Author: eamonnmarra

2024 Listening Stats

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In 2024 I kept a spreadsheet of everything I listened to (starting on January . It was partially because I was jealous of Spotify Wrapped, and partially to make me listen to things more intentionally. I kept track of everything I listened to except one off songs (but I did keep track of 7″ records), what format I listened on, if I enjoyed it a lot, when it was recorded, if it was my first time listening. Here’s some of the breakdowns of what I listened to.

Top 101 Artists of 2024

1. Herbie Hancock
2. Alex G
3. Mannequin Pussy
4. The Bats
5. Phoenix Foundation
6. PJ Harvey
7. Mess Esque
8. Renee-Louise Carafice
9 – 10. Bedouine
Sinead O’Connor
11. The Beths
12 – 14. Andy Shauf
Sir Chloe
Yo La Tengo
15 – 17. Neil Young
The Clean
Tiny Ruins
18. Joanna Newsom
19 – 22. Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Dawn Richard
Jesus and Mary Chain
Nick Drake
23 – 26. Big Thief
French for Rabbits
Heems
Maxine Funke
27 – 35. Broadcast
Mitski
The Beach Boys
Bjork
Carb on Carb
Die! Die! Die!
The Beatles
Toro Y Moi
Wednesday
36 – 35. Adrianne Lenker
Hans Pucket
Joe Sampson
Julia Jacklin
Lucy Dacus
Pup
Sly and the Family Stone
Spirit of the Beehive
Taylor Swift
Van Morrison
46 – 52. Angel Olsen
Cindy Lee
Dale Kerrigan
Frankie Cosmos
Low
Mount Eerie
The Album Leaf
53 – 64. Bright Eyes
Chances Are
Empress of
Fiona Apple
Hop Along
Julia Shapiro
Magdalena Bay
My Bloody Valentine
Over the Atlantic
Ramones
Skullcrusher
The Traveling Willburys
65 – 74. Brian Eno
Caroline Polachek
Caroline Rose
Cat Power
Devo
Laura Jean
Mystery Waitress
Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes
T54
Womb
75 – 88. Alex Cameron
Codeine
Elemeno P
Eyeliner
FKA Twigs
Fazerdaze
Kate Bush
Look Blue Go Purple
Salad Boys
Speedy Oritz
The Velvet Underground
Turnstile
Voom
Water From Your Eyes
89 – 101. Aldous Harding
Daft Punk
David Bowie
Glass Vaults
Japandroids
Jenny Hval
Jose Gonzalez
Julien Baker
Karl Blau
Lorde
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Sault
The Microphones

Top 29 Albums

bold = Mostly listened to on streaming, underlined = mostly listened to on cd, italics = mostly listened to on LP

1 – 2. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven (2024)
Renee-Louise Carafice – I will raise a bird army
3. Bedouine – Waysides
4. Sir Chloe – I am the Dog
5 – 6. Nick Drake – Bryter Layter
Sinead O’Connor – I do not want what I haven’t got
7. Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters
8. Heems – LAFANDAR (2024)
9. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future (2024)
10 – 18. The Bats – Free All the Monsters
Phoenix Foundation – Happy Ending
Bjork – Homogenic
Tiny Ruins and Hamish Kilgour – Hurtling Through
Phoenix Foundation – Pegasus
Die Die Die – Promises Promises
Skullcrusher – Quiet the Room
Herbie Hancock – Sextant
The Traveling Willburys – Volume 1
19 – 29. Chances Are – Asleep at the Wheel of Love (2024)
Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk (2024)
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Keyboard Fantasies
Various – Lost in Translation Soundtrack
Mess Esque – Mess Esque
Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes – Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar
Wednesday – Rat Saw God
Dawn Richard – Second Line
Caroline Rose – Superstar
Sly and the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Julia Shapiro – Zorked

Formats/Plays

formatsPlaysEst. average lengthEst. time spent (min)
Tidal8154032600
LP8114032440
cd2644511880
2LP110606600
Live44401760
Spotify43401720
7″367252
Car34301020
EP3120620
Bandcamp2720540
mp32030600
DJ7120840
youtube730210
10″42080
3LP490360
2×10260120
Radio1~
Reaper1~
Soundcloud1~

Total Estimated Listening Time: 91642 minutes, or 63.6 days

Average: 250 min per day, or 17% of the year

Eras

October 2024 Music Wrap Up

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I’ve been tracking my music listening via a google spreadsheet this year. And kept a very irregular music journal with my thoughts. I’ve been intending to post more on here from it, but haven’t got around to it. So I’m going to do a monthly round up with a highlight and a few other thoughts.

