Some people believe that vinyl is the only and truest manner to listen to particular music. This loyalty is understandable because the sound and speed of a record, the listening experience, and tradition can be very important to people.

Similarly, some artists and bands like the raw and gritty sound produced by recording devices like the 4-track. This year, I’ve rediscovered bands like The Magnetic Fields, Grandaddy, and Pavement. These groups are quite different, but they all share similar aesthetic qualities. In this circumstance, I came to realize something a little deeper about their sound and what I was loving about them - these are bands of the 90s that were rebelling against the digitized, enhanced way of recording music and the big label studios. Their albums sound as if they are recorded in a basement or garage, their distorted guitars radiate, they include feedback and background noise to songs, and their quirky voices and lyrics are poignant, yet esoteric. As Jonathan Mair says in his essay, “this music falls within the umbrella of “lo-fi,” a reaction to the excessively “hi-fi” music of the 1980’s and 90’s, a reaction to the dishonest aesthetic of big budget recording artists, controlled by marketers and increasingly narrow niches of popular music.”

I decided to hit up fellow music enthusiasts, Gabe McNatt and Gregory Ryan, about other 90s lo-fi artists that helped influence the style and sound of the independent rock movement. I hadn’t heard much Sebadoh or The Apples in Stereo, but I really like what I am hearing.

I’m still unclear on whether all these bands recorded in lo-fi out of economic necessity or for purely aesthetic purposes. Of course, more current bands, like Broken Social Scene and Grizzly Bear, certainly have funds to produce higher quality recordings, but they CHOOSE to make their records in lo-fi and it sounds dynamite because of this decision. I suppose this is analogous to their choice of not producing radio hits. I hope Gabe or Greg can make a follow up to this which includes influential lo-fi bands line Dinosaur Jr., Smog, Guided By Voices, Daniel Johnston, and others. For now, dig on this.

Playlist (To download into Itunes, right click and save as here)

The Microphones - I Want Wind to Blow

Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Part 1

The Olivia Tremor Control - Jumping Fences

Grandaddy - A.M. 180

Yo Tengo - Double Dare

Sebadoh - The Freed Pig

The Apples in Stereo - Innerspace

Modest Mouse - Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset

The Mountain Goats - The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton

Pavement - Cut Your Hair

My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes

The Magnetic Fields - I Don’t Want to Get Over You

Wilco - Red-Eyed and Blue

The Flaming Lips - She Don’t Use Jelly

Built to Spill - Carry the Zero

 

 The Lo-fi Aesthetic: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Categories: Visine for the ears
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I’ve been hearing The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots all over the place this summer. It really is a classic album now and every time I hear, “I don’t know where the sunbeams end and the starlight begins, it’s all a mystery,” I sing along.

When I first heard The Grouch & Eligh’s G&E Music Vol. 1&2 it was unlike any hip-hop I had previously heard. Their production was so fresh and self-made, their rhyme pattern so distinct and introspective. I haven’t even heard their latest and third album, Say G&E!, all the through yet (I know it won’t be 1/10 of their first effort), but I was curious what people thought of this Flaming Lips sample on the Eligh production of this title track. Diggin’ or hatin’?

 

 Say G&E!: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Categories: Visine for the ears
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