In House #1833: Low's Drums & Guns; New Blonde Redhead

Duluth, Minnesota trio Low emerged from the annual thaw this week with a new creation, their eighth studio full-length, entitled Drums & Guns. For a band once content with a steady and consistent sound that made them known as a slo-core act back in the 90's, they've shown a restless streak over the past two or three albums now. The new one is no different, exhibiting an entirely stripped bare sound that can only be described as skeletal, and in the process making an about face from the uncharacteristically loud, crunchy tunes found on 2005's The Great Destroyer. In fact, perhaps the only thing Drums & Guns has in common with that album is producer Dave Fridmann-- whose work here is truly astonishing considering that he was the guy responsible for the layers and lushness found on albums like the Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin and Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs, among others. Despite the sparse tones, Low still manage to cover complex territory, with the world's current war serving as the centerpiece for songs with titles like "Hatchet," "Murderer," and "Violent Past." In other words, it plays out how an album that begins with the lines, "All the soldiers/ They're all gonna die/ All the babies/ They're all gonna die," might be expected to, somehow without battering the listener over the head with the heavy subject matter. By reinventing their sound once again, this go around employing loops and electronic blips like they never have before, the band simply takes a different route to a similar result: a creation that is at once dark AND beautiful-- and unmistakably Low.

Low

In House #1833.
Airdate: 3/22/07
Focus: New release from Low, Drums & Guns, plus new music from Blonde Redhead, Elk City, Archives (featuring Carissa's Wierd's Mat Brooke), and more.

BONUS MP3s-
Low, from Drums & Guns:

"Breaker" (MP3)

"Murderer" (MP3)

Archives, (new band feat. ex-Carissa's Wierd/Band of Horses' Mat Brooke):

"Sleepdriving" (MP3)

BONUS Vid-
Low's "Breaker":


PLAYLIST

In House PODCAST #281