Songs Of The Week #70: TCDroogsma & MinneSarah

Los Campesinos!, Diego Garcia, Blood Orange, Tennis, & Red Mountain...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #70!
 
For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the story:  TCDroogsma and MinneSarah are both fans of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.  They're also both opinionated and have access to computers.  Seeing an opportunity to let them indulge in their MP3 habit and put them to work writing reviews we created the Songs Of The Week column.  Over a year later later and here we are.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself.  It's free and it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given each song a spin or two, feel free to cast a vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right side of the page.  The artist who accrues the most votes wins the validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

As per tradition TCDroogsma and MinneSarah have not read each other's reviews prior to posting

So... Droogsy, Sarah... thoughts?

01.  Los Campesinos! - Avacodo, Baby (from the album No Blues)

TCDroogsma:

     My knowledge of (and relationship with) Los Campesinos! has been built entirely through the SOTD podcast.  This is the sixth time the band has appeared in my weekly rotation.  This means that I'm currently in possession of what could probably be called a "Best Of..." EP.  It also means that I'm liable to have missed the little evolutions of the band, with each song coming as a fully formed dispatch as to where Los Campesinos! are now.

     Following along as the band went from poppy, hook-laden upstarts who relied almost solely on energy to the somewhat disillusioned, a little less poppy, more mature and still hook-laden space they occupy now has been a rewarding trek.  "Avacado, Baby" opens with the type of textured guitar hook that's indicative of how much more thought goes into the songwriting from an instrument standpoint.  Once the verse kicks in, however, we're reminded that singer Garreth Campesino's melodic snarl is still the star of the show.

     Lyrically, "Avocado, Baby" is not in a good place.  The third verse in particular is an example of well-crafted, psuedo-literate vitriol.  It also stands as a testament to just how well Garreth can twist pronunciation in order to rhyme a couplet.  The yelled out hook explaining just why he's called "the avocado" is pretty fucking corny, but it's delivered with a mix of anger and braggadocio to sell the whole thing.  Push comes to shove, I'm a sucker for spiteful lyrics, boy/girl harmonies, and hooks on hooks on hooks.

MinneSarah:

     A band out of Wales should not be called "Los Campesinos!," it's misleading.  Otherwise, this band sounds a lot like pop punk acts like Panic at the Disco!  The lyrics are brooding but childish - they sound like the spoken word diary of a angsty teenage boy.  Though I know dance alt pop punk was a big deal ten years ago (who didn't have that Killers album), I had no idea that a song like "Avacado, Baby" could be relevant in today's music scene.

     While I'm a huge fan of British music, I would have pegged the lead singer as faking this accent (shows how much I actually know), but again, it draws comparison to all those bands in the early 2000's that actually used that tactic.  The end of the song features a children's chorus and or cheerleaders? The takeaway from this song is that avacados shouldn't be used as metaphors. 

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 4/5
                     MinneSarah: 1.5/5

02.  Diego Garcia - Start With The End (from the album Paradise)

TCDroogsma:

     Quick sidenote for anybody who reads these columns regularly:  I couldn't help but laugh when the bongos come in at the beginning of this song.  MinneSarah's been railing against bongos in indie rock all year and I'm sure hearing them at the start of this Argentinie-styled song made her angry even though it's an Argentine-style song.

     Alright, back to the plot.  "Let's start with the end and stay 'til the end," is the opening line of this song.  Garcia spends the rest of the song arguing the virtues of living in the moment, staying friends, and the circular nature of the universe?  Time travel?  It's tough to say.  Even though I kind of like the song, the lyrics seem willfully cliche, which detracts from Garcia's pleasant sentiment.

     Garcia has a warm, pleasant voice that fits the song's style.  He's not passing down hard-learned lessons, but rather making suggestions that he thinks are probably, y'know, a pretty cool way to approach life.  I"m not totally sure I'm buying what he's selling, but he certainly put a lot of work into the wrapping paper.

MinneSarah:

     Fun loving Diego Garcia wants us all to relax, enjoy some fancy Latin guitar, and enjoy our lives.  From my cynical perspective, it seems a little rose-colored to think that most relationships are not going to become monotonous or sour, but Diego promises that by pretending to start at the end, we'll be better to each other.  The soothing buttery cello and vocal optimism almost convinces me that I've been doing everything wrong my entire life - but as the end is still ahead (or behind?), we've all got a little time.  