Highlight: Herbie Hancock

Photo by Raph_PH, July 2023

Undoubtedly my musical highlight was seeing Herbie Hancock at the beginning of the month. Here’s what I wrote the day after

I saw Herbie Hancock last night. It is rare for me to see an artist live as my interest in them is piquing, the only other examples I can think of are My Disco in 2011, Frankie Cosmos in 2017, and Alex G last year. I’ve been tracking the music I listen to this year via a spreadsheet.

It is rare for an artist to come to New Zealand the same time my interest in them is peaking. But Herbie Hancock did. He is my current top artist of the year in my spreadsheet I keep, just edging out Alex G. I would now spend double that to see him again.

While Head Hunters has been a long time fave (discovered when I heard Watermelon Man soundtracking a child smoking weed in the Jonah Hill film Mid 90s), my recent interest in Herbie Hancock really stems from picking up a copy of Sextant at the end of last year. It is known for being the first jazz album to feature a synthesizer and that its commercial failure triggered a change in direction that lead to Head Hunters coming out later that same year.

Its a bit fucked up and I love it so much. While synth became a regular part of Herbie’s sound, jazz and popular music in general, it never sounded like this again,

Soon after I got a copy of Head Hunters from Elly for Christmas, then picked up a couple of his 80s albums in a bundle on Trademe.

What I have loved about listening to Herbie Hancock is how everything feels both so immediate

While I have listened exstensively I feel like I have only just scratched the surface of his discography, but from what I have heard, the performance touched on styles and moments from across his varied career, without ever sounding out of place.

There were moments of hip hop beats, like he was interested in in the 80s (there was not record scratching and gated 80s drum production, but I think that was good), african rhythms, more traditional jazz, the post bop style freak and lots of the jazz funk he is best known for.

While he was there to perform, he never pandered to the audience. It never felt like he was doing anything that he felt obligated to do, not even the full and relatively straight performance of Chameleon he ended on.

A good ten minutes of the nearly two hour performance was dedicated to a bhuddist sermon about us all being one family, an idea that came to him during Covid lockdowns.

In a keytar solo he moved so far up the pitch until it was the most obnoxious distorted broken digital screech, which he played while jumping side to side. An older woman in front of me stuck her fingers in her ears in some of the more abrasive synthesizer moments, then looked at garden beds on facebook marketplace on her phone.

But the crowd were there for it and went along every moment of the way. People are interested in experimental, weird and strange artwork if they are taken there by someone they trust. There’s an idea that has spread that art/media needs to be palatable to have mass appeal, but I think audiences just need to be assured that they’re in safe hands.

I am new to jazz. Before late last year Head Hunters was the only jazz album I listened to regularly, and have only gone to see it live a handful of times.

I understand like performance often involves solos of a certain length before coming back together for a refrain. Even knowing this, it felt like Herbie Hancock gave a spotlight to each member of his band. It did not feel like the performers in the band were doing Herbie Hancock style solos, they were fully themselves, and had Herbie’s full support to be themselves. Terrance Blanchard, the trumpet player, was a highlight.

I couldn’t help but think after leaving how much more fulfilling it must be to be able to perform your music in a way that allows flexibility and creativity and continued collaboration and invention than it must be for all the other artists touring off the back of their decades old careers.

It was the most expensive concert I have ever bought tickets for at $150 a ticket for the cheapest seats. The seats we got were right next to the sound desk, and while far from the stage were in an optimal sound position.

When I justified the cost to myself and others I have said that he is 84 years old, and that this will probably be the last time he will come to New Zealand. But I now take that back, after seeing him perform last night, I really believe he will not stop performing or touring as long as he lives, and he has a lot of life left in him. I reckon he’s probably going to be back and I’d happily pay double what I did to see him again.

