As someone who was there when lo-fi rock and pop started becoming a common thing (both in the mid-2000s and during the mid-to-late 2010s when bedroom pop started popping off), nothing annoys me more than hearing artists complaining about how much money it costs to not only lay down a track, but make one that is appropriate for radio. While every artist has a right to want something to be of greater value, there is a fascination to be felt in a record made in someone’s bedroom, someone’s basement, or whatever else. There is a reason why albums such as The Microphones’ The Glow, Neutral Milk Hotel’s In An Aeroplane Over the Sea, and even Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand are still discussed and critically revered today. It’s not about how much it costs to make a quality album; it is the passion, the creativity, and also the ingenuity to use what you have.
Legendary underground label K Records, which released music by Kimya Dawson, Beat Happening, Tender Forever, and the aforementioned Microphones, knows this better than anyone and has spent years (since the 80s) introducing the masses to genius works made with some of the barest, rawest tools. The latest to have their music released is Columbus, Ohio’s own Winston Hightower (formerly spelled Winston Hytwr). Hightower is best known as a
legend in the game. Not only has he been releasing music on his own for years—ranging from experimental electronica to the barest of lo-fi pop/post-punk — but he is also part of the hardcore punk band Minority Threat. But on 100 Acre Wood, Hightower is making his reintroduction on a grander scale. And my, does he come to make an impression.
If the superpower of indie rock is to make the mundane sound eventful, Hightower does that in spades by diversifying sounds all over the album…and also making sure that not a single track overstays its welcome. (Not one song cracks the three-minute mark, and only five songs get close.) Whether he isolates himself to skittering drums and angular guitars on “Popp 1” or takes a little visit to the liquor store for cigarettes on “Virtue Signaling” or even singing a sweet love song (album opener “Moonside”), the song still feels like moments in time. The bare sweetness of “Moonside” alone can feel like a soundtrack to watching the moon before eventually going back in the house to have an engaging conversation.
Due to the low fidelity, some of the slower songs lean not only towards the dreamy but even towards the psychedelic, production-wise. Whether it is on purpose or not, such choices make it sound like you are immersed in a colorful world of your own making. This is why lo-fi will always be a more interesting approach to music. Regardless of cleanliness, music ideas recorded on cassette reveal a fresh, intimate quality. Something that even the artists probably hadn’t intended before. Not even small screwups (as hinted at the end of the breezy “High School”) can take you out of it.
While K Records has never stopped releasing their share of artists touching upon the genius of home recording, Winston Hightower’s 100 Acre Wood is as good an album as any to inspire you to bring out your best cassette recorder and start recording. Don’t even have to spend too much money to do it either.
Written by mynameisblueskye
