Anybody familiar with these guys? I've just started listening to both volumes of their Low Level Owl albums from 2001, and I'm blown away. I'll need to give them some more time to sink in, but I think they could end up being very high on my favorites list. They're supposed to be an emo band, but this really sounds nothing like any emo I've ever heard. It combines some great atmospheric ambience with great guitar work and also some great melodies and hooks.

I'll definitely be looking into more of these guys' stuff.

yeah, i don't think they're very emo. emo is more heart on sleeve, etc. on one of their albums, they talk about their approach to writing songs, and it seems like they really only add singing/lyrics as an afterthought. the vocals don't have a huge presence.

the song "fishing the sky" (from the album "Mare Vitalis") is one of the best songs i've ever heard. tons of energy, beautiful melodies.

I'm so glad you brought this topic up. I followed this band for a long time, OBSESSIVELY because of Low Level Owl and Mare Vitalis specifically. I bought their first record, End of the Ring Wars, when it came out and it was pretty good in 1998 as a ripoff of Mineral's Power of Failing. They moved from California to Kansas, switched drummers and bassists and became in my humble opinion, for a few years the single greatest post-rock band to walk the face of this earth. Mare Vitalis proved they were willing to experiment and it did a pretty good job of leaving most of the band's previous emo leanings behind. I went about spouting off how they were going to destroy Radiohead and shit like that. I even actually think Low Level Owl is better than everything Radiohead has ever done and I am a pretty big fan of Radiohead. Unfortunately after both LLO volumes, they signed to Tigerstyle, a now defunct indie label home to post-rockers Mercury Program and American Analog Set. Going from emo label, Deep Elm, to a somewhat more respectable indie label, you'd think they would have been done with emo, or at least I hoped so. LLO gave no indication they were going to go back there, but instead were ready to explore space-rock/post-rock/shoegaze and even ambient noise to some extent. After signing to Tigerstyle they released of all things an EMO record, Two Conversations. I tried to like it, but the time for that stuff was in my past, ala 1997/1998 when I was in highschool. I was willing to give them another chance. This year they returned with Peregrine, another shitty emo record with a few post-rock leanings on another emo label, The Militia Group, that has a thing for signing specifically Christian bands, which time and again The Appleseed Cast have sworn they are not. Sorry for ranting, but I loved this band like they were my own children and I have been extremely disappointed in the last two records. If you like Low Level Owl and Mare Vitalis do yourself a favor and stop there. The only people I know that like the newer records are highschool age emo kids, and I hate emo and emo kids.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jonathanbrisby,

LLO (I & II) is my absolute, hands down, no questions favorite album of this decade. And LLO is probably, because my tastes lean towards very recent indie rock - even though that's not cool and i guess i'm supposed to say that the beatles, the clash and sonic youth released the greatest albums ever, my favorite album period. it is definitely the most personally influential album i own. Any music I make (including the 2 bands i've been in so far) will basically be a shoddy attempt to rip off LLO, but at least i'm aware of it. for me, this album is under that rare label: "life changing".

i got the distinct privilage of seeing them in a post-LLO tour (with Cursive...this must have been about April 2003, because Cursive was touring for The Ugly Organ), and they were perfect. i also saw them in August 2004 with the Mercury Program, and they were both perfect on that sweaty Phoenix evening. Again, these shows were, like LLO, defining moments of my musical life, and maybe just my teenage years in general.

when it comes to the rest of their catalog...let's just say thank goodness for p2p. their first, End of the Ring Wars, has a couple of gems ("Marigold and Patchwork" comes to mind). Mare Vitalis is probably worth owning, as it has a decent mix of what they were (emo) and what they became (post-rock perfected), resulting in the aforementioned "Fishing the Sky", which is potentially their best song. after LLO was 2 Conversations, which, if given a chance, will show itself as a solid listen (well, at least the first half). it's main problem is almost every song is the same thing. Peregrine finds them with a new drummer (Jr from Casket Lottery) replacing the seemingly perfect Cobra (in hindsight, he has pretty much two beats in his repetoire, which Jr can copy with ease). i thought this lineup change would give them new life, but Peregrine, the new one, falls flat. it's sound is ten times more interesting and dynamic than 2 Convos, but the songwriting just doesn't match the cool sonics. there are a few really great songs on here, but i haven't really given myself the chance to let them sink in.

