No-Fi

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No-Fi is a term used to describe music or media created outside conventional technical standards.

1 The name
2 The sound
3 The listeners
4 History
5 External links

[edit] The name

No-Fi derives from a combination of the words "No" and Lo-Fi.

[edit] The sound

No-Fi is an extraordinarily diverse aesthetic, and thus not amenable to definition as such. It has been suggested that No-Fi music is: on the edge of losing control or collapsing into non-music, nihilistic to the standards of acceptable composition, bastardizing, mocking of convention, unclean, containing "natural" noises and various sonic artefacts, such as natural reverb and echoes, distortion, tape-hiss and/or feedback, lack of sound-picture clarity, improvisation suggesting the lack of a separate "truth" behind the origins of a piece, and the use of noise as an "instrument" (Similar to Noise artists).

Though according themselves other stylistic titles the bands Eric's Trip, Bone Awl, Nailed Down, Sonic Youth's early work, much of Darkthrone's work (particularly Transilvanian Hunger and F.O.A.D.), the more "raw" forms of punk especially the crust punk scene, and Red Music, central figures in the Fremantle No-Fi scene, would exemplify some or all of No-Fi's aesthetic.

[edit] The listeners

Clapping or cheering is usually minimal, the crowd just waits for the next song or act to begin. The music is like a painting in a gallery or reading a book in a library.

Sitting on the floor in front of the band – common at "indie" gigs and even seen during the Grunge era – is an acceptable practice, and perhaps considered preferable to reduce the distraction caused by one's legs becoming tired.

[edit] History

Though existing beforehand in underground music culture, and used by several bands and artists to describe their work, the term was popularized by No-Fi "Magazine" in the mid-nineties.