Album of the month: David Kilgour and Sam Hunt – Falling Debris

I got this cd when I was doing the NZ music show at RDU, and it has always stayed floating around but I don’t think I’d played it for a couple of years at least. Since moving into my new house, I’ve started a system where most my cds are in a box in a cupboard and I pull 15-20 out a month to go into rotation. I mostly listen to cds in the morning getting ready for work and this is a very nice morning record. It’s got the psychy guitar work of David Kilgour’s later work and late era Clean. I haven’t read much Sam Hunt but the lyrics are really nice in an understated way. They don’t feel overly clever or like they want to draw too much attention to themselves which is what I worry about when a poet writes lyrics for a musician. I’m not actually sure if that ever happens though, I should give poets more credit. This was one of the pleasant surprises of something I forgot how good it was. I actually don’t think I have ever appreciated it as much as I do now.

Most Played Artists in October

  • 1. Herbie Hancock
  • 2= Cat Power
  • 2= David Kilgour
  • 2= Maxine Funke
  • 2= Neil Young

October Songs Playlist

Tidal
Spotify

Other thoughts

I got a bunch of Neil Young albums this year, inherited from people getting rid of their record collections, and have listened to him more than I ever have before. I think I can say with certainty now what I’ve been saying as a joke for years. My favourite Neil Young album is Trans.

What I listened to today 16 July 2023

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What I listened to today 16 July 2023

I had a really nice day listening to records from about 10am til about 9pm. I didn’t write about any of them but had such a nice day I want to record it somehow. This is what I can remember listening to, there may have been another one.

Started the day with FKA Twigs. I woke up with a Toro y Moi/Rome Fortune song (Benjiminz from Samantha) in my head. I was gonna put on my Toro y Moi record, but it doesn’t really sound anything like that song, then FKA Twigs stood out to me. I’m listening to Benjiminz as I write this and it really doesn’t sound like FKA Twigs at all, except maybe a bit of spacey wonky synths.

I abandoned listening to that Bowie record a song into side 2. I really loved listening to Dawn Richard, and when I put that record back David Bowie was right there so I grabbed it (I alphabetised my records the other week) but really really didn’t vibe with it today.

I picked out the Coup record because I’ve been watching Boots Riley’s new tv show. It’s very good, but the original soundtrack to Sorry to Bother You was one of the highlights of the film, and I’m a Virgo doesn’t have a soundtrack by the Coup. I also listened to a bit of the Coup this morning on Tidal, but am not that into their older records.

I hadn’t listened to Fuck Buttons in a long time, but god that is a good record. It was one of the first records I bought, on a crazy good sale from Penny Lane records. It sounds so good. It is huge and really catchy despite being noise. Listened to Blanck Mass afterwards, who is one half of fuck buttons and it sounded really weak in comparison. I think it isn’t as good a pressing and is a bit quieter and less dynamic, but also is missing that hugeness of fuck buttons.

At the end of the day the song stuck in my head is Level it Up by The Coup.

  • FKA Twigs – LP1
  • Dawn Richard – Second Line
  • David Bowie – Hunky Dory
  • Missy Elliot – Under Construction
  • The Coup – Sorry to Bother You Soundtrack
  • Tyler the Creator – Igor
  • Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
  • Blanck Mass – World Eater
  • Julia Jacklin – Pure Pleasure
  • Local Tourist – Other Ways of Living
  • Maxine Funke – Silk
  • Leonard Cohen – Best of

33 1/3 Birthday Celebration Day 4

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33 1/3 Birthday Celebration Day 4

Every Record I Own: Jenny Hval – Classic Objects.

Today I’m prepping for the sprig and fern Sunday afternoon session. I was intending to only write short pieces and get through many records but then I got caught up writing this piece and have listened to it three times now.

I’ve never been a huge fan of scandi art pop. There’s often a large intersection with twee. Lyrics that are quite literary and feel intelligent and philosophical or alternatively sung with a wink. They’re expressed in a way that only gives you a sense they are written by a non English native because they are often sung with an interesting cadence and rhythm that would be very challenging to develop when you’ve grown up with the language. It tends to have organ and congas and acoustic guitars and has a jaunty upbeat rhythm that sounds like it was copied from a casiotone samba preset. The type of thing that could be background cafe music if you didn’t listen attentively to the things that set it apart. Basically what I’m trying to say is I don’t like Jens Leckman.

I had lumped Jenny Hval in with these type of artists so was generally disinterested in her (Since listening to this record I have gone back and listened to her other stuff and was very wrong making this assumption, but it does still sneak in there sometimes.)

