1980s Onwards
As a term to describe a musical genre, lo-fi is mainly associated with recordings from the 1980s onwards, when cassette technology such as Tascam's four-track Portastudio became widely available. Prime early exponents included Daniel Johnston, New Zealand band the Tall Dwarfs who recorded on Chris Knox's 4-track and released on Flying Nun Records, The Bilders (period 1978-81), who recorded in a bedroom, Beat Happening and the Olympia, Washington label K Records. In the early-mid 1990s (1991–1998), lo-fi found a wider audience with the success of such acts as Beck, Blur, Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, Smog, Spookey Ruben, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, Pavement, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, Operation Ivy, Liz Phair, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ween, David Kilgour and later (1999–2003) Elliott Smith, The Apples in Stereo, Dr. Dog, The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Beulah, Of Montreal, Mike Rifone, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, and The Shins. Non-famous recording artists considered lo-fi include Charlie McAlister, Wckr Spgt, Caleb Fraid, Will Simmons, Eric's Trip and Buzzsaw.
Often lo-fi artists will record on old or poor recording equipment, ostensibly out of financial necessity but also due to the unique aural association such technologies have with "authenticity", an association created in listeners by exposure to years of demo, bootleg, and field recordings, as well as to older pop studio recordings produced more simply. The growth in lo-fi coincided with the growth of extreme slickness and polish associated with the multitrack pop recording techniques of the 1980s. Lo-fi can therefore been seen as a counterculture movement, though exponents rarely identify themselves with any political persuasion.
Many artists associated with the lo-fi movement, such as Bill Callahan, or Bob Log III, have frequently rejected the use of finer recording equipment, trying to keep their sound raw instead, whereas others such as Guided by Voices, Clutch, and The Mountain Goats slowly moved to using professional studios.
The black metal genre embraced the lo-fi idea during the late 1980s and early 1990s as it strived to distance itself from pop music. Most bands recorded their albums on extremely low budgets, using four-track recorders and any other equipment they could use. The greatest example is the Darkthrone album Transilvanian Hunger, though almost all of their albums have an intentionally "lo-fi" sound quality. The band started as a clean, well produced technical death metal band before evolving their style and almost singlehandedly producing the low quality production style that would become common place in the black metal scene. Varg Vikernes of black metal band Burzum was also known to purposely use extremely lo-fi recording techniques on his albums. On the album Filosofem, Varg was said to have intentionally asked a local store for the cheapest microphone they had, and they sold him a headset, which he used to record vocals on the album. For guitar he was said to have used a distortion pedal to drive a stereo receiver, which made the extremely fuzzy, buzzing guitar tone found on the album. The term "raw" is generally preferred to "lo-fi" in black metal circles.
Currently, there is a growing scene of lo-fi bands in the United States and Canada. Notable bands and solo artists include Two Gallants, Chaoticum, Wavves, No Age, Times New Viking, Rogue Wave, Best Coast, Ty Segall, Gonjasufi, Vivian Girls, Señora Lola, Former Ghosts, Zola Jesus and Glass Graves.
There is also an even newer trend of lo-fi goth bands, which incorporate influence from noise music, deathrock, new wave, and hardcore punk. This scene grew out of an influx of ex-deathrock revivalists into the indie music scene.
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