Customer Reviews

Low Level Owl: Volume 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are reading this review, I suggest you read my review of Volume I aswell. Its a shame to me, that both volumes were released seperately. It seems so much more fitting if they were on one double disc set. This is not just a review of Volume II but of both sets and one whole album.

Volume II branches from the first record as it continues with "View of a Burning City" and goes into the song "strings" which continues the beautiful melodies that Appleseed Cast have made evident through out this record. Its so hard to describe every song, and I could not do it justice. The simple plucking of strings into awesome musical arrangements, the drums that never take a back seat but makes itself known and carry each song along wonderfully. Cris' voice is always revealing but his lyrics are always mysterious. Simple words that convey so many thoughts.The Appleseed Cast do an amazing job of giving this record a great feeling of continuity, every tracks moves seemlessly into the other never feeling abrupt or innapropriate. Its an amazing blend of sounds and instruments. You can tell each song is so complex in their technicalities yet sound so simple and beautiful when heard. There are an even amount songs and Instrumentals (6 and 6) in Vol II. Its a quiet melancholy atmosphere that we are drawn into, some highlight songs include, "Rooms and Gardens" "A place in line" and "Decline". Some songs are shorter then others, but the long orchestrated instrumentals more then make up for them. "Ring out the warning Bell", and "The Last in a Line" are two of my favorites. The record comes to pleasant stop as we are teased with a hint of quiet instrumentas played to a sea of white noise. What Volume II lacks are the more louder type tracks of the first, there aren't any "Mile Marker" or "Signal" type songs, instead its much more subtle. This is the most EPIC Emo record you will ever buy this year. I cannot see a way for The Appleseed Cast to top this one. Own both and listen to them back to back and you will find yourself in absolute awe at what has been accomplished here.

Volume I is 14 tracks 53 minutes
Volume II is 12 tracks 55 minutes

Thats 26 Tracks and an Hour and 48 Minutes of pure musical Art.

Low Level Owl is more than a record, its an experience. Do not deny yourself this little piece of Musical Genius.

Appleseed Cast comes from Kansas City, Kansas. Rumor says they used to be an emo band. Bad start; I have judged, stereotyped, and written off bands for less, and in my mind Middle America emotional core rock gets no second thought. Good thing for me, then, that I happened to see Appleseed Cast at a local venue, sandwiched between math rockers Crime and Choir and indie cutie pants Mates of State. Appleseed Cast put on a good show - then I found out about the Kansas origins and emo history. Intrigued, I bought their latest (2001) release "Low Level Owl: Volume II" and have been listening to it all week.
This is, maybe, an emo album, but not in the laughable sense that has created such a stigma attached to the genre. This is not a Jimmy Eat World, Linkin Park, or Stained CD, thank god -no white bread spasms, or screaming, or childhood crybabies. Instead "low Level Owl: Volume II" is 12 tracks of thoughtful music in the fashion of emo godfathers Sunny Day Real Estate. In fact, Sunny Day is a noticeable influence on this album . The vocals soar in and out, the lyrics are poetry, and at just the right moments Appleseed Cast lets open the gain and rocks. The band has done some diverse listening and has covered their tracks, taking subtle and not so subtle cues from Radiohead, Sunny Day Real Estate, Wilco, Depeche Mode, (the list could be endless) and blending them into a dense and interesting sound. The drums bang loud in the mix, riveted ride cymbals sizzle continually. One guitar is driving and prominent, propelling the band with constant 8th notes, the other guitar crackles and feeds back adding noise and texture. The bass is subtle - the droning weight holds the other elements in place. Keyboards add space, ambience, atmosphere. And the vocals are relatively low in the mix, the lyrics disappear in the layers and the voice become another instrument instead of the focus. So the melodies are haunting and infectious and repetitive, catchy and satisfying.
For Appleseed Cast the overall sound is key. No one song on "Low Level Owl: Volume II" is extraordinary on its own; the album stand as a whole with melody and noise pushing one song through the next. The entire CD breathes and moves as a single entity, with every track responding to the track previous and introducing the track to come. The tone varies with plenty of instrumental tracks answered by out and out rock and roll. This is not an album to put on shuffle or skip a track. Next album they put out will be brilliant, they're getting closer.

3 1/2

Hopefully you will be able to differentiate between this influential production and many bands who casually "borrowed" by now and helped give the genre Appleseed helped create a bad name. Lush, slightly distorted, and definitely repetitive, the album is oversold as being excellent (sometimes riding a beautiful melody into sheer boredom save some occasional understated drumming), but within the tool set we are given from this band they present enough intoxicating flow to push many songwriting complaints aside.

