LO-FI as an Ideal and not an Excuse

[Damn]

"can we go home now?"

please xerox and repost!

[vulture]

Let's try something different. Name bands with glossy/polished records that would have been improved by using lo-fi recording. Example: if Nirvana or the Foo Fighters had sounded more lo-fi/diy basement, indie snobs would be fawning over it nowadays.

[neighborhoodwatch]

dont people fawn over nirvana anyway?

[vint]

Of course, anyone approximately my age who doesn't like Nirvana is a fucking poser, and probably got into punk in college or something.

[sarim]

i would say that i like about 5 nirvana songs.  i used to enjoy them all.  where does this put me???

[vint]

i would say that i like about 5 nirvana songs.  i used to enjoy them all.  where does this put me???

about eight years younger than me.

[vulture]

dont people fawn over nirvana anyway?

Not really. Alot of indie snobs hate on em. That was an example anyways. I really couldnt immediately think of other overly glossy pop punk/alternative/whatever bands that would have benefitted from using lo-fi recording.
Here we go, I got one:
Weezer would have been alot better sounding if they didnt pile on the gloss(sorry Ric Ocasek fans) and went with a rougher edged sound. I might have even liked them. They might not be as huge and rich either, but I wouldnt change the channel when they come on the radio either. They might not have even been on the radio for that matter.

[TTT]

So many of these early/mid-nineties bands could've used a good de-greaser to strip off the silly sheen producers wiped all over their faces.  I think one that sticks out big time is Superdrag.  Just because it's candy-coated pop writing doesn't mean you need an additional candy layer.  I think some dirt on the candy might complement it better.  Definitely Weezer.  I think all I need to say here actually is "Dear You".  Although Jawbreaker songs by that point might not have been able to be done any other way.  24 Hour Revenge Therapy is pretty sweet.  I dont care what anybody says about that.  If you dont like that album I just feel like you are off in space or you just dont like saying you like anything by Jawbreaker or something.  Not liking that album is retarded.

[Jared]

Let's try something different. Name bands with glossy/polished records that would have been improved by using lo-fi recording. Example: if Nirvana or the Foo Fighters had sounded more lo-fi/diy basement, indie snobs would be fawning over it nowadays.

The only Nirvana record that isn't lo-fi, technically, is 'Nevermind'.  Obviously compared to shit like Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit, they all sound over-produced, but most of 'em are still pretty raw compared to, say, Stone Temple Pilots or Pearl Jam.  I mean wasn't Steve Albini once considered "the King of Lo-fi" or some such bullshit?

Also, the first Foo Fighters album was a home-recorded Dave Grohl solo record and has a couple really rad songs on it in "Weenie Beenie" and "Watershed".  Sure it was produced a bit more after the recording was done, but it's still a lot more raw than today's Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse records.

[Scrod Prickknee]

Albini was never considered lo-fi, his tag was analogue adherent/resistant to digital.

[TTT]

Albini is the archetype of the hi-fi purist actually.  He views himself as a technician.  He hates colored preamps, hates EQs, and HATES compressors.  His entire recording philosophy revolves around making a pure document of exactly what is happening.  It's just the bands that dictate what it sounds like.  Because Albini is just taking sonic photos of it.

[SteveBeat]

i don't like nirvana except for like four songs

[doctordenim]

another stupid lo-fi thread.

congratulations. 

[Isleptinthearcade]

fuck lo-fi, gothwave up in this bitch

[DJ Rick]

[Re: TNV's Paisley Reich... The noise on that record -- its "lo-fidelity" -- seemed to me to be not so much a cosmetic cover for the songs but an integral part of them and the sense of urgency I was picking up from the recordings.  Which is how it should be, I think.  On Rep's stuff, the recording itself becomes part of the music, not just a means of conveying it.

So, what else do we think is exemplary of "lo-fi" at its best? And what's a disgrace?

This wasn't meant to become a stupid thread about how lo-fi is becoming a genre ghetto, and whether that's cool or not. It was meant to gather thoughts about what records were examples of music which were excellent either despite or because of their limitations (or conscious choices even). And what records are worse because of it. If it's the worst thread ever, it's because you took the discussion somewhere other than where it was supposed to go.

Everyone knows that the best threads are endless cavalcades of gifs and funny freaky photos. The next best threads are basically lists of things. So list some bands that made good on the potential of some very modest or outmoded equipment or falling in love with the first take or some other example of finely fucked.