making a short and concise chart portraying the history of lo-fi pop. what is missing? what's unimportant?
i don't want to bloat it with every nuance of 80's and 90's cassette culture 7" indie label band ever - but I do want it to open those doors.
mostly trying to pinpoint the inventors.
>The glow part 2
>Pop
Maybe add Savage young taterbug-Theme for gasoline weirdo
Out of all the Ariel Pink albums you picked that one? Are you retarded?
Add The Doldrums instead
the glow pt 2 is pretty pop
considering adding Aeroplane, since it's so incredibly popular and carries the ethos. but feel like skipping it since it's not effectively lo-if in any way, but rather a product of it (simple mixing, fuzzbass, light clipping - just listen to his earliest stuff)
also considering adding Shaggs for the DIY ethos, but they lack the bedroom aspect.
considering kicking the tvu, since they lack the bedroom aspect. although they're one of the earliest band to embrace mistakes in recording/performances
what do you think?
Tonetta
Tronics
Replace You Turn Me On with their s/t
picked it out of popularity, but I agree it certainly isn't the most representative record. i feel like doledrums might not be it the right pick either, but i'll switch for now.
while certainly being the least pop of the picks, it's such a landmark lo-fi release, it cannot be disregarded. i also think pop in this context mostly means "not just noise".
tonetta should will go on there to represent the current state of music. i don't see tronics as a landmark lo-fi band though? would you care to elaborate
yeah, good idea
Early Ween maybe?
>so incredibly popular
maybe for mu monkeys and rym users, a completely irrelevant record irl
Otis g johnson-Everything god is love
Sparklehorse-Vivadixie
no, not really. very popular in music circles - just not around suburban high school friends. it's championed by both of the largest alternative music propagators out there (p4k and fantano).
also, we're in the context of lo-fi music history - everything is relative
>p4k and fantano
those are literally the propagators that only influence mu monkeys and rym downies, you see music circles (unless we’re talking pretentious fags like op) don’t get their music from pitchfork
P4k sucks
t. Mars Volta fanboy
What about pic related?
are you fucking kidding me
they literally sell it in urban outfitters and namedropped nmh in Parks and Recreation this is not obscure
You really need Pinkerton dude, like them or not there is no denying the influence and notoriety of Pinkerton
You need Husker Du
i love weezer, but pinkerton was produced by fucking dave friddman (effectively part of flaming lips, early mercury rev). why would it go on here? there's nothing lo-fi about it, spiritually or practically.
if you wanna talk emo on the other hand...
at least change the aesthetic of the chart
What about STGSTV
these are great choices. i just don't think they're individually remarkable enough.
if i'd include them, i'd also have to include pavement, modest mouse, lots of elephant 6, dinosaur, television personalities, tall dwarfs, 3ds, elliot smith, clientele and probably a whole lot more.
wow, this is a really cool find. i don't see it having enough popularity to be considered important, but this is definitely some accidentally pioneering stuff.
vashti is magic, but as the lo-fi aesthetic is not a conscious choice, but rather a bi-product of the time - so i don't think it fits. because, with this reasoning a band like yardbirds would also fit, which we can all intuitively agree they don't.
i think my criteria is something like:
- technically lo-fi
- historically important/influential
- home recorded or has conscious flaws in the recording fidelity
and then i take into consideration what's already represented and not.
never heard anything outside of zen arcade - please elaborate
huh, haven't thought about it as a lo-fi record, but it really is. the early beach boys influence is not quite what it will become yet, but it fits the bill. added.
ye
shouldn't it make more sense to have white light/white heat and not the banana
>three beach boys albums
to what end?
shit, yeah, i just haven't been able to pick. smiley smile is my favorite, wild honey is the most lo-fi and friends is the most solid. but yeah, two should go.
while its noisier, it's further from the roots of lo-fi music. i think the poppy nature of tvu&n lends itself to fit this list better. the sound fidelity, the irony and the conscious mistakes all over wl/wh makes it quite proto-lo-fi too, though.
It's pretty lo-fi, no more lo-fi than that beck release.
What's the point of calling it lo-fi pop instead of noise pop?
that static thingy background makes the text very hard to read
Nice chart so far dude, i'd reccomend putting >Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
>Jamboree - Beat happening
can you make the background not shitty and hard to look at?
>including lamb crystal
very nice
john maus - songs?
Definitely needs Elliott Smith, Pavement, and Pixies
because theyre not the same thing?
how is mbv's 'isn't anything' and beat happening's s/t the same genre?
completely different sound/vibe/aesthetic
not op btw
>everything that is not highly inaccessible avant-garde bullshit is pop
this is getting annoying
Alien Lanes is way more pop than bee thosand.
I agree with others, change background.
Also
>still having Smiley Smile/Wild Honey together
maybe it's time to finally remove it?
Does "Thank God for Mental Illness" counts?
you need velocity girl - copacetic
fuck this hurts my eyes
Sebadoh III is much more lo-fi than Bakesale, and it’s better too
switched it.
yeah, picked bee thousand because it's the classic, but fuck it, im switching it
removing all but smiley smile
quoting previous comment i made
>these are great choices. i just don't think they're individually remarkable enough.