I'm buying Appleseed Cast albums in a backwords order. From what I understand, this album (paired with Vol.1)is the beginning of there current sound. It is very mellow. The vocals are kind of muddy, but if you're like me and don't really care about lyrics, that's no problem. this is a great album to listen to while reading, napping or doing anything where music might otherwise be a distraction. i have yet to hear vol. 1 as amazon is out of stock but a eagerly looking forward to it.

The Appleseed cast didn't really know what they were doing before this moment--their first album, 'The End of the Ring Wars', was recorded mere months after they formed. Each successive release thereafter was just one step closer to where they needed to be. I think they found their home here, with Low Level Owl (vol. 1 and 2). An epic prayer of a double album, these records lead you on a dreamy path full of tape-loops, backwards drums, and found-sounds--each song blends perfectly into the one following it, just as the first record blends perfectly into the second when played one after the other. I've always been curious as to why they released this as two different records rather than one solid double disc, and I think the answer lies in their label at the time: Deep Elm is lousy with emo bands, both good and bad, and it would appear that the bands are being produced that way no matter their core sound--bands like Planes Mistaken For Stars (a metal band at heart) sound more emo/indie on their Deep Elm releases than they do live. I feel the same about Appleseed--this is how they were meant to sound, sure, and live they sound just as extraordinary (if not more so, despite the lack of studio additions), but before these releases their sound was more choppy, more manufactured--perhaps less them?--while their debut on TigerStyle hits perfection each track. Mayhap they released this album as two to speed their way through their contract with Deep Elm? Just a suggestion.

But I will say that you will never buy two albums more perfectly crafted in your life, no matter what comes later; this is a masterpiece and will remain on my most-played until the day I die, I think.

I first heard of the 'Apple Seed Cast' from a store--they were playing it. I bought it right before i left the store, and can't stop listening to it. I then bought the first volume. Both of the volumes are kinda different. The first one has more singing in it and the second one has more instrumental. Either way, they are definitly worth the money. I am hooked on the Appleseed cast.

I'm not sure why i bought this cd, i hadonly heard one song of theirs, and it wasn't even on this cd. i'm extremely glad i did though. every second of it is perfect. on my first listen i thought a lot of it was just fill in, but when i listened to it a second time i was in love with it. i like it more every time i listen to it. i was really surprised by the vocals and how pretty they sound. the music is the same too. even on the last song where it's just fuzz for like 6 minutes is awesome. i've never heard such beautiful fuzz. well go out and buy it.

with the emergence of indie rock and it's explosion in the new millenium, rock is facing difficulties not before anticipated. Bands are going further and further out of the way to prove that everything hasn't been done, resulting in some amazing sounds such as The Dismemberment Plan and The Fiery Furnaces. But what is the sacrifice in such cases? Unfortunately the result of this desperate quest is high level art that can have problems connecting with the listner.

The Appleseed Cast's Low Level Owl sessions will definitely catch your attention with a wealth of unique sounds and amazing landscapes. The studio sound is innovative and the arrangements are pretty courageous, but I think they went just a bit too far.

For one, the vocals are dissapointingly sparse on this album, yet their singer is so talented! what a waste! The instrumental style that is instead thrust upon the listener is also noticeably repetetive, and although it interests with the unique sounds, the melodies at it's core are just flat-out inferior to the master-melodies featured on Two Conversations and The Last of the Ring Wars. You've really got to be in the right mood to sympathize with this record more but who knows, maybe it will grow on me as most 'high art' things do.

For now it's only getting three stars. imaginative - yes, but it fails to connect with me as a listener like their other works have.

After two earlier albums noted for their vitality, drive, and uneasy yet intriguing fusion of hard-edged alternative, reiterative melodies and sonics, here Appleseed Cast moves into the arena of progressive rock, a decision whose result is far from laudatory. Those who missed growing up in the heyday of prog rock may find the tightly controlled, self-conscious and processed sounds of Owl -- either volume -- fresh, but to my ear they're only tones already worn and tired. Granted, as with so much else in the history of the genre, one can exclaim over the band's technical proficiency, but the bulk of the songs lack authenticity, becoming but another formulaic footnote in a body of music that only occasionally produces brilliance, so much else lost amidst bells and chimes and choir vocals that dull the senses with their new age, atmospheric and mood-orchestrated sensibilities.

If you want to listen to music the at least attempts to establish its own ground, without sounding like so many canned versions of innocuous mood music done by others whose names are beyond count, listen to Appleseed Cast's first two albums: End of the Ring Wars and Mare Vitalis. Otherwise you can turn to these inoffensive if lackluster treats for background listening as you fall off to sleep.