Low
The Surprises, Snubs, and Changing Rules for This Year’s Grammy Nominations
On Tuesday morning, the Recording Academy revealed the full slate of nominations for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Over the past few tumultuous years, the Recording Academy has overseen changes in leadership and nominating procedures, with one more twist being announced just this morning before the nominations were unveiled: the Big Four general field categories (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) would grow from 8 to 10 nominees each. This is the second expansion in recent years, with only five nominees in those categories through 2018. The 10 nominees for Album of the Year include on-again-off-again rival superstars Kanye West and Taylor Swift. West, who was nominated for Album of the Year for each of his first three albums, has not been in the...
After 13 Albums, Low Has Come Full Circle
Low has been doing this for a long time. The now-duo of drummer-vocalist Mimi Parker and guitarist-vocalist Alan Sparhawk has been making music since the ‘90s, and they have 13 studio records under their belt, as well as various EPs, one-off singles, and live albums. Many artists have formed and disbanded in the time that Low has been making music, and Sparhawk considers himself lucky. “It took a long time to get there,” Sparhawk explains to SPIN over Zoom. “I feel lucky that we’re still doing it.” Their 13th album, Hey What, furthers the trajectory initially laid out on 2015’s Ones and Sixes. It marks their third consecutive album working with prominent indie producer BJ Burton, who has contributed to Low’s stylistic plunge into digitally altered soundscapes. Whereas the group’s earlier o...
Coronavirus: Nigeria records 18 more deaths, 645 new infections
A total of 1,831 deaths have now been recorded from COVID-19 in Nigeria after 18 more people died on Saturday, health authorities have said. The 18 deaths on Saturday indicated a significant increase from the eight fatalities recorded on Friday. Nigeria also reported 645 new infections on Saturday, increasing the total number of known cases in the country to 151,553. This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Saturday night. Low testing figures in many states has limited Nigeria’s ability to determine the true extent of the spread of COVID-19. A recent general fact sheet published by the NCDC showed that Kogi, Cross River and some other states were not conducting enough tests. More than two-third of the over 151,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeri...
