The Best of/History of Chillwave/Lo-fi

During 2009, and especially during the summer, there has been a huge explosion of artists who are characterized by lo-fi- buzzed- fuzzy- summery- washed out- synthpop- chilled- beach-y- whatever-you-want-to-call-it sounds.  Pretty much everybody who has any sort of music blog has made some sort of comment about it (a lot of them are pretty stupid), and since I am a big fan of it I got to take my go at it.  This style has come to be known as 'chillwave' (half-jokingly and half-seriously) after being dubbed that at the start of the summer in an epic post on HRO, or lo-fi/glo-fi.  Of course there were plenty of artists who had this sound before the summer and helped inspire the genre (like Memory Tapes/Casettes), but the summer is when it really exploded.  The biggest summer breakouts were Neon Indian (AKA Alan Polomo, also of VEGA) and Washed Out (AKA Ernest Greene).

Chillwave has most of its roots in shoegaze music.  Although it is generally slightly more upbeat, it is still for the most part meant to just sit back and relax to, and if you're going to dance at all you're pretty much just going to sway with your eyes closed...

With names like Washed Out, Beach House, Wavves, Best Coast, Future Islands, Reading Rainbows...etc it really comes through the idea of trying to capture that summer aesthetic and relaxed beach feel.  Another aspect of the music is that almost all of these artists are bedroom artists- they pretty much started out just recording their stuff in a their bedroom with just a laptop (guess...Correct! Macbook! how'd u no?) and sometimes a synthesizer, gaining recognition just by circulated their stuff on the inter-web-net-blog-world (as I like to call it).  So for some of these artists, even though they originally did not create their music to be performed, they have transformed their act for their sudden fame.

This genre, chill though it may seem, has created some angry and heated (although pretty comedic) arguments on blogs all over the web.  Some people (well, a lot) feel that this chillwave music is too 'repetitve' and that nothing happens in it and the music itself is 'shitty' but I feel that that is okay and that is a part of it that you should embrace.  Chillwave isn't trying to be Mozart and it's not trying to be Radiohead and it's not trying to be Arcade Fire (musically perfect artists...IMHO) - it's just trying to be something that you can close your eyes to and drift away.

-- A Teenage Elephant

Here are a few of my favorites

Neon Indian
mp3: Deadbeat Summer [via]
This has got to be the epitome of chillwave.  Even its title is extremely chillwave.  It is also one of the best.  It sounds as if it has been run through a washing machine, but is still upbeat and fun.  I love it.  Neon Indian is the solo project of Alan Palomo, who has multiple solo projects.   This years album Psychic Chasms is out and pretty all around awesome.

Washed Out
mp3: Feel It All Around [via]
mp3: Feel It All Around (Toro y Moi Remix)  [via]
Ernest Greene was a librarian/stay out home guy from South Carolina until his sudden popularity over the summer.  A real bedroom artist, he had never performed anything he had made or been signed to a lable until this summer.  Because his stuff was not made to be performed, at first he said he would not be doing any live shows, but eventually he had his first performance in August in NYC.  The videos are worth checking out.  The new album (just released) is called High Times, and is definitely getting if you like chillwave.  Washed Out is sort of the breakout artist of chillwave, responsible popularizing the genre over summer, and Feel It All Around is his biggest hit.  It's a song that really captures that vacationing, relaxed feel.


Toro y Moi
mp3: Talamak [via]
mp3: Blessa (Extended Version) [via]
Definitely my favorite chillwave artist without a doubt.  I had never heard of him until a concert I went to at the Troubadour, where he was the first opening act of 2.  The Troubadour is a pretty small venue and he went on pretty early.  There were only around 10-15 people there when he went on.  He walked up to the front of the small, cramped stage and set up his laptop and synthesizer.  I thought he was just a techie/roadie or whatever w/ good style at first so I went to get some water, but then I heard the first seconds of his music and was instantly mesmerized.  IMHO he is incredible.  Talamak might be favorite song of 2009.  He is definitely the most musically complex.  He is less fuzzy and faded as more dreamy, dancy and pop-y.  He is set to release two albums on Carpark Records this coming year, the first of which being Causers of This, out at the start of 2010.  You can download a bunch of his stuff over at RCRDLBL, but this is the best stuff.  Also, I forgot to mention, Toro y Moi is the solo project Chaz Bundick (also a South Carolinian who is actually good friends with Ernest Greene), member of other bands from the early 2000's.  I could listen to Talamak a million times.

Small Black
mp3: Despicable Dogs [via]
mp3: Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix) [via]
mp3: Pleasant Experience [via]
Small Black is a Long Island Duo, with some really nice electronic songs.  Don't know what else to say about them, but really love these three.


Paralyze Humanity Sequence
Hammock
This is a guy from Chicago I believe.  Don't know much about him just that he has unsigned, pretty much just does parites, and that's about it.  I happened to stumble across his myspace, where you can download his EP, which is actually pretty good aside from the shitty band name.  Pretty typical chillwave stuff, nothing special but I like it.

Atlas Sound ft. Panda Bear (AKA Noah Lennox of AnCo)
mp3: Walkabout [via]
This is a pretty great piece of music off of  Bradley Cox (of Deerhunter)'s solo album (as Atlas Sound) Logos.  It is a really diverse album with lots of guest appearances, this song falling under the chillwave banner in my opinion.  It features Noah Lennox (AKA Panda Bear) of Animal Collective, so you know it has to be good.

Trailer Trash Tracys
mp3: Candy Girl (Demo) [via]
Don't know much about TTT's but this song I think really captures the shoegaze feel of chillwave.  If you like this you should definitely check Beach House, who are more just standard indie/shoegaze.  They just released a new single, and you can download some of their great stuff at RCRDLBL.

-- A Teenage Elephant

P.S.  Something I think is kind of cool that you might not know...We'll call it the fun fact of the day...
The name for the genre shoegaze comes from the idea that at a shoegaze band's concerts when you listen to the music you just sway with your head down and gaze at your shoes.