In 2013, Duluth, Minnesota-based indie rock act, Low, celebrated their twentieth anniversary as a group by releasing their 10th studio album, “The invisible way”. The trio of Alan Sparhawk (guitars/vocals), Mimi Parker (drums/vocals), and Steve Garrington (bass) enlisted the production help of Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy for this outing. Apparently, though, the album didn’t stray too far from the group’s normal template of gentle, minimalist, beautiful tones. I say “apparently” because this is the album for which I first took notice of the group and embraced them. I gave “The invisible way” a thorough run through, ensuring they were thus on my radar for future releases but not going so far as to travel too far down their back catalogue road.
According to Sparhawk, the creative leader of the group, the only glaring differences between this album and the ones that came before was the addition of a lot more piano work and the fact that his partner in crime, Mimi Parker, shifts from her usual support role to take over lead vocals on five of the album’s tracks. Today’s tune, “Just make it stop”, is an example of one of these tracks.
“If I could just make it stop
Breaking my heart
Get out of the way
If I could just make it stop”
The second tune to be teased in advance of the album’s release is mostly driven by Parker’s delicate voice and her just as gentle brushing on the drums but about halfway through, we do get the addition of those aforementioned keys and a bit of bass muscle. Indeed, the song almost creeps into upbeat territory. But let’s stress the word “almost” here. Let’s not get too crazy because this is Low we are talking about, the band that quite possible inspired the term ‘slowcore’. I won’t belabour this, though. Just press play on the video below and let Parker haunt you too.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.
Just about five years ago, I was nearing the end of my Best tunes of 2000 list and the excellent second single of this record, “Bohemian like you”, came up at number two. I’ve got my posts linked so that when they go live, a blast also goes out through my Twitter account and I distinctly remember that when that particular post went out, whoever manages the Dandy Warhols Twitter account gave my tweet a like but responded that the song should’ve been number one. And they weren’t wrong. It definitely would’ve been at the top if it weren’t for that one niggling song by Coldplay.
Well, if the Dandy Warhols Twitter handlers are paying attention again, my apologies to you because you’re once again second best. But at least this time, it won’t be to Coldplay.*
“Thirteen tales of urban bohemia” was the album that got me hooked on the Dandies. When I saw the album on the CD racks of HMV**, I picked it up and flashed right on back to seeing them open for The Charlatans three years prior. That momentary jolt and total recall pushed me to bring the compact disc home with me. And the album’s mix of psych and glam and country rock was a whole lot of fun and had me returning the disc to the platter quite often that year. I remember bringing it into work with me and playing it for Michael, my tool rental colleague, as well as (incidentally) the recent Charlatans album, “Us and us only”, as a way of refuting his theory that rock was dead in the face of pop and hip hop. Of course, I didn’t know at the time that frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor has made reference to the fact that the band had wanted to make one last great classic rock record when they went into the studio to make this album.
Well, I don’t know about classic rock but it is certainly a great rock record and criminally, overlooked, if you ask me. It got a bit of burn in the UK after the aforementioned single was picked up for commercial use but if it weren’t for that, it might have gone nearly unnoticed.
“Thirteen tales of urban bohemia” was the Portland, Oregon-quartet’s third album but first with new drummer, Brent DeBoer, who came on to replace the original kit man Eric Hedford. It is a collection of thirteen fantastic and playful tunes that show a band peaking and getting it all exactly right. There is so much to love here that I could go on all day but I will limit myself to sharing my typical three picks for you. Enjoy.
“Get off”: “I love god all the same / But all I wanna do is get off / I feel it I feel it I feel it babe / Baby, come on” The first of my picks was the first single to be released off the album. Track eight is just over three minutes of pumping and chugging adrenaline. It doesn’t seem to be deep at all. No hidden meaning. No politics or diatribe. Just good fun. Like the first night of frost week. Like the celebration after winning the championship. The guitars get a boost from The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, who if you believe the hype from the documentary “Dig!” that came out a few years later, was in a constant feud with the band. It don’t sound as much here, the guitars fall right in line with the rhythm of the drums, the feet stomp and the whole band grunts and groans its agreement with our intrepid frontman.
“Godless“: The opening track was released as single number three. As an opener, it totally works, that yawning and searing, reverb soaked guitar intro just eases its way up and down your spine and allows you time to soak it all in until the song and really, the album starts in properly. At just after the thirty second mark, the acoustic strumming commences, as does the marching rhythm and the trumpet flourishes provided by hired gun, Eric Matthews. Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s vocals are understated here, mostly a whisper and a hint at what’s to come. “Hey, I said you’re godless man /Hey, and you’re a soulless friend /Hey, I said you’re thoughtless / And I swear, I swear.” He’s crooning and hitting out at all the evil deeds done in the name of religion and godliness, and it feels quite in line with thematic titles that appear later in the album, like “Nietzsche” and “Mohammed”.
“Bohemian like you”: The second single to be released off of “Thirteen tales” is arguably one of the band’s biggest tunes and commercially high points. Not bad for a tune that started off as Taylor-Taylor’s musings and fantasizing about a girl stopped at a traffic light outside of his apartment. “Wait! Who’s that guy? Just hanging at your pad. He’s looking kinda bummed. Yeah, you broke up, that’s too bad. I guess it’s fair if he always pays the rent and he doesn’t get bent about sleeping on the couch when I’m there.” As I wrote about the tune when it appeared at number two on my best tunes of 2000 list, it’s a hell of a rocker, like many of the tracks on the album. But this one, in my opinion, is elevated slightly higher by its ability to not take itself, nor its performers too seriously. Woo-ooo-ooo!
Once again, I’m still not on a regular schedule around here so I won’t promise when we’ll get to album #1… but, as I say below, I’m hoping to close off this list before this year is out. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:
You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.
*Coldplay’s “Parachutes” came in at number four. I am hoping that the number one album for this list will see the light of day before the end of this year.
(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)
Artist: Inspiral Carpets Album Title: Revenge of the goldfish Year released: 1992 Year reissued: 2022 Details: 30th anniversary, Limited edition, transparent orange
The skinny: So here’s yet another album from the “man, I feel old” files. Inspiral Carpets’ third album, “Revenge of the goldfish”, was my true introduction to the Manchester-based, baggy quintet. I dubbed a copy of it to cassette after I borrowed the CD from my friend Andrew Rodriguez back in high school. I had recognized a song or two when I first listened to it and then, suddenly, I was hearing a handful of its songs all the time on Toronto’s alternative radio station, CFNY. To my young ears, Clint Boon’s crazy organ work, Craig Gill’s rapid fire drumming, and Tom Hingley’s pronounced and jaunty vocals were unlike anything else out there. For me, this album is a classic – so many great tunes! It’s a vinyl reissue I’d been waiting for for years and so when they announced this 30th anniversary (!) limited edition pressing in orange (of course), there was no way I was resisting. And I won’t lie, it’s hit my turntable more than a few times since it arrived earlier this year.
My (life in) music lists 