i guess they have never been the best songwriting band in general, though. the experimental approach to LLO was so groundbreaking that i think any songwriting flaws evident both before and later were completely washed away. the overall theme and scheme was more important than any one song. all of their other albums reveal these flaws pretty openly.

i think live Appleseed could still be a force to be reckoned with, and i hope they keep at this for long enough to make the true follow up to LLO.

Wow, thanks jonathanbrisby and not eric for the advice. I really appreciate it. Now I know where to go next with these guys (and where not to go).

The only Appleseed Cast albums I own are Mare Vitalis and LLO, so I'm glad I never bought any of their newer stuff!

quote:

Originally posted by jonathanbrisby:
I even actually think Low Level Owl is better than everything Radiohead has ever done and I am a pretty big fan of Radiohead.

Wow, a couple of you guys are really nuts for this band. I downloaded LLO vol. 1 off itunes last night just to see what all the hoopla is about. My thoughts so far: it's quite nice but a bit boring at times. Granted this critique is from only 2 full listens.

For some reason I want to compare their sound to the Wrens. I love the Wrens, so that's a good thing.

I don't hear anything groundbreaking or experimental on LLO vol. 1. I hear some pleasant, well composed indie/alternative songs. Nothing that would hold a candle to KidA or Ok Computer though.

Maybe I need to download vol. 2 to figure out why ya'll are so extatic about this band.

I'll listen through LLO vol.1 a couple more times to see if I'm missing something. Like I said, I like what I hear(especially 'doors lead to questions and 'steps and numbers', and 'mile marker'), I just don't hear anything all that special.

Let's not go taking my comment out of context. Placed with the rest of that rant I posted above it at least makes sense and appears to come from someone who is an obvious fanboy of those specific records. I basically asserted that it was my opinion that those records were better than anything Radiohead had ever done. I certainly don't think that the majority of people are going to agree with me. Radiohead is a far more visceral and lyric oriented rock band while The Appleseed Cast (on the Low Level Owl recordings specifically) comes off as more of a post-rock/space-rock band. The vocals are purposefully buried under layers of backward guitar loops, heady atmospheric walls of sound, and thunderous drumming. The same people that find these recordings boring are possibly likely to find Mogwai, Slint, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or Slowdive also "boring." These records affected me in a very personal way, to some it just won't be as affecting. Radiohead has a universal appeal and as an overall band are definitely stronger. I certainly don't see the Wrens comparison at all. In fact, anyone else reading this whether you end up liking or hating The Appleseed Cast would do well to ignore that statement as it is possibly the most erroneous comparison I've heard yet. The Wrens are an indie rock group that sounds like Pavement, Spoon, Superchunk, etc. The Appleseed Cast, as I stated previously are a post-rock band.

I'm not sure how I could've put that Radiohead quote of yours into a better context for you. I quoted your full sentence. You said that the Appleseed stuff was better than everything Radiohead has done. And that's what I quoted you on. Maybe I misunderstood your meaning. I'm not sure if you meant to include Kid A and Ok computer when you said everything Radiohead every did.

Honestly, i'm not trying to dis you, but that was a pretty bold statement, whether you like it or not. And it's not like I just called bullshit on your statement right away. I went and downloaded the Appleseed album and i've listen to a few times now.

I like it, it's decent, certainly quality stuff. Some of the songs on that album are just fantastic. As soon as "doors leads to questions" starts I can kind of feel a change in the flow of the album. I like how the sounds proggresively evolve through the tracks. And the track "Mile marker" is superb.

I suppose there's a slim chance that I may grow to appreciate LLO to the extreme that you do and therefore compare their accomplishments to those of Radiohead.