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 2.5/5
                     MinneSarah: 2.5/5

03.  Blood Orange - You're Not Good Enough (from the album Cupid Deluxe)

TCDroogsma:

     Blood Orange is just one of the aliases of Dev Hynes.  While I'm not super-familiar with his work, I know that his song "All My Friends Are Listening To Crunk" under his Lightspeed Champion moniker is still one of my favorite SOTD tracks.  "You're Not Good Enough" has none of that songs strummy humor, but rather lays some ice cold lyrics over some warm, bouncy synth lines.

     "You're Not Good Enough" actually comes off like a morning-after version of Daft Punk's ubiquitous "Get Lucky."  The Nile Rodgers-esque chka-chka guitars and bouncing bass aim for the same dancefloor, but where Pharrel was up all night to get lucky, Hynes is dealing with the aftermath (specifically, forty-nine days later) and probably questioning the definition of "lucky."  A chorus of, "I never was in love, you know that you were never good enough..." leaves little to the imagination.  The spark of lust may have been extinguished, but that's no reason to stop dancing.

MinneSarah:

     Funky, bass-y songs that sound like they would soundtrack a detective show from the 80's are an actual genre in 2013.  This song doesn't even sound out of place, and blends nostalgia with catchiness.  As far as lyrics are concerned, "You're Not Good Enough" goes for the jugular. If you've ever wanted to tell someone that they were a mistake, you've never actually loved them and they were horrible in bed, this might be the song to put on the stereo in lieu of an awkward talk. Girl/Boy vocals can be hit or miss, but both singers sing at the same time, making it sound almost like one congruent voice.  Despite the fact that I love a good revenge song, I became despondent while listening to it - it might be too mean unless you are in that mind state already. 

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
                     MinneSarah: 2.5/5

04.  Tennis - Mean Streets (from the EP Small Sound)

TCDroogsma:

     Tennis is the husband & wife duo of Patrick Riley & Alaina Moore out of Denver.  As you may or may not recall (the hype machine runs so quickly these days), they were all the rage for a couple of weeks back in 2012.

     "Mean Streets" starts as a character portrait, which we join halfway through with the opening lines, "Summer up in the Catskills, baby, singing just for the thrill..."  Oddly, however, that's just about as far as our protagonist's story goes.  Over a spry keyboard bounce, Tennis aims for ambiguity with the chorus and hits its mark dead on, letting us (or, possibly, her?) know that, "whatever's left, you'll find you've got to give it what you got."  You can choose your own meaning for that chorus.

     Lyrical ambiguity aside, the song swings along like with a warmth that makes me wish I was spending summer in the Catskills.  "Mean Streets" is warm & catchy in a way that seems to come very naturally to Tennis, leaving enough room to breath that I found myself liking it more & more as the week wore on.

MinneSarah:

     "Mean Streets" is chill and jazzy.  Piano mixes with drums, showcasing the singers vocal range from sultry to bubble gum.  The lyrics are about a girl gone good, singing on the mean streets until she has ubiquitously become a star.  The lyrics start out with the line "Summer up in the Catskills," which sounds like a far cry from the mean streets.  While the song is about a rise to success, the origins are covered, then the success, but how this primadonna got to where she is still is fuzzy.  "Mean Streets" is an enjoyable listen, and has a certain sophistication that would place this song in an upscale boutique or hip restaurant, but don't try and read too far into it. 

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
                     MinneSarah: 2.5/5

05.  Red Mountain - Put Me Through (from the album Scowl Lightly)

TCDroogsma:

     Red Mountain is a band out of Duluth and, before I go any further, I'm going to take a second to acknowledge that Scowl Lightly is arguably the most Duluth-ian title for an album that I can possibly imagine.

     Red Mountain opens "Put Me Through" by stacking harmonies that verge on white-boy doo-wop over a simple keyboard line.  When the song springs to life at the 1:20 mark, it doesn't break out the way you'd expect.  The drums turn up to shuffle along, giving the song a pulse that seems both nervous & resigned.  By the time the trumpets show up a minute later, it's become clear that "Put Me Through" is not headed for any Day-Glo payoff, but, like anybody who's going to survive in a Duluth winter, Red Mountain puts their heads down and presses forward, selling us on the same well-crafted hook that opened the song.

