Low Life - From Squats To Lots: The Agony And XTC Of Low Life, Vinyl LP

Low Life - From Squats To Lots: The Agony And XTC Of Low Life, Vinyl LP

THE BAND
Low Life are a rock band from Sydney, Australia.

THE RECORD
Low Life’s 3rd LP is titled:
From Squats to Lots: The Agony and the XTC of Low Life

NOTES ON HOW TO LISTEN TO AGONY AND XTC OF LOW LIFE

1. Some records hit you with an instant impression of timeless brilliance. Low Life’s Dogging is one of those—what the wise might call “an instant classic.”

2. From Squats to Lots: The Agony and the XTC of Low Life is more like their second album, Downer Edn (read: Edition). It’s a little more withdrawn, a little more textured. Complex. Rich. You’re going to need some time with it.

3. Some records show, some grow. Low Life have done both. This one is a grower—spend time with it. It has a nuanced flavour. Don’t guzzle. Sip. Savour.

4. Sip it, and sense the recurring brilliance of Mitch Tolman’s lyrics, exploring the familiar territory of gutter life, lad life, punk life, low life. The dirge: disgust and shame in white Australia, council housing, bills piled high, substance abuse and rehabilitation. The fallen lads and lasses who stood too close to the flame. Loss and loneliness. From squats to lots. An un-Australian gutter symphony.

5. There is a celebration of resilience—a central theme of this record. In times like ours, Agony & XTC is necessary. Low times come through, but if you’re low, they won’t get to you.

6. Iggy Pop’s Bowie-produced studio rock masterpieces, The Idiot and Lust For Life, are important reference points for Low Life’s third album. Here comes success!

7. The Agony and Ecstasy is a 1985 novel by Irving Stone about the life of Michelangelo. Stone also wrote Lust For Life about Vincent Van Gogh. This synchronicity hits hard.

8. Iggy and the Stooges are a safe reference for Low Life (and all good rock music). But solo Iggy, like Lust For Life, is a closer reference for this particular incarnation of Low Life: studio rock albums.

9. Bowie later called this period of his life profoundly nihilistic. Iggy saw it as the period that saved him from an early grave. This confrontation is part of Low Life lore.

10. There’s something about this era of Bowie that resonates with Low Life’s new album, particularly the Low. Producer and studio boss Mickey Grossman has an ear for the Low—he has carved out a little statue of David right here.

11. Mickey’s ears have shaped some of the best of Sydney’s music, most notably Oily Boys’ Cro Memory Grin. A great companion record—listen to Agony & XTC after Oily Boys. Not on an empty stomach, and don’t operate heavy machinery while doing so.

12. The relationship between Low Life and Sydney hardcore should not be understated—but it also shouldn’t dictate how you listen to Agony & XTC. This is not austere, disciplined music.

13. Think: if Poison Idea were given the kind of studio time and budget as Happy Mondays. You wouldn’t play it to a teenager—it’s not for children. It’s a mature flavour, for adults who have faced failure, hardship, medical bills, disappointed family members, betrayed lovers, police brutality, detoxing, drying out, humiliation, decay, loss—and yet endure. Low Life are still here, and they’re going nowhere.

NOTES ON HOW NOT TO LISTEN TO AGONY AND XTC OF LOW LIFE

1. Don’t think of shoe-gaze. It implies a safe passage to ‘90s reminiscence, a vogue style of our time—but nothing to do with Low Life. Low Life style is always of its time. Agony & XTC carries the weight of albums like My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and Slowdive’s Souvlaki: records laboured over after the songs were written and recorded.

2. These are “studio albums,” as opposed to albums built in the heat of live performance. 90s studio albums might be called shoe-gaze by some journalists, but we know better than to use that word.

3. Studio albums are excessive and, at the same time, empty. Agony & XTC, Loveless, Souvlaki, Rumours: excessive! Empty! This isn’t “Low Lite” or soft. Low Life can make an overproduced studio rock album without labels. Don’t look back.

4. Lose the distasteful labels—“shoe-gaze,” “rehab rock,” “stab,” “guitar OD overdrive,” “Western Sydney wonder.” Words can die. Kill ‘em all. A low life was once called a vagabond. Who uses that today?