Lo-Fi

Originally known only as a technique for making recordings, Lo-Fi -- shortspeak for low-fidelity -- is now a vibrant subgenre of Indie Rock. As the media embraced this budding sub-genre and gave it its two minutes, it became a musical/political statement of sorts. An intentional nose-thumbing to the glitzy, cookie-cutter albums major labels often churn out -- as well as being a minimalist form of art -- these records were notoriously produced on $200 four-tracks using cheap microphones. Despite indie rock's sometimes-sour elitism, Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and Guided By Voices' pre-Do The Collapse catalog indeed offer strong testimony that production dollars can't alone write a song.