I decided to pull out Low Level Owl: Volume 1 yesterday as I was looking through one of my CD storage boxes for something else (my rack only holds about 500 so I still have a bunch of em in boxes right now) since I hadn't listened to it in a long time and it's such a good CD. One of those that just gets better with each listen. I really love this album. They actually recorded two discs worth of music at the same sessions and then released them individually, with the first disc blending seamlessly into the second. Strangely, as much as I love this first one, I've never got around to getting the second one. Guess I still feel this one needs some exploring so why get the next one yet, though many claim the second volume is even better than the first. This is one of those albums that just might stay in the machine for a few days. A couple listens so far and no need to change yet. Does anyone here have both volumes? If so, what is your opinion about the second? Or did anyone buy the first one and not like it? I remember Stone really liking the CD after Low Level Owl, but I haven't heard that either.

Anyway, just felt an urge to post something fresh and new, but we all know that recycling is better for the environment so here's to doing my part, recycled from a post almost 2 years ago....

Don't you have 4 songs from Low Level Owl now ... they're progilicious :-)
Posted by: dbi Apr-05-02, 09:56 AM
A couple lead off the "Song of the Day" comp and a couple more lead off "Daydream". I only have volume 1 but will surely pick up volume 2 sometime soon since this was one of my favorites from last year and, if anything, it just keeps getting better. I've been listening to it quite a bit the last couple weeks and for me it outshines any of the latest offerings from bands that might be considered their peers in epic rock such as Mogwai and GYBE and Spiritualized. Apparently their roots are closer to emo core type rock but this album is progilicious and shows a very creative band teetering on the edge of greatness (oops, that should probably come with a hyperbole warning :-)).

I first heard of them last year when doing a search for music along the lines of GYBE, Mogwai and Sigur Ros and an advance press release from the Deep Elm label turned up announcing the upcoming Low Level Owl album which sounded like something that was just what I had been searching for, and after listening for the last 6 months I have to say that it lives up to the lofty expectations I had from reading that original press release. You can read some about the album at Deep Elm and also their bio which talks about their previous releases http://www.deepelm.com/sum/396_sum.html

Below are the last two paragraphs from the combination review at Pitchfork that I think does the album justice and appropriately (for their scale) rates it 9.0........

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record...evel-owl.shtml
Hints of other bands occur throughout-- from the Stone Roses in "Mile Marker," to My Bloody Valentine in "The Argument," to Built to Spill in "Reaction"-- all embedded a lush wave of production reminiscent of the Flaming Lips, Spiritualized or Mogwai. There are also elements of Brian Eno and Aphex Twin that pop up during the ambient sections, and tracks like "Flowers Falling from Dying Hands" which remind me of Sonic Youth's "Providence."

Needless to say, Appleseed Cast have come a long way since that 1998 debut of frail failure. With Low Level Owl, they establish their own unique vision for the future of rock, offering hope and brighter possibilities for the genre-- or rather, creating their own. These two albums have generated an incredible amount of hype in small sects of the indie rock population, while most who haven't been privy to the band's peerless new sounds still associate the band with their sensitive suburban roots. It's time to look past the stereotype and herald Appleseed Cast for what they are now, and what they're about to become: groundbreaking.

-Nathan Rooney, December 12th, 2001