MinneSarah:

     The levels of genuine longing and melancholy pull this song together.  Vocals are sung in a round of one during the intro, but then have an echo chorus behind them.  "Put Me Through" builds continuously, and adds just the right touch at every change.  While usually, trumpets, cello, cowbell, and a chorus of "ahs" detract from a song, these components actually work to add emphasis.

     Lyrically, "Put Me Through" is about the longing associated with wanting to be with someone you just know would not work out in the long run.  Written from a realistic perspective, the possibility of dying alone is thrown in for good measure.  These are our options, love is not always pretty, but this song highlights those not so pleasant aspects and makes you happy to be able to experience the full spectrum of human emotions.

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
                     MinneSarah: 4/5

Well there you have it, MP3 junkies!  Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, & filed away!

As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR.  We're just music fans with laptops and a bit too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio

For more MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter (@MinneSarah).  She can also be found right here on Newest Industry filing reports out of St. Paul for our Big Day Out column






For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.   

Singles Mixer #5: "Just Make It Stop" by Low

You see I'm close to the edge, I'm at the end of my rope...

Hello again, music fans!  Welcome to Singles Mixer #5!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Singles Mixer columns, here's the scoop.  Whenever we find new singles from Minnesota bands we task one of our regular contributors with reviewing them.  As is Newest Industry policy, all singles are given a score of 1-5 (whereas albums are rated 1-10).

This time around we asked TCDroogsma to give us his thoughts on Low's new single "Just Make It Stop" from their upcoming album The Invisible Way.

TCDroogsy, thoughts?

How you feel about “Just Make It Stop” likely depends on how you feel about the recipe that Low has perfected over 20 years.

There are typically three things that define Low:

01. Instrumentation that makes as much use of the empty space as it does of the instruments.

02. Alan Sparhawk's distinctive, fragile vocals (often times complimented by Mimi Parker).

03. Lyrics that are somehow universal & personal, allowing the listener to find themselves in nearly every song.

“Just Make It Stop” only hits on one of these three ingredients. Lyrically, this song fits nicely into the Sparhawk/Parker canon. The lyrics are vague enough, with many of the couplets addressed to the “you” that always seems to be saying and doing things to fuck with people. Hell, even the titular “it” is never really addressed. The world? Time? The omnipotent, overbearing “you” (or, maybe, “them?”).

Regardless, when you sign up for the music of Low you sign up for that sort of lyrical content. There's something to be said for a band that can write songs that everybody can relate to in their own way.

Now, on to those other two ingredients.

I fully realize that Alan Sparhawk is not the “lead singer” of Low in the traditional sense. Still, when releasing the first single from a new album, it's a bold move to shelve the singer who is, to the casual fan, the voice of the band. I'm not complaining here, it's just a surprising left turn. I think Parker has a great voice and absolutely carries the song. Whether it's years of sharing the microphone with Sparhawk or my inability to separate new Low songs from my expectations, Parker manages the same aggressive fragility as her sometimes co-singer.

Which brings us to the instrumentation.

What's the one thing that casual indie rock fans know about Low? That they're slow and quiet. Obviously “Just Make It Stop” is neither of those things. It's actually a pretty rollicking affair considering who's playing the instruments.

Much has been made about the fact that The Invisible Way was produced by Jeff Tweedy. Admittedly, I didn't put a whole lot of stock into his involvement (though, as a Wilco & Low fan it did breed some curiosity). I was hoping that the lessons learned about spacing and silence during A Ghost Is Born and Summer Teeth would translate to “Low with a Wilco twist.” Rather, if this single is any example, we're being treated to “Low plays Wilco.” Rather than an experiment in organic, live silence (I feel so pretentious just typing that), “Just Make It Stop” has much more in common with the country-tinged feel of Being There.

I realize that this all makes me sound like a curmudgeon who wants his Low to sound like Low. There's a grain of truth to that, as I really do love the band's work. More accurately, I'm a bit disappointed that rather than pushing toward the sound explored on Drums & Guns (a masterpiece in my book), Low seems to be pushing toward sounding like everybody else. For a band that spent twenty years carving out a niche that was theirs and theirs alone, “Just Make It Stop” sounds more like compromise than evolution.

