bit sadder and quieter than this, but similarly dark and lush. I recorded songs from that station on the cassette player in my dad's car. I think I was depressed a lot at that time, and then a bit later in my life I tried to get over it by listening to happier music. Now I can go back and here this and it sounds like what I would have listened to if I never left Minnesota. It's snowing here now so I guess it feels the same.
posted by mai at 5:24 PM on January 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

Okay, listening to this whole song, I am realizing that their earlier stuff is superior, so here:

Like a Forest
posted by mai at 5:27 PM on January 11, 2011

Also:

Words
posted by mai at 5:29 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Okay, listening to this whole song, I am realizing that their earlier stuff is superior

July and Laser beam are both from Things We Lost In The Fire (the same album that Like A Forest is from), which was released in 2001. The other two songs, Monkey and Silver Rider, are from The Great Destroyer, from 2005, which wasn't as good an album.
posted by dng at 5:42 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

yeah free music! thanks!
posted by mannequito at 5:46 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ooh is this where we post our favorite Low songs?

Two Step
Immune

Both from Secret Name.
posted by nev at 5:50 PM on January 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've enjoyed Low's progression as they expanded their sound volume with The Great Destroyer and acquired an Optigan. But yeah, there are definitely some differences between the older (quieter, gentler) stuff and what happened after Sparhawk returned from The Retribution Gospel Choir side project.

Thanks for the link edgeways, and allow me to shoot one into the mix with a download for I Hear... Goodnight, from the collaborative EP they put out with Dirty Three for Konkurrent's In The Fishtank series.
posted by carsonb at 6:58 PM on January 11, 2011

I'm with herrdoktor. When did they start playing at normal speed? They were so fun when they were pissing off punk rockers with that ridiculously slow tempo and low volume.
posted by Gilbert at 7:53 PM on January 11, 2011

Much as I love those early, Kramer-produced reverb-drenched Low records (Do You Know How to Waltz is just crushing), I'm still most partial to the fuller sound they developed on Secret Name and Things We Lost in the Fire, and the Christmas EP. Some of my favorites: Lion/Lamb, Will the Night, Whitetail.

There are also a number of great live Low recordings at archive.org's Live Music Archive, dating all the way back to 1994!
posted by cirripede at 8:31 PM on January 11, 2011

Is it upbeat? I like my holiday music upbeat.
posted by nanojath at 8:42 PM on January 11, 2011

As much as I love (and I really do mean love) early Low, I still think stuff like this is on par with the early stuff.
posted by borges at 8:51 PM on January 11, 2011

nanojath: Low's Just Like Christmas, from the 1999 Christmas EP, is about as upbeat and catchy as they get.
posted by cirripede at 8:57 PM on January 11, 2011

Just kidding about the upbeat thing. I know Low (seen 'em at the 7th Street Entry, in fact), but thanks for that Christmas track, I never heard that one before.
posted by nanojath at 9:16 PM on January 11, 2011

Venus

First time I played it I had my wheel on 33... sounded fine like that too.
posted by MeatLightning at 9:46 PM on January 11, 2011

no one is gonna mention how great their 'in the fishtank' contribution is? them and the dirty three.

duluth is a nice town.
posted by rainperimeter at 10:09 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

ok, so i didn't see your comment, carsonb.
posted by rainperimeter at 10:14 PM on January 11, 2011

Since we're weighing in, I still think Trust is one of their greatest albums. At their darkest and most haunting.

Also, a documentary worth seeing for any Low fan is "You May Need A Murderer".
posted by troubles at 10:48 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

One of my strongest concert memories is Low at the third Indyfest organized by the now defunct music store Go! Records in Arlington, VA in the mid 90s. It was a mixture of independent record labels with booths, a swap meet, and a music festival. All day, the place had been a hectic hubbub of noise and energy with hundreds of people all talking at once. As the afternoon went on, an impending storm rolled in - you could smell that distinct smell that hot summer days have just before the rain; the wind picked up, the temperature dropped.

Then Low took the stage.

And everyone just shut up, went over, and sat down and listened.

I adore just about everything from their early and mid career. Words is most likely my absolute favorite, but Fear, Lullaby, Rope, Violence, Shame, Streetlights, Do You Know How To Waltz (particularly the live version with Godspeed You Black Emperor and the one on One More Reason), Laser Beam, Closer... I could go on.

I also adore them for having a sense of humor, as evidenced by their "Lowfits" performance of three of their songs in the style of the Misfits or their covering Soul Coughing's Blue Eyed Devil.
posted by Candleman at 11:11 PM on January 11, 2011

That early Low...shiver inducing all over the damn place. Everytime I saw them play live they played so quietly that the whispering audience was competing with the music and was a distracting pain.+

Anyhow, thanks for this link. I was astonished to learn Robert Plant had covered them.
posted by Skygazer at 1:35 AM on January 12, 2011

The earlier Low albums (I Could Live in Hope, Long Division, The Curtain Hits the Cast) are the ones I always return to. Each of them spent a year or more in the CD player by my bed so that I could listen to them in the dark whilst falling asleep. There's probably no better music to listen to by yourself with the lights off and bad weather outside.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:52 AM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

> Kramer-produced reverb-drenched Low records (Do You Know How to Waltz is just crushing)

I think that was produced by Steve Fisk.

My favorite Low side-thingy is probably either the Fishtank short album with Dirty Three, or the remix of "Over the Ocean" by Tranquility Bass, which somehow turns it into a happy, skipping tune without fully losing the essence of the source material. (and incidentally, searching YouTube for low over the ocean will provide enough material for somebody's totally unrelated FPP.)

Anyway, here's an especially crushing version of Murderer. (and)
posted by ardgedee at 8:05 AM on January 12, 2011

I heard "Just Like Christmas" at Victoria's Secret in a suburban mall over the holidays, kind of threw me for a loop.
posted by christiaan at 10:31 AM on January 12, 2011