Lo-fi

Lo-fi is a subgenre of indie rock which uses lo-fi recording practices. The aim may be to sound

Lo-fi is a subgenre of indie rock which uses lo-fi recording practices. The aim may be to sound authentic, rather than over-produced, although its use can also be due to the artists financial limitations. Many lo-fi artists use inexpensive cassette tape recorders for their music.

Lo-fi's roots could perhaps be dated as far back as a set of live cylinder recordings created in 1900-1904 by Lionel Mapleson from a catwalk 40 feet above the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. The sound quality of these is appalling (more so since they are one-of-a-kind artifacts that have been further worn down by being played over the last century); the aesthetic quality, though, partakes in the electric, authentic feeling of an unedited event being captured in real time. In the same historical period, commercial field recordings of folk music had begun to be created in many nations of the world, recorded catch-as-catch-can by early record producers such as Fred Gaisberg of HMV. From field hollers to ghazals sung by Indian courtesans, these spontaneous recordings made on portable equipment remain some of the most compelling music one can hear.