Final Score – 2.5/5

There you have it, folks!  TCDroogsma puts Low's new single "Just Make It Stop" square in the middle of the rankings.

For more information on Low's new album The Invisible Way and their upcoming tour, be sure to visit their website here.  They can also be found on Twitter (@LowTheBand).

For more TCDroogsma, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found here on Newest Industry hosting our weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.  Be sure to tune in each week, as winter's slowly causing him to lose his mind.

Of course Newest Industry also has a home on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1).  Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free and highly effective way to support the blog. 

Songs Of The Week #20: MinneSarah & TCDroogsma

Sun Airway, Kopecky Family Band, Ra Ra Riot, Paul Banks, & Southwire...

Hello again, music fans! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #20!

That's right, everybody. SOTW turns the big 2-0 today! One more week and we won't have to ask our older brother to buy us beer anymore!

But that's for next week. This week we're putting the holidays behind us and getting back to the grind: downloading and judging other people's hard work just because we can!

As always, we encourage you to hit up The Current's website here and subscribe to the podcast yourself. Free music is a hell of a gift.

Also, as you probably know by now, there is a poll to the right side of the page. Please give the tracks a listen and vote for your favorite. The winner receives an amount of encouragement wholly related to their opinion of stranger's opinions. So, y'know, every vote counts.

This week we asked MinneSarah & TCDroogsma to take a break from Christmas drinking and give us their thoughts on this week's tracks. They have not seen each other's reviews prior to posting.

Hungover kids, thoughts?

01. Sun Airway – Black Noise (from the album Soft Fall)

MinneSarah:

     I had the hardest time reviewing this song.  It's catchy enough, the lyrics are convincingly nostalgic, and I'd love this to be in the background as I do some of my favorite things ( likethrift store shopping). This song may be the definition of "black noise." If this song itself is black noise, then mission accomplished.  I'm not a fan of the gaunt vocals that are so popular now, but I'm a sucker for keyboard breakdowns.  Mostly win.

TCDroogsma:

     This one really grew on me as the week went on.  Sun Airway is certainly synthy and dancy, with just enough drunky slurred vocals to make me forget that this could easily be a new Stars single.  I'm not totally sure why this guy is so obsessed with hearing this woman's voice, but if all he wants is her voice and "black noise" it must really be something special.  Let's hope this woman wants to hear his voice on the radio as much as he'd like to hear hers, because this track is catchy and non-threatening enough to live on The Current until spring.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 3/5

                   TCDroogsma - 3/5

02. Kopecky Family Band – Hope (from the album Kids Raising Kids)

MinneSarah:

     While I was not expecting to like this song as much as I do - the band is from Nashville, they have a lot of members, they are described as folk disciples.  

     However, this song is well constructed, with dissonants thrown in to showcase the upbeat nature of the rest of the song.  The lyrics are equally on the scale of the title - when someone hopes, it is overall optimistic but also peppered with doubt.  I don't even mind that there are probably ten people playing at once.  I'm tapping my foot and hoping that the rest of their songs sound like this one.

TCDroogsma:

     Thank god those drums that start and end the song are merely hipster affectations.  I'm not sure I have the patience to sit through another "afro-beat influenced" indie jam.  I mean, I'm just one man.

     That being said, the rest of the song is pretty straight-forward indie pop.  Charming, but incredibly disposable.  If I didn't know any better I'd swear this was Stars covering Sun Airway.  Sorry, but it's getting real incestual on the radio.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 3.5/5

                   TCDroogsma - 3/5

03. Ra Ra Riot – Beta Love (from the album Beta Love)

MinneSarah:

     There are many dangers in writing a song about the hypothetical phenomenon of robots falling in love.  Even using robot love as an analogy to describe human love can be a tenuous, or at least make us all feel bad - if unfeeling robots can find love, what's my excuse?  

     First of all, the name of the song:

01. Beta can mean "almost ready" in software terms - "Hey girl, this is almost the real deal" - not romantic.

02. Beta is a type of fighting fish that would never hang out with a robot - way less likely, still not romantic.

  But the singer pronounces the chorus "Betta" which makes the song sound as carefree as if two robots were in a park in Paris during the spring.  Maybe we are all robots, and Ra Ra Riot, in their infinite Ivy League wisdom, already knows this.  Assuming the rest of us androids are clueless - they'd still like to sell this song to an overseas cell phone company.  Win.