And the Wren's comparison wasn't suppose to be an all encompassing comparison as though Appleseed sounds exactly like them, please. I just got a little bit of a Wren's vibe from them, that's all. Meadowlands and LLO vol 1. both start out with similar mellow guitar strumming, a very similar vibe. Some of the drumming, some of the mellow, flowing guitar, and some of the vocal harmonizing on LLO all remind me a little of the Wrens. Believe me Meadowlands is an album that i've listen to at least a 100 times. You don't have to tell me who they sound like.

peace

well it is probably true that you are the first person to compare the wrens and the cast. so just so other people know (as opposed to trying to discredit you), most appleseed listeners wouldn't place the cast and the wrens in the same style. if you think they sound like the wrens, that's fine, but you're probably in a very small minority here.

Sweet! I'm the first person in the history of the world to compare these particular 2 indie/alt bands! Do I get some kind of award or something?

Listen to the first track off of Meadowlands and then the first track off LLO. I'd be surprised if you didn't hear at least some similarities going on.

Ok, now I'm gettin' out of here. You appleseed fans are nuts.

quote:

Originally posted by hudson:
I'm not sure how I could've put that Radiohead quote of yours into a better context for you. I quoted your full sentence. You said that the Appleseed stuff was better than everything Radiohead has done. And that's what I quoted you on. Maybe I misunderstood your meaning. I'm not sure if you meant to include Kid A and Ok computer when you said everything Radiohead every did.

Ah Hudson, you love the sarcasm. But hmm who was that person who made the unfortunate comment of comparing Radioheads quality of music with Muses or I believe it was more like Muse could hold their own in music quality against Radiohead anyday. Maybe you could help me out here, my memory may be slipping
but I believe that person was YOU. Now I dont know much about this Appleseed Cast vs. Radiohead thing but um yeah pretty sure you shouldnt be going around telling people their comparisons of quality in different musicians are bad because I mean RADIOHEAD vs. Muse! Come on, Hudson, who are we kidding.

I explained exactly how my quote was taken out of context. If it came from some random person, it might seem like a bold statement, coming from an admitted fanboy doesn't lend that much credibility to it. It's not like I don't feel that way, but I explained that this is a personal feeling, an opinion if you will, and not many people are likely to agree. Afterwards I went into some detail about why I thought more people were likely to be into Radiohead.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jonathanbrisby,

quote:

Originally posted by hudson:
Sweet! I'm the first person in the history of the world to compare these particular 2 indie/alt bands! Do I get some kind of award or something?

Listen to the first track off of Meadowlands and then the first track off LLO. I'd be surprised if you didn't hear at least some similarities going on.

Ok, now I'm gettin' out of here. You appleseed fans are nuts.

well even though you left, allow me to say something to other people: a random comparison of albums would show that all kinds of very different bands sound similar for a very short period of time, say, over the length of an introduction. so the comparison is completely misleading in general, and even with those two songs specifically it's not particularly accurate.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: not eric,

I've only heard a couple of their songs. I downloaded "How Life can Turn" randomly just to see if I liked them. I love that song. I ordered a Deep Elm sampler and it had "Fishing the Sky" on it as well. That song is amazing, as is the band. I really want an album.

i just saw the appleseed cast play to a room of maybe 50 or 75 people on tuesday, and even though i'm very blah about their new stuff, they were AMAZING. i highly recommend that others see this band live.

I second that. Regardless of the fact that I haven't really liked anything they've done since Low Level Owl, I've seen them live in the last year and they are still a powerful band in that respect.

You guys probably knew this already, but they released a limited edition (1,000 pressed) of LLO as a 3 LP set this year. I checked ebay and there's a copy going for $41 already (plus $8 shipping) and still 2 days to go on it. Yikes!!! But it would be soooo cool tho.

I have a copy of the triple LP. It's the absolute fucking sweetness. Mine is 2/1000.

hahahahahahah. I should have known. You absolute fucking bastard.