When I was a teenager, I went to Denmark on exchange and got really into a Danish band, Speaker Bite Me who could broadly fit into this criteria, and I still listen to the CDs I bought there from them every now and then, so I guess I’m not totally opposed to it.

I got this record a couple of months ago from VMP, the American vinyl subscription service as one of the eight free records I got on sign up. The instagram ads really got me. It became reasonable price per record as I was only getting records I would want to buy anyway.

But when looking through the options I realised that quite a few of my favourite records I only really fell in love with after getting them. There have been albums I loved that never made it to regular rotation once I bought the records and records I bought on a whim that became absolute faves. So instead of buying a deluxe edition of a Strokes or Modest Mouse album, records that I once loved and would probably love again, I got a handful of albums I didn’t know very well.

This one made the cut because there were a couple of times over summer, while spotify was playing an endless automated playlist that I’ve had to check out what the song was and it was one from this album.

In the first three minutes of this record I thought I’d made a mistake. The album opens with everything that I don’t like about scandi-art-pop. Wry and intelligent lyrics sung in a odd cadence, jaunty upbeat instrumentation, it sounded far too clean and self aware.

But midway through the song it suddenly transforms, keys come in playing a chord progression. The beat becomes stronger. The original instrumentation feels like it’s swirling and her voice feels like it’s both adding to the layers and flying over the top. This happens throughout the album. Each song has a moment where it elevates into this beautiful magic dreamscape.

In the song Cemetery of Splendour she sings a melody that pulls your attention but always leaves you a sense of feeling left hanging. Later on in the song, just as the drums come in that melody comes back, but she continues on and resolves it. It’s one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had when listening to music. It elevates the song so much so that I can ignore, or even appreciate, the enthusiastic spoken random words about nature over field recording that fill up the end of the song.

This is by far her most scandi-art-pop record. I listened to Blood Bitch and Apocalypse Girl, and both are far more abrasive and darker than this one. They are records that sound a lot more like music that I usually prefer. But I found myself missing those annoying scandi-art-pop elements when listening.

Ultimately what Jenny Hval does in Classic Objects is she takes a whole lot of things that I usually find annoying and make me love them. It has become the highest rotation played record out of those eight bonus records and I’m very glad I gave it a chance.

Fave songs: American Coffee, Cemetery of Splendour, Jupiter

Records listened to on 2 July

  • Jenny Hval – Classic Objects
  • The Bats – The Law of Things
  • Recitals – Orbit 1
  • Caroline Rose – Superstar
  • Chelsea Jade – Soft Spot
  • Jesus and Mary Chain – Barbed Wire Kisses

33 1/3 Birthday celebration weekend Day 3

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33 1/3 Birthday celebration weekend Day 3

After a late night and tired day I didn’t listen to as much today as I planned to, but had a nice evening playing Zelda and listening to music. Not writing anything in detail today.

Was looking through the records to prep for tomorrow’s set at the Sprig and Fern so many of these may make an appearance.

I hadn’t listened to the Golden Awesome or David Bowie records in quite a while. I usually choose one of my other Bowie records when I feel like listening to him, but listening tonight I realised how much I enjoy this record. Boys Keep Swinging is stuck in my head still, a couple of hours later.

Records I listened to 1 July

  • Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
  • Madonna – Like a Virgin
  • Soft Plastics – Saturn Return
  • Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
  • David Bowie – Lodger
  • Julia Shapiro – Zorked
  • The Golden Awesome – Autumn

Every Record I Own: 33 1/3 Birthday Celebration Day 2

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33 1/3 Birthday celebration weekend Day 2

30 June 2023

Mount Eerie, Julie Doiron and Frederick Squire – Lost Wisdom.

One of the rules I had set myself for this weekend was everything at 33 1/3. Nothing at 45. I broke it almost immediately with Lost Wisdom by Mount Eerie, which I had forgotten was 45 until the record started.

I had to listen to Mount Eerie this weekend though. Mostly because the idea to celebrate my 33 1/3 birthday came from his newsletter, but also because I just bought tickets to see him at Meow in September.