TCDroogsma:

     I saw Ra Ra Riot open for The Cribs once.  I also spent a bunch of time listening to their song "Dying Is Fine" when it was a SOTD a few years ago.  Taking those two things and adding "Beta Love" to the equation I'm left with only one conclusion: Ra Ra Riot is relentlessly average.

     Honestly, they're the Aughtie's answer to Better Than Ezra.  When I saw them (on on "Dying Is Fine") they were more of an upbeat chamber-pop outfit (lots of emphasis on hooks and violin work).  Evidently they've decided to embrace a bit more of an electro-pop sound for "Beta Love."  It's catchy enough, but Jason Lytle could sue them over the lyrics.  Clearly there's talent here, but "Beta Love" is desperately wanting.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 3/5

                   TCDroogsma - 2/5

04. Paul Banks – The Base (from the album Banks)

MinneSarah:

     Awww...  MinneSarah loves Interpol.  But does this translate to loving Paul Banks's solo album?

     Well, yeah, it does - it's like still liking an actor in a different series or with a different director.  Granted, this song is not as catchy as anything on any of Interpol's last four albums.  (Carlos, why did you have to leave?)  The breakdown is a weird electronic remix, but the same deadpan delivery of random lyrics are still there, forcing me to listen and bob my head a little.  While I approve, this song does not make me want to go see what else Paul has been working on during post-breakup Interpol.

TCDroogsma:

     I'll try to keep this brief, since I feel like I could spent 1,000 words trying to figure out Paul Banks.

     "The Base" features all the things you love about Paul Banks.  Sneaky good, monotone hooks.  Tense, angular guitar work. Baffling lyrics.  It's all there.  But that's kind of the problem.  Everything he's done since Antics (either as Interpol, Julian Plenti, or himself) keeps returning to this recipe to more and more diminishing returns.  If you're already on board with the Paul Banks show you'll really like this song (I include myself in this group)

     Still, why did this have to be a solo song?  I mean, it sounds exactly like everything Interpol's done for the last 6 years.  It even seems to get better the more I listen to it, with it's disparate parts coming together more fluidly every time.  Still, whatever wilderness the success of those first two Interpol record pushed Mr. Banks towards, he's still trying to find his way out by walking the same path.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 3/5

                   TCDroogsma - 3.5/5

05. Southwire – God (from the album Southwire)

MinneSarah:

     They can't all be winners, but sometimes a song excels at being bad that we can actually use the word bad in the 90's sense - as good!?!  Okay, no.

     This song relies on layering - tambourine, drums, extraordinarily intoxicated Patti Smith sounding vocals (the female singer sounds as if she just got done with an exorcism, she is completely unintelligible), and a guy talking/praying over the top.  Now, I'm no theologian, so the lyrics that are intelligible may be lost on me by how clever they are in their meaning.  I just have to say, clean it up in post-exorcism.  Slurred vocals are only okay at karaoke.

TCDroogsma:

     Over the last couple weeks Southwire started to get a bit of buzz on the old Twitter feed, so I was excited to hear what all the fuss was about.

     What I got is a bluegrass-leaning song about God with biblical lyrics sung by, as far as I can tell, a muppet.  And the muppet's a big Wesley Willis fan.

Seriously, Sota?  This is what you're excited about?  I'm really trying to restrain the vitriol here, but I don't ever want to here this song again.  The mumbled delivery (by both singers), the old testament lyrics, the refrain "gonna get a little god..."  I can definitely see a bunch of hipsters at a Southwire show eating this shit up, clapping in unison as some sort of communal, stoner grounding experience, but it does absolutely nothing for me.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 0/5

                   TCDroogsma - 0/5

There you have it, music fans. Another week's worth of free music downloaded, listened to, judged, and filed away.

As always, let us take a moment to remind everybody that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists, Minnesota Public Radio, or The Current. We're just music fans with keyboards and a little too much soy nog in our bellies.

For more of the always charming MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter (@MinneSarah). Her cat impersonates beer. Just think about that for a second.

For more of the seldom charming TCDroogsma he can also be found on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found rambling on his personal blog Flatbasset or rambling here on our weekly podcast. He's eaten enough ginger snaps in the last three days to kill a weaker man.

