Red House Painters - Silly Love Songs (Island, 1996)

Extended, anaesthetised take on chirpy Wings classic.

This record has a strong risk of coming over as some sort of conceptual joke but this extended, jammed-out version of Paul McCartney & Wings' chirpy 70s pop song actually works. The 70s AM radio sheen is replaced by desolate distorted guitar and time is slowed to glacial pace with some massive reverb the drums.

Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek's trademark yelp isn't heard until we're over five minutes into the track but, surprisingly, his rendering of the chorus sounds sincere.

It's a track that could result in a fairly harrowing Valentines Day should someone be unlucky enough to pick the wrong version in itunes. That would be a pretty disastrous eleven minutes of awkwardness in an otherwise lovey-dovey mixtape.

Download Red House Painters 'Silly Love Songs' (slowcore mp3) (Divshare)

Codeine - Kitchen (Demo) (Numero Group, 2012)

Not-so-slow demo from the pioneering Codeine.

I am waiting with baited breath for my copy of the Codeine boxset so I can relive the slower-than-slow sounds of the groundbreaking Codeine.

Active for only a few years around the turn of the nineties, Codeine were the epitome of slowcore, glaciers forming in the space between the notes on tracks like 'Realize'. Some notable bands like Mogwai, Low, Slint and Red House Painters forming in those gaps too.

'Kitchen' is an acoustic guitar and vocal demo that whets the appetite for the box's bonus material.

Enjoy.

Download Codeine 'Kitchen (Demo)' (Slowcore, Post-Rock, Sub Pop, mp3) (via Stereogum)

#indiechristmas - Low 'Just Like Christmas' (Tugboat, 1999)

Irresistable, sleigh-bell powered version of Low. Works well.

Low's 'Christmas' EP is a modern classic, marrying ponderous, wintry ballads more aligned to Low's usual hushed fare to perky sleighrides like this and their slowcore version of 'Little Drummer Boy'.

Lovely.

Download Low 'Just Like Christmas' (christmas, indie mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Low 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me' (Chairkickers, 2001)

Almost impossibly fragile and desolate Smiths cover. 

It comes in gentle and broken - sounding like Roy Orbison just lost £200 on a horse and had to sell his dog - before building into a fit of cello-enhanced rage and dissipating again.

Low do a nice line in covers - check out their version of Joy Division's 'Transmission' and Toto's 'Africa' - and could make 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' sound like a wake. Consequently, their take on this Smiths classic takes bleak to a whole new level, the one where Codeine hang out.

It's a beautiful bleakness though.

Download Low 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me' (slowcore, postrock mp3s) (Mediafire)

Codeine 'Realize (Live)' (1992)

Funereal post-rock, nay, Slowcore captured live.

New York's Codeine beat a deathly slow trail across the early stages of post rock and slowcore, setting the bar low, low, low in terms of stretching each note to an infinity of anticipation.

Codeine's music builds on the beauty of Galaxie 500, has kinship with the likes of Low and Slint and created a framework for Red House Painters, Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai to operate in.

This track from their 'Barely Real' mini-album was my first contact with the band way-back-when. It was recorded here at a Sub Pop festival in Vermont and it has a kind of crunchy beauty.

Apparently, they've reformed with the original line-up including Chris Brokaw and will be playing All Tomorrow's Parties' I'll Be Your Mirror festival next year.

Enjoy.

Download Codeine 'Realize (Live)' (slowcore, post rock mp3 download) (Divshare)

Download the whole live set Codeine Live at Sub Pop's Vermonstress Festival, October 1992 (slowcore, post rock mp3 download) over on archive:live+rare mp3s

Low 'Transmission (Joy Division Cover)' (Hut, 1995)

Low turn the aggression and energy of Joy Division's 'Transmission' into a reverent hymn to the power of radio.

Released on the 'Means To An End' compilation - which also featured contributions from Codeine, Tortoise, Moby and Girls Against Boys - Low apply their slow-pass filter which gives the song air and eerie resonance. This approach gives the bass, guitar and drums chance to breath and reflect. The bass and guitar, especially, can ring out through the air, a strangely appropriate tribute to the effect of broadcast sound.

Low's treatment is starkly different to the original but it works perfectly. Especially in the quiet hours of a Sunday morning.

Download Low 'Transmission' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Susanna and The Magical Orchestra 'Condition Of The Heart' (Rune Grammofon, 2006)

Prince's original is great, an epic of psychedelic balladry from 'Around The World In A Day' coming during his Imperial phase when he tossed out amazing songs on his way to the stack-heeled shoe store.

Scandinavian minimalist Susanna has delivered a wide range of amazing cover versions in a beautifully under-stated style - 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', 'Jolene', 'Crazy, Crazy Nights' (yes, the Kiss song), 'Jailbreak' and 'Lay All Your Love On Me' to name but a few that are up there with Arab Strap's version of 'Why Can't This Be Love' and Midlake's take on Black Sabbath in the incongruous covers stakes

Her take on 'Condition Of The Heart' is cracked, slow and quiet and just lays the song bare over a simple piano backing.

No more needs to be said really.

Download Susanna & The Magical Orchestra 'Condition Of The Heart' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Listening Post - stream the new Low album 'C'mon' (Sub Pop, 2011)

Have stumbled across a widget to listen to the whole of the new Low album. 'Try To Sleep' has been a favourite for a couple of weeks so delighted to get a listen to the whole album now.

It's out on Monday (in the UK).

Tracklisting is as follows:
01 Try to Sleep
02 You See Everything
03 Witches
04 Done
05 Especially Me
06 $20
07 Majesty/Magic
08 Nightingale
09 Nothing but Heart
10 Something's Turning Over

Listen to the new Low album 'C'mon' (Soundcloud)

New Music - Low 'Especially Me' (Sub Pop, 2011)

Another free-to-stream track from the new Low album has been posted to Soundcloud by Sup Pop.

'Especially Me' isn't as spartan as the famed Low sound, but it's very sweet and restrained all the same. A beautiful circular guitar pattern lies at the heart of the subtly building track with a gently pounding rhythm setting the pace.

At the sound builds to its peak, the drums drop out and the harmony vocals rise to the fore, building a euphoric peak from the repetition.

Album is out next week, I believe. Can't wait.

Low - Especially Me by subpop

New Music - JJ 'The End' (2011)

JJ are a mysterious duo from Gothenburg, Sweden who have released some utterly haunting, beautiful records. Last year's 'My Life' from their 'JJ No.3' album was one of my tracks of the year.

They recently posted up this new tune with little fanfare. A thing of poise and icy beauty it is too.

Download JJ 'The End' (mp3, Rapidshare)

JJ Official Blog

New Music - Low 'Try To Sleep' (Sub Pop, 2011)

The new Low song sounds gorgeous, a gentle, almost lullaby-ish song that embodies the hushed slowcore of yore but blends in a music-box sweetness. Not as dark and brooding as the likes of 'Dinosaur Act' or 'That's How You Sing Amazing Grace' but it bodes well for the soon-come 'C'mon' album.

Download Low 'Dinosaur Act (Live, 2002)' (mp3)
Low Official - Chairkickers.com
Low on Sub Pop