At one stage of my life Mount Eerie/The Microphones was my favourite artist. I would frequently lay in bed and listen to the albums ‘It was hot I stayed in the water, The Glow pt 2 & Mount Eerie back to back on my ipod in the early hours of the morning at my flat in Christchurch. I saw him perform back in 2014 and it was magic. I don’t listen as much anymore, but whenever I do it’s a good time.

The record cover for Lost Wisdom folds out to a big poster of a foggy mountain and that was up on the lounge wall in my Newtown flat for years. It’s one of his most simple and beautiful records. Julie Doiron’s voice brings

there was a sequel released last year Lost Wisdom Part 2, but I haven’t listened to it enough to have a strong opinion.

I have one other Mount Eerie record that may come out this weekend. I’m sure I’ll buy at least one more at his show later in the year.

Every Record I Own: Neil Young – Trans

Neil Young has been one of those artists who I have trouble knowing where to start. I have listened to Harvest a bit, and a live album that was in Mum’s car for a long time quite a lot. Other than that I’ve only heard what has been put on by others. I’ve always liked what I’ve heard and understood that he was important.

So naturally I bought one of least Neil Young Neil young albums, Trans. I found it in Creeps record parlour’s bargain bin. I had heard of it before because it’s a bit notorious due to it being such a departure from his sound.

It has it’s fan base but not generally considered one of his best. It is listed on number 34 of 42 in Ultimateclassicrock.com’s Neil Young albums ranked. The extensive use of vocoder, more mechanical/electronic rhythms and lyrics about computers and robots turned off some fans.

Luckily I don’t know his best albums very well. So I can enjoy Trans for what it is. I love the idea of a canonised rock star making such a bizarre album. Some of it comes across as a bit cheesy, but it is generally incredibly listenable. It is deeply silly and I love it.

What I listened to on June 30

  • Frankie Cosmos – Next Thing
  • Mount Eerie, Frederick Squire and Julie Doiron – Lost Wisdom
  • Alec Bathgate – Gold Lamé
  • Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Etiquette
  • Broadcast – Work and Non Work
  • Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains
  • The Renderers – A Dream of the Sea
  • Sinkane – Gettin’ Weird
  • Neil Young – Trans
  • Penelope Isles – Until the Tide Creeps In

Every Record I Own: 33 1/3 Birthday Celebration Day 1

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Every Record I Own: 33 1/3 Birthday Celebration Day 1

It was my 33 1/3 Birthday on Thursday 29 June. And to celebrate I’m spending the weekend listening to records and on Sunday I will play them at Sprig and Fern Berhampore. I wanted to write about all the records I am listening to, but I have some other things to do so will do some

Every Record I Own: Missy Elliott – Under Construction

It was my 33 1/3 Birthday on Thursday 29 June. And to celebrate I’m spending the weekend listening to records and on Sunday I will play them at Sprig and Fern Berhampore. I wanted to write about lots of the records I’m listening to, but I’ve got other stuff to do so instead I’m just going to note else what I listen to on each day.

This is my most recently acquired record, having arrived a few days ago. It came from VMP, a vinyl subscription service who’s promotion of a bunch of bonus records really sucked me in. I justified it with my tax return which I had done a rough calculation of online before actually submitting it. Unfortunately I forgot to factor in the ACC levy and ended up with a tax bill instead of a refund and a dent in my savings.

But anyway, I’ve got some really great records from this place which would otherwise have been difficult or expensive to acquire. And I’ve made some choices that I wouldn’t make in other purchases which have brought me to appreciate albums which I’d previously ignored.

I’d assumed that I’d heard Under Construction before because I’ve enjoyed the music of Missy Elliott for years. But when I listened when I was making the decision of the record for this month I realised I’d only heard a handful of songs. That’s a thing I love about records, I have had access to this album at any time on streaming for years, before that I could have listened on youtube or downloaded it. Buying this record, even considering buying the record, was the drive I needed to properly listen to it.

The record opens with a spoken word manifesto which positions the purpose of the album as a tribute to Aaliyah and plea for peace and growth in the hip hop community and getting back to making good music, and ends with the very funny statement

You don’t see Bill Gates and Donald Trump arguin’ with each other
‘Cause both of ’em got paper and they got better shit to do’

It’s quite a complex theme for an album and spelling it out explicitly at the very beginning makes sense. But it is something I’m already sick of after a couple of listens and will probably skip it. There are a few more spoken word interludes, but they’re generally short so not too disrupting. It ends with her speaking directly to critics preempting any criticism she knew they would inevitably come to her. (Before a Work It remix ft 50 Cent)

It’s the type of thing that would maybe be more appropriate in liner notes, but also very few people read liner notes and liner notes don’t even exist anymore. She is successful in hitting the points in the intro, both in lyrics and style. And would I have picked up on this theme myself if I was listening without looking for it specifically? Probably not.

