Mark Linkous was one of the more reliable lo fi singer-songwriters of the 1990s, both for quality of songs – and relative paucity of song fragments – and for relative stylistic diversity with those songs. I’ve only heard the first two records before this one but I appreciated his diversity paired with song quality and …
Tag: Lo-Fi Indie
Fun Trick Noisemaker (1995) by The Apples in Stereo
My understanding is that this is the first Elephant 6 album. So, for people who care about such things, that’s a really big deal. For the rest of us, it’s certainly much less of a big deal. Moreover, the degree to which The Apples in Stereo truly represent that beloved “lo fi indie pop” aesthetic …
Bakesale (1994) by Sebadoh
Harmacy is the only Sebdaoh record I’ve heard more than a few times and so it is the one I also think of when I listen to other records of theirs. It’s also particularly catchy compared to their earlier records, at least as far as I know, which can make it a little bit harder …
Roman Candle (1994) by Elliott Smith
Your mileage with Elliott Smith likely depends upon when in your life you first heard him. It sure feels like the people who first got into him in their teens – or even their early 20s – have a much greater desire for him to be appreciated as one of the great songwriters of his …
Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998) by Liz Phair
Phair is a strong songwriter, she writes catchy songs with lyrics that are above average. (I often liken her to PJ Harvey at times, given both have a penchant for writing lyrics from the perspective of other people. Sure, many lyricists do that but they are explicit about it.)
Good Morning Spider (1998) by Sparklehorse
This is one of the innumerable indie records of the 1990s wherein a guy poses as a band, and he records a lot himself and has the odd person fill in. Like many of those records, it is stylistically all over the place.
Julius Caesar (1993) by Smog
When we were discussing Will Oldham’s debut (as Palace Brothers) on the podcast a few weeks ago, someone said it reminded them of Smog. So I approached this record with a very different idea than what I had when I first marked it down to listen to (I knew nothing about it).
Exile in Guyville (1993) by Liz Phair
Many years ago, after hearing way too many times that Exile in Guyville is a song-by-song response to Exile on Main St. I listened to this right around the time I was obsessed with that Stones album. I listened to this once, didn’t hear a song-by-song response, and decided it was one of the most …
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998) by Neutral Milk Hotel
Does knowing the supposed concept make this record more problematic? I think so.
Sebadoh III (1991)
Without having heard the two previous Sebadoh albums, and not being familiar enough with the evolution of home recording releases in the 1980s, I still feel confident in saying that I think this album is a pretty big deal; its influence on 1990s indie rock, indie folk and the lo-fi/bedroom recording movement in general is …