Listening for the hiss: lo-fi liner notes as curatorial practices

Abstract

Lo-fi music is commonly associated with a recording aesthetic marked by an avoidance of state-of-the-art technologies and an inclusion of technical flaws, such as tape hiss and static. However, I argue that lo-fi music is not defined merely by the presence of such imperfections, but by a discourse which deliberately draws attention to them. Album liner notes play an important role in this discourse, as they can function as curatorial practices, through which lo-fi artists give an appropriate frame of reference to their recordings. By highlighting the ‘honest’ character of the recordings, the intimate recording spaces, the materiality of the equipment and its ambiguous character as machine/instrument/performer, they invite listeners to adopt a genre-adequate mode of listening. Rather than listening past hiss and other recording artefacts as undesirable qualities, listeners are asked to listen for these qualities as an essential element of not just the recordings, but the music itself.

Writing Background Music for “Bali Channel Tourist TV” Television Program

“…In this music, the writer tries to use the Lo-Fi (Low Fidelity) genre. Lo-Fi (Low Fidelity) is an aesthetic recorded music by avoiding cutting-edge technology and the production of the recording is more subject to technical imperfections, such as tape hiss and static sound (Supper, 2018). The use of the Lo-Fi genre in the background music is because this music is simple and easy listening.…”