As with Lo-Fi music, the intentional degradation of image quality is also commonplace. The use of pastels is also commonly incorporated into Lo-Fi visuals, often giving the visuals a dreamy, nostalgic appearance. Colors that typically appear vivid in photographs and drawings will instead be desaturated and toned down, resulting in a dated or faded appearance. Lo-Fi aesthetics often take on the color palette of Vaporwave and the imagery associated with Anime aesthetics, then utilize various Vintage-inspired tones and filters. As of June 2021, the channel has over 850 million views. The channel hosts 24-hour music streams of this type of music all day, as well as themed playlists. The channel is one of the most popular ways of discovering the genre. Family Portraits allowed him to parade his distinct brand of Lofi through touring – even playing at Panaroma Bar and Primavera.On March 18, 2015, the YouTube channel Lofi Girl joined YouTube. The massive success of “Talk To Me You’ll Understand” and his following works such as “Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes” led up to his debut album Family Portraits released under Flylo’s Brainfeeder Label. As mentioned above Ross clearly borrows from the early years of house music, which actually raises the question of his reliance on nostalgia. My first ever introduction to this side of House music was when I discovered “Talk to Me You’ll Understand” by Ross From Friends a single with an infectious rhythm accompanied by fuzzy textures (of course) that lavishly enriches the stereo field. But it’s clear that time has proven critics wrong as the quality and the gravitational appeal of the music speaks for itself.īelow are some of the artists who are considered vital in the rise of the movement. This could be part of the reason why lo-fi house was regarded as a fad when it first started out. But what this tends to be perceived as is artists who don’t take their craft seriously, which leads to critics and listeners not taking the music seriously, thus nurturing a dismissive attitude towards the genre. Personally, I think is hilarious and it’s lovely to see artist who don’t outright take names seriously. I’m talking about monikers like DJ Poolboi, DJ Sports, DJ Bus Replacement Service, and of course DJ Boring. Lo-Fi House ArtistsĪpart from the individual brilliance of artists, something which also heightened the popularity of Lo-Fi House was the commotion surrounding the ‘peculiar’ artist names in the scene. Even though there isn’t a distinct genesis that we can pinpoint, there are murmurs that lo-fi house arose out of defiance – a defiance of the gloss laden all throughout various forms of contemporary house but in the shape of murky machine warmth. Something to keep in mind is that the genre is a web-based phenomenon that started online and gradually leaked into the streets, bars, and clubs due to its internet virility. That’s a quote from lo-fi house extraordinaire Ross from Friends in an interview with Bandcamp, ultimately representing the fascination that some lo-fi house artists have for old school house to the point of emulation through their own craft.
Everything’s very crushed and compressed.” “I do it because I’ve gained a real love for the old school sound, where it really just sounds worn-out and knackered, and it’s got a lot of character. If you listen to some of the earliest house tracks such as the one below, the similarities between the house of yesteryears and contemporary lo-fi house are quite evident. The fascinating thing of lo-fi hip hop and lo-fi house both gaining momentum around the late 2010s, is the fact that hip hop and house respectively started off as lo-fi. Overall this gives bystanders the impression of a movement which deliberately doesn’t take itself too seriously – something we’ll delve into in the coming sections. The attitude propelling the genre cannot escape mention as many of the key figures in lo-fi house seem to present their brand in a manner which is “quirky” to say the least. That’s looking at it from a technical aspect though. Ultimately, lo-fi house is the prevalence of distortion, fuzz, drums laden with dirt, and cassette emulation over a house beat (usually 4/4) to capture minimalism and a more of a vintage aesthetic. And this relates to production quality that is somewhat shoddy, including the abstinence from polish and sheen. Well, the definition is all in the name… The core nature of lofi is characterized by low fidelity.