The thing about this album, is it does all what she says it does, but it’s also very fun. So fun that it would probably be easy to miss everything else in it. Work It is undeniably one of the best ever club rap songs. I have never heard it played at a party and ruin the vibe. Nothing I can write about it will do it justice.

I only really got how revolutionary the sci fi future production of Missy Elliott and Timbaland was recently This came from reading the Rap Year Book by Shea Serrano, watching Hip Hop Evolution and following the Number Ones column through the Timbaland dominated 2000s. This album mashes up the synthy futuristic beats with samples that throw back to hip hop. It makes the album feel both very of it’s era and timeless.

The Beyonce collab about staying home with her boyfriend instead of going to the club is also really funny 20 years later.

Fave Tracks Work It, Back in the Day, Slide, Play that Beat

What I listened to on June 29

  • Missy Elliot – Under Construction
  • Hans Pucket – No Drama
  • Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands
  • Maxine Funke – Lace

Every Record I Own: Toro Y Moi – Outer Peace

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Every Record I Own: Toro Y Moi – Outer Peace

I first listened to Outer Peace on a road trip with my friends Callum and Annabel when we were going through our favourite albums of the 2019 while driving Christchurch to Dunedin.

My picks were Stella Donnelly’s Beware of the Dogs (Post coming sometime. It has been sitting in drafts for months), Mark Ronson’s Late Night Feelings which I don’t own but would love to, and Battles’ Juice B Crypt which I only really listened to for a month and I can’t remember anything from it now. Annabel picked the Caroline Polachek album which became a favourite (but I don’t own it)

Callum picked this one. Having listened to Toro y Moi on and off for years it was a bit surprising that I’d let this slip by.

I hadn’t gotten into the last couple of albums of his but had previously listened a lot to his first couple of albums, after I saw him live just before the release of his second one. I also really got into the hip hop/beats mixtape Samantha that he released free a few years earlier. The Rome Fortune collab Benjaminz, built off the bones of a Puff Daddy song, is one of my favourite Toro Y Moi songs still.

Callum drew my attention specifically to the introduction to Freelance which uses the sound of coins being thrown across a table, which seamlessly merges with the beat and propels the song to begin. Every time I hear it I do the action of throwing coins. It’s one of those small moments which set apart

Soon after this road trip I bought the record and it quickly became one of the most played records in the collection. Mostly due to my flatmate Gerv putting it on at every opportunity, referencing the lyrics Maximise all the pleasure on my birthday card.

Toro y Moi tends to change genre every release but always has something familiar running through. I’ve tried to avoid using the word chill in this because of his connection to chillwave which he has grown out of many times over, but his ability to make any genre seem chill is both one of his biggest strengths and weaknesses. I played his music on the bookshop I worked at quite frequently for this reason. Toro y Moi’s discography on shuffle can sound like a well curated playlist.

Not much of his music demands attention as much as parts of this album do. You can be laying on a couch or talking to a friend but when Ordinary Pleasure comes on, you’ll stop and listen. Because of this it’s an incredibly versatile record. It can be a party record, but it is also appropriate for the end of the party when everything is winding down. You can lay in the sun and listen to it or have it on while doing chores. It’s fun and it’s melancholy. It can be put on whenever and be a good choice. I would guess that either this record or Orville Peck was the most played record of 2020. It also has a very distinctive thick silver spine which makes it easy to pick out.

It’s interesting me placing it in this time. I had to double check when I actually bought it because I thought I may have been out by a year. A lot of the other music I listened to a lot over that time I associate with really heavy and challenging feelings, but I have nothing but good memories associated with this.

Fave songs: New House, Freelance, Ordinary Pleasure

Every Record I Own: Low – Hey What

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Every Record I Own: Low – Hey What

note: this post was written in January and edited in April. I felt a lot of pressure on myself to get Low right as they’re so important to me and couldn’t quite face finishing it.

