Low Posts

USA Today Gets ‘Low’

Jul 26, 2013 2 Comments

The new Low documentary got a mention in USA Today‘s pop culture blog “Pop Candy” yesterday, written by uber-cool pop junkie Whitney Matheson.

‘Low Movie’: Indie band gets its own doc

Here’s the writeup:

Despite having been together for 20 years, the band Low has managed to remain pretty under the radar. This year the lo-fi Sub Pop artists are being celebrated in a documentary that looks as good as it sounds.

Low Movie (How to Quit Smoking) is directed by Phil Harder, who has been documenting the band for the last two decades with a 16mm camera. His film includes lots of never-before-seen footage from the band.

I admire Harder’s dedication to getting a good shot – which sometimes means persuading the band to get on frozen Lake Superior when there’s a 30-below wind chill.

Low’s latest record, The Invisible Way, was released earlier this year. Last week Pitchfork debuted a compelling performance video for the song “Clarence White.”

Low Movie screens July 29 in New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center before showing in more than 20 cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. For screening info and more, head to the official site.


Music ,

Video Archive: Low video “Over the Ocean” premiere on MTV from 1996

Jul 20, 2013 2 Comments

MTV’s Matt Pinfield introduces the premiere of Low’s “Over the Ocean” video during the program 120 Minutes. The video was directed by Philip Harder; the song is from Low’s album The Curtain Hits the Cast.


History, Music, Videos ,

Dispatches from the Low/Radiohead tour, Green Man, skinny dipping and other happenings from July 2003

Jul 19, 2013 1 Comment

July 2003 is the first complete month of archived posts on Perfect Duluth Day. It was a time when Facebook didn’t exist and the word “blog” was still a year away from being named Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year.

PDD was a pretty different thing back then, both in appearance and attitude. Founders Barrett Chase and Scott “Starfire” Lunt used the Blogger publishing platform initially (until August 2004). If you look at the archive, it’s getting sloppier all the time as many of the images that were hosted on other sites aren’t there anymore and most of the links are dead.

Blogger didn’t support commenting in those days, so Barrett and Scott found some other thing to use, but the company behind it went out of business years ago, so all the comments from the posts on Blogger are long lost.

Since it was pre-Facebook, and was started among a group of friends, PDD initially was used a bit like Facebook, with a lot of inane daily updates — many of which stand the test of time and are cool to revisit, while others … not so much.

So what were the major happenings ten years ago as far as PDD was concerned?

  • Starfire was a rock-and-roll nanny in Europe, traveling with Low and Radiohead (photos above).
  • The second annual Green Man Festival was held at Spirit Mountain, featuring a giant gob of bands — the Big Wu, Wookiefoot, Shannon Wright, Heiruspecs, the Black-eyed Snakes, Ol’ Yeller, Pleasure Pause, Mark Mallman, White Iron Band, Cry on Cue, Spider John Koerner, Sweet Potato, Charlie Parr, Haley Bonar and so on.
  • PDD achieved the number-one ranking on Google for the search term “skinny dipping pics.” Quoth Starfire: “I can’t tell you how proud I am of all of you.”

History ,

Low – “Clarence White”

Jul 17, 2013 2 Comments

Music, Videos

And then there was the time Wilco brought out Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker and Richard Thompson for a rendition of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Jul 10, 2013 11 Comments

That was something.


Music, Photos ,

Low – “Do You Know How to Waltz?” (Live at Rock the Garden)

Jul 02, 2013 2 Comments

Here it is, the controversial 27-minute song.


Music, Videos

Low drones the Garden

Jun 17, 2013 14 Comments

So, as many of you have probably heard, Low played the “Rock the Garden” show at the Walker Art Gallery on Saturday and caused a bit of a ruckus by playing just one 27-minute song.

Now MPR asks, “What do artists owe you?”


Art, Music

Low – “Just Make it Stop”

Apr 16, 2013 1 Comment

Video by Phil Harder.

Spring and plants and snails will come. Just wait.


Music, Videos

Low – “Plastic Cup” and “Holy Ghost” (Live on Soundcheck)

Apr 01, 2013 2 Comments

Read More


Music, Videos

Low at 20

Mar 18, 2013 16 Comments

In yesterday’s story in the DNT, Alan Sparhawk, sound engineer Eric Swanson, musicians Marc Gartman, Amy Abts and Tony Bennett, and Low’s former nanny Scott “Starfire” Lunt all weigh in on the band’s 20 years of music.

It’s a great conversation and it’s one I think is worth continuing here as Low commemorates its second decade in the business and its 10th studio album, which hits the shelves on Tuesday.

What are your favorite Low memories, whether you know the band or you’re just a fan of their music?


History, Music

Low Deconstructed

Jan 03, 2013 1 Comment

Duluth band Low is featured in the lead article at stereogum.com.

Deconstructing: Yo La Tengo, Low and the Creative Potential of Domestic Bliss


Music

Low — The Invisible Way album trailer

Nov 28, 2012 2 Comments

There’s a new Low album coming out on March 19. It’s not titled Exceptional Peaches, and it’s hard to know how they resisted that urge and went with The Invisible Way, but that’s really no matter.

Read More


Music

Low’s 2005 performance of “California” on Last Call with Carson Daly

Nov 05, 2012 2 Comments

This video was posted on PDD back in 2005 as a QuickTime Movie, but now it has been converted for YouTube, so here it is again. And here’s a link to Chris Godsey’s coverage of it all on mnartists.org.


Music, Videos ,

This ought to be the death of them

May 23, 2012 1 Comment

Duluth band Low is playing a concert in front of the caretaker’s cottage at the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery on June 9.


Music ,

Low – “Point of Disgust”

Mar 06, 2012 2 Comments


Music, Videos