Elastic No-No Band - Lo-fi/home Recordings

Lo-fi/home Recordings

While he was studying film at New York University, Remer used the facilities intended for recording voice-over for film projects to create four lo-fi solo albums. These albums were Songs from a Poorly-Soundproofed Room (2004) (the title is a parody of Leonard Cohen's Songs from a Room), More Songs About Cowboys and Moisture (2004) (the title is a parody of Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food), an album of Elvis Costello covers called Every Elvis Has His Army: ENB Does EC (2005), and (Previously Otherwise) Uncollected Songs (2005). These albums were initially distributed using the CD-R format, then were made available as a free music download from Elastic No-No Band's website. When the website was shut down at the end of 2011, Remer compiled the tracks into 2 compilations, collectively titled Not Like Most Folkies (due out in March and April 2012).

Remer began performing at the Anti-hootenanny open mic run by Lach at the Sidewalk Cafe (the center of New York's East Village anti-folk scene). This is where he met Scher, Spurlock, and Scheibner. The men performed shows together and made home recordings of some of their rehearsals. Five of these rehearsal recordings, featuring the trio of Remer, Scher, and Spurlock are featured on Elastic No-No Band's first official CD release, The Very Best of Elastic No-No Band So Far (2006). Scheibner is credited on the release with "silent drumming." The remainder of the CD consists of songs from the four CD-R albums Remer recorded alone and a newer solo recording titled "Run-DMC."

In 2007, the band issued No-No's (Leftovers and Live Songs), which consists of previously unreleased material, live performances, and previously issued one-off recordings from compilations. According to Remer, the songs are called "leftovers" instead of "B-sides" or "rarities" because they're no rarer than any of the band's other songs. This CD includes the first recorded live performances with the band's second drummer, Doug Johnson.