This is a new record to me. It was a Christmas gift from Elly. A friend brought it back from the south island for me, so I only just got my hands on it the other day. I wasn’t planning on writing about it now, because I wanted to have more time with it before writing but I’ve put it on again after my first listen and felt like I needed to write about it.

Mimi Parker’s death has been one of the public figure deaths that has hit me the hardest.

Low’s music has always felt to me as being about the push and pull of experimentation and restraint. Which I’ve always attributed to Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker respectively, but I’m not sure how much that is true. Mimi Parker’s drum set up of a floor tom, cymbal and snare always kept them restrained to that set up.

This is a beautiful final album for them to have made together which seems to be 100% experiment and 100% restraint without losing anything of either of them. It’s their first album recorded without a third member of the band which supports that reading of mine.

When I first got into Low in my early 20s, I mostly listened to their middle career albums (Things We lost in the Fire to Drums and Guns) which were the most recent albums at the time, and the only ones I could find to download or find on CD. I would come back to them every few years often after they released a new album. While I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve done, I find myself going back to the albums that I know so well whenever I go to them.

Low were to me, a headphones at night, type of band. This album is not a headphones at night type album. I first listened walking to Elly’s house after work in late 2021. It was an incredibly hot day and I remember walking around the block and then sitting in Aro park so I could finish it before getting there.

There is a lot of studio swirling, and heavy tremolo throbbing through some of the tracks and an intensity that is amplified by listening on headphones. It was a difficult listen and I struggled to see the parts of Low I love so much on first listen.

I listened a few more times and there was something in there that was appealing but it was hard to access. I would usually give up part way through the album and return to one of the albums I knew well. It wasn’t until Mimi died that I gave it a proper chance and learned to love it.

Now I have it on a record Hey What feels like a completely different album. When it’s given space in a room, through speakers, and not put directly into my ear, the stereo effects don’t seem oppressive and claustrophobic but spacious. The dynamic range makes everything seem huge. The harmonies rise above the dissonant synths to bring the classic Low sound to the surface despite quite a different experience.

The drums sound so good on this album. As one of the core attributes of the band, Low have never allowed the drums to be a secondary but the drums The Price You Pay (Must Be Wearing Off) are especially amazing.

This album feels like it was the beginning of a new era of Low, building on the exploration of effects, synths, moving more into outright experimentation. It feels like a progression from the electronic sound of the last couple of albums but also like something new. I’m not sure if the Low name will continue with Alan and what it will sound like if it does. But it definitely couldn’t be the same.

They have 13 albums, and countless EPs and Singles and I’m incredibly grateful that the band has given us so much to discover. I still haven’t delved much into much of their early work. There aren’t many bands who have 30 years of music which is all worth listening to.

Before Christmas I found myself listening to their Christmas EP a lot (Just Like Christmas is an A+ song which I would listen to any time of the year). Looking through their discography I found another Christmas EP, It’s two tracks, Santa is Coming, one of the creepiest Christmas songs ever made. Santa is Coming sounds like a corrupted version of Low where the harmonies are dissonant rather than beautiful. The second track is a reasonably sincere reggae song ,Jah is Coming which is just baffling and quite bad. Neither of those songs will make it into my regular Low rotation. But it’s incredible that a band 25 years into their career of being a beloved quiet beautiful indie band are willing to put something like that out there.

In 2010 Low announced two shows in New Zealand, in Auckland and Wellington. I desperately wanted to go to one of them, but I had an exam scheduled in Christchurch the same day. After the first big earthquake, the exam was cancelled. But with everything going on at the time I didn’t put two and two together.

I remember being at uni on the day of the Low concert and seeing that it was on and realising I probably could have made it to the show. It was a big regret at the time but I always assumed they would be back and I’ll be able to see them. I probably did not have any money anyway but you never remember your exact bank balance when looking back at a moment.

I looked it up and they also played in 2016 and played in Wellington where I was living and I don’t even remember considering going. I don’t think I had listened to them for a while at that time and was doing my Masters and it was between Fringe and Comedy Festival seasons which I had been performing in. So as much as I am annoyed now that I missed them, I understand why I did.

Low will come back once more on this blog (unless I can find any other records of theirs which seems unlikely at the moment.)

fave songs: All Night, Days Like These, The Price You Pay,