Good at Songs, Bad at Fidelity: Lo-Fi.

If you follow new music at all, you've surely run into the trendy "lo-fi" movement by now. Now, if you are old like me, you will remember the "lo-fi" movement of the early 1990's courtesy of bands like Sebadoh and their four-track recorders. Well, the old trusty four tracks have been upgraded to GarageBand and the like.

As with most genres, there's a ton of copy-cat junk out there now, but there are always some gems as well. As the Internet Forever tag line goes - "Good at Songs, Bad at Fidelity" - these are great catchy tunes buried in intentionally minimalist production values (hence, "lo-fi"). And, for the most part they come off like a fun new party.

01 - Big Troubles - "Freudian Slips". This one definitely leans to the "indiepop" side of things (check that Pains of Being Pure at Heart influence) with a great bounce and guitar hook.
02 - Fluffy Lumbers - "Cruisers". I love the chug of the rhythmn here.
03 - Beach Fossils - "Daydream". A sinister guitar riff buried in reverb and muck.
04 - The Babies - "Meet Me In The City". Upbeat glory to get the party going.
05 - Gentle Friendly - "Clean Breaker". I'm cheating with this one as it's honestly not terribly "lo-fi", but the aesthetic isn't really that far off. Love it.
06 - George Washington Brown - "End Of The ...". Reminds me of my old loves Boyracer. Great tune.
07 - That Ghost - "Never Have Fun". Slacker rock is back. This is like Wavves without a distortion box.
08 - Internet Forever - "Cover The Walls". This trio make Casiotone For The Painfully Alone sound downright overproduced. Harmonies and hooks galore. Check out the entire catalog.