Low

Record Review: Low’s Live At Eindhoven EP

Low: Live at Eindhoven EPLow: Live at Eindhoven EP (self-released, 12/8/10)

Low: “Silver Rider”

[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02-Silver-Rider.mp3|titles=Low: “Silver Rider”]

On January 22, 2009, veteran post-rock band Low played a set at the St. Catherina Church in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. That performance was recorded and has been subsequently released as the free Live At Eindhoven EP. It boasts a more grandiose setup than the average Low show; its four tracks feature a five-person chorus, an extra keyboard player, and two musicians backing the band on percussion and vibraphone. The album succeeds in capturing the tangible and intangible qualities alike that make Low such a lovely, wrenching live band.

The Books: Media Detritus and Profound Nonsense

Five years have passed since its last release, Lost and Safe, but multi-instrumentalist duo The Books hasn’t skipped a beat. The Way Out is a sample-based masterpiece, in which its creators use “humor [as] a back door to the profound.”