>if i'd include them, i'd also have to include pavement, modest mouse, lots of elephant 6, dinosaur, television personalities, tall dwarfs, 3ds, elliot smith, clientele and probably a whole lot more.
also thanks. i think its enough with one beat happening release, but K's importance in diy music cannot be understated
i feel like that space is already occupied by ariel and ferraro, but it's certainly an important hypnagogic release
solid noisy twee, but i don't think it's needed in a chart this condensed, especially when Washington/american twee is already represented with beat happening.
i haven't heard enough sebadoh to know, but i'll trust you. an earlier release makes sense
Harry Smith and Jandek are interesting additions. while they have the sound, they're not culturally connected to the rest, although I'm sure they were inspirations for some of the musicians on the chart... hmm
>an actually interesting thread
thanks
>these are great choices. i just don't think they're individually remarkable enough.
>if i'd include them, i'd also have to include pavement, modest mouse, lots of elephant 6, dinosaur, television personalities, tall dwarfs, 3ds, elliot smith, clientele and probably a whole lot more.
Why? They're still lo-fi indie, it doesn't matter who they're associated with. Pavement imo 100% deserve to be on here. I don't see your reasoning as valid my man.
Why is beck on this chart? He could be replaced by way more influential albums.
>removing all but smiley smile
What I meant is that the title of this album in your chart was Smiley Smile/Wild Honey (and still is). Youd should change this for simply Smiley Smile. Friends and Wild Honey being there was okay in my opinion, leaving them is good for educational purposes I think (they are less popular than SS ane people might listen to it seeing them on the chart). Plus, Friends' cover fucking rocks and the chart looks better by having it lol.
the idea is not to compile a full list of the best lo-fi pop music, but those who contributed the most to the aesthetic. if you start picking all the amazing lo-fi-ish bands of the 90's you end up with a huge chart. i think pavements contribution to the aesthetic is not big enough to represented, and is already portrayed by other bands on the list.
if you follow the lineage from the top rows of the chart, pavement is not the most obvious choice. i'm hoping to pinpoint bands with a further connection to cassette culture and bedroom recording.
feel free to further your case, because i could be wrong
it's one of my weakest picks - probably the worst album on the chart imo. i picked it because of the enormous popularity he reached, while still being so on point with with the musical aesthetics of lo-fi pop. i'd be up for changing it, if there are any good alternatives
bump
How does beck fit the lo-fi aesthetic for lo-fi more than Pavement,i just don't see the logic. Pavement have been more influential in lo-fi than any of the bands from the 90's on the chart.
>lo-fi pop
pavement are great, but they're not pop
Hi How Are You is not pop
More pop than Sebadoh are, have you even listened to Pavement? They've got plenty of pop songs.
>Taterbug
Mein negger
How can you not consider this pop?
>Carrot Rope
youtube.com
>Cut Your Hair
youtube.com
>Major Leagues
youtube.com
>Range Life
youtube.com
I could list more, i like the concept of your chart this is why it's frustrating lol. You've got a weird double standard going on.
>has been more influential than
this is true, but lo-fi aspect was never important in their influence
pavement is not a lo-fi band. they're an indie rock band that had mediocre production values in the beginning. slanted was made in a studio, never intentionally did they have low fidelity. and as soon as they could, they moved away from the aesthetic. they we're never a bedroom band. they have nothing in common with McCartney II, R. Stevie Moore or Maritn Newell. They were simply a great band, referencing what was a popular sound at the time for a short period of time.
their only connection to cassette culture is that Slanted was briefly out on cassette before it was released on Matador, being passed around between all the cool kids. that's it. never did they make tapes in their bedrooms, experimenting with weird overdubs and sounds.
it was key in creating the aesthetic, and hence is part of the lineage without being actual pop music. the songs on the album are pop tunes structurally, and honestly it's far from the most out there record on the chart.
Are you going to include albums from the 2010's? Because if so i've got a rec.
Switch for FF >> instead
twin fantasy
If you're rocking three Beach Boys albums wouldn't VU s/t also be a reasonable addition. This isn't a very good chart its just clearly your personal taste with very little thought put into being more universal.
i cut the beach boys down to one. you can see the newset chart in posts above.
the idea that this simply mirrors my taste is incredibly uniformed. the picks reflect what lo-fi music is about. the albums tend to be:
>technically low fidelity
>home recorded
>embrace amateurishness
>shared through cassettes, and financed independently
lots of the propsed records do not meet this criteria, or are already represented by an album that meets this criteria more clearly.
tvu's s/t lacks most of the mentioned qualities, and is hence not included. tvu happens to be relevant since it comes to be an inspiration for indie- and twee-pop musically, which lo-fi related labels such as K, Sarah and Flying Nun come to embrace. but this is clearly a different parameter than the one we are measuring.
bump
...
Psychocandy counts?
...
1. Can you please change the Ariel album for anything early that isn’t the frankly overrated Doldrums
2. The original pink glitter theme was far superior.
