#low praise

[mchank]

This was my first time trying Rotoscoping and I learned a lot about animation in general.

Made using an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil and the app Rough Animator. One small segment wasn’t rotoscoped and it was made with ProCreate.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Low Praise Shares Existential Meditation "Time Is Calling"

New Video: Low Praise Shares Existential Meditation "Time Is Calling" @forcefieldpr

Oakland-based post punk trio Low Praise — Andrew (drums), Chris (guitar vocals) and Warren (baritone guitar, vocals) — have specialized in the sort of nervous energy paired and chanted hooks that bring late 70s post-punk bands like The Fall and Wire to mind.  Low Praise’s full-length debut DRESSING was released yesterday. Recorded over the course of two sessions split apart by the peak of the…

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[dustedmagazine]

Low Praise — Dressing (Low Plays)

DRESSING by LOW PRAISE

Low Praise rattles the floorboards with sharp, slicing riffs, but softens the blow with droning, buzz-in-your-ear choruses, hewing to the melodic edge of post-punk a la the Monochrome Set, Felt and, this side of the 21st century, Chronophage. The opening salvo of this debut full-length, hammers at a chorus of “Forget that it’s summer,” letting fly stuttering scrambles on one trebly guitar and a bouncy walking line on the other, a baritone slung low enough to sound like a bass. But there’s a drifting “aaah-aaah” that blows in like a warm breeze, and tuneful little fillips that pull the whole thing to the verge of power pop. The songs reel you in with sweetness, then slaps you up with slashing spikiness, or maybe it’s the other way around.

Low Praise is a three-person band out of Oakland, CA, made up of Chris Stevens who sings and plays guitar, Warren Woodward with the baritone guitar and Andrew Marcogliese. Before Dressing, there were two self-released EPs, Expectations(s) in 2018 and Tanning Beds in 2019, and then a bit of a pandemic pause. Although the band’s members do not appear to be in the first flush of youth, there’s very little internet trail on this or any predecessor outfits. I found one feature in the East Bay Express expressing enthusiasm for the Fall and Wire but otherwise not very enlightening.

But really other than a penchant for hard rhythms and cryptic lyrics, Dressing is not especially Fall-like. “Angela” the song reportedly inspired by Greta Thunberg, is as fizzy sweet as lemonade and more in line with Bay Area bands like the Umbrellas and the Mantles than Mark E. Smith and his grannie with her bongos. Tight harmonies make the song’s snarky observations vibrate like power lines; the song is all about various people telling a young activist to calm the fuck down (and her not having it).

The focus falls naturally on the militant rhythmed bangers, like “Supermind.” With its wind-up riffs and cross-cutting vocals, you can find at least a whiff of Gang of Four. Or “Hollow Ego,” with its plunging, rushing momentum and roar of guitars might put you in mind of Protomartyr at first, at least until the chorus comes with its chanting, close-interval harmonies and descants.

In any case, it’s a good record, with sharp-slicing rhythmic underpinnings and sneakily sinuous melodic turns.  Low Praise deserves much more than its name.  

Jennifer Kelly

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Oakland's Low Praise Shares Nervous "Forget That It's Summer"

New Video: Oakland's Low Praise Shares Nervous "Forget That It's Summer" @forcefieldpr

Oakland-based post punk trio Low Praise — Andrew (drums), Chris (guitar vocals) and Warren (baritone guitar, vocals) — have specialized in the sort of nervous energy paired and chanted hooks that bring late 70s post-punk bands like The Fall and Wire to mind. Low Praise’s full-length debut DRESSING is slated for a May 19, 2023 release. Recorded over the course of two sessions split apart by the…

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[madmackerel]

Low Praise - Angela

Low Praise – Angela

Oakland trio Low Praise have released a new single, Angela.

It is a catchy, post-punk anthem whose nervous energy and chanting hooks recall late ’70s acts such as The Fall and early Wire as well as the more contemporary Protomartyr.

Give it a spin – well worth a listen.

  Follow @madmackerel

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