Of course Newest Industry also lives on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1). Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Trivial as it may seem, stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a great way to support the blog. It would make our Christmas.

Sounds Of Sota #2: "Plays Nice Places" by Low

"All you guys out there gonna wish you were Al Green..."

Hello again, music fans! Welcome to Sounds Of Sota #2!

For those who are unfamiliar with Sounds Of Sota, it's a running column in which we ask one of our contributors to review new albums & EP's from Minnesota artists. In sticking with our desire to rank and rate everything the albums are given a score of 1-10 at the end of the column.

This time around we asked TCDroogsma to give us his thoughts on Minnesota institution Low's new live EP “Plays Nice Places.”

TCDroogsma, thoughts?

When I first heard about Plays Nice Places I was intrigued for two reasons.

First, for nearly 20 years Low has perfected the art of getting just as much out of silence as they have out of sound. I was curious to see how that would translate to a live album. Would the crowd appreciate the silence with reverence or would the constant hum of a live album threaten the balance upon which the songs are built?

Second (and more personally), I've seen Low twice. The first time was an absolutely transcendent performance opening for Wilco on the banks of Lake Superior. Despite the presence of rain and temps that couldn't have been above 60, that show made me a Low fan for life. The second time I saw them was at the Mainroom as part of a packed bill for a Radio K benefit. Honestly, I could barely keep my eyes open during the set.

Now, what I've come to realize about both of those shows is that the band's performance likely wasn't dramatically different and that my experience at each one was driven almost entirely by surroundings and circumstance. With that in mind, Plays Nice Places had the potential to settle (at least in my mind) just what kind of live entity Low really is.

What we get with Plays Nice Places is a band at the peak of their powers, for better or worse.

Opening with the classic “Words,” Plays Nice Places starts on its highest note. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I've built something of a cottage industry in our Songs Of The Week column by taking shots at Ben Gibbard. Here, however, his voice provides a warmth that is almost non-existent in Alan Sparhawk & Mimi Parker's song-to-song existence. Despite the presence of some insufferable giggling, Gibbard's cameo gives the album some sorely needed color. It's just a shame that, as the opener, you don't realize just what a treat his presence turns out to be.

The rest of Plays Nice Places is certainly enjoyable (if risk-averse). While it's hard to believe that a band with the longevity of Low could be distilled to six songs, they manage to pull it off by pulling the 6 songs from 5 albums ("Waiting" stands as the only new track on the EP). Sadly, the songs, while very good in their own right, are rarely the highlight's from their parent albums. This EP is just dying for an elongated, fuzzed-out version of “Broadway” or perhaps a more fragile take on something like “Dust On The Window.”

Still, a sheen of professionalism hangs over the proceedings. With the exception of a joke introducing Gibbard and a brief introduction to “Murderer,” we're given precious little personality from the band. Whether it's the aforementioned reverence or editing, there is almost no existence of crowd noise during the songs. The band's harmonies are more calculated than inviting, and Sparhawk's singing stays between the lines so consistently that it's jarring to hear him channel a bit of Westerberg for a sneer at the end of “Witches.”

Depending on your expectations of Plays Nice Places, it's either an enjoyable (if somewhat disposable) portrait of a band (if you're one of the converted) or “...another Low record, eh?” (if you're not). Frankly, with 19 years in the bank, most people have formed an opinion of Low already.

Still, it would be foolish to complain about a free, live EP. As an unabashed fan of the band, I'm certainly thankful that this document exists. To the uninitiated, it's unlikely to be the skeleton key to fandom (The Great Destroyer is still their most important album from that perspective), but in an indie-rock world that currently celebrates a genre-hopping, bigger is better, more is not enough attitude, it's good to remember that Low, whether live or on record, commands a niche that belongs only to them.

Final Score: 7/10

There you have it, everybody. The new Low EP reviewed by a Low fan. As mentioned, “Plays New Places” is free. Click here to visit Low's page to download the album for yourself (right-hand side of the page).

For more TCDroogsma he can be found on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He also maintains a personal blog Flatbasset and hosts Newest Industry's weekly Flatbasset podcast. And no, he's never adequately explained to us what “Flatbasset” means.

Newest Industry also has a home on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) which you can follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Trivial as it may seem, stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a valuable way to support the blog. And it's free. Stop by, eh?