What is LoFi Hip-Hop? Where did it come from? And how is it connected to the underground music scene in the English city of Bristol?
This video is sponsored by Venice.ai. Get a free trial, go to https://venice.ai/moondog or use code MOONDOG to get 20% off a Pro Plan. Enjoy uncensored and private A.I. with Venice.
This episode is sponsored by Matt Hat beef jerky. Use code: MOONDOG to get 15%
Order a free sample using my link https://matthatjerky.com/products/sample-pack?ref=moondog
Read my notes: https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-260401-lofi/
THIS WEEK
Moondog2A
Moondog Reviews
Moondog Go
BRAND CONTEST CLUE
This British record company was founded in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. Richard Branson would use the money to found a similarly named airline, music and book store company, and even a soda brand.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
ChillHop
LoFi a genre of electronic music characterized by slow-tempo beats and analog music sampling. It was popularized in late 2010s on Spotify and YouTube.
During the Covid lockdowns of 2020 many people discovered niche genre music. One of the most popular and lasting is an electronic genre called Chillhop, LoFi Hip-Hop, or simply known as LoFi.
NOTE: For most musicians, LoFi doesn’t mean a genre of music but a quality of recording and generation of recorded music. Low Fidelity. Vintage recordings are LoFi as apposed to amplified Hi-Fedlity music that peaked with analog tube Hi-Fi in the 70’s.
Chilled Cow aka Lo-Fi Girl is one of the most popular YouTube channels.
Today you can easily find this category of music and it’s often signature on YouTube and Spotify is down-tempo intrumental electronic music paired with an Anime-style visual, often a girl.
Cartoon Network’s Toonami introduced younger audiences to Cowboy Bebop and Samuari Champloo that had soundtracks which had groundbreaking cross-genre music that mixed jazz, soul, and techno. Cartoon Networks PowerPuff girls introduced audiences to British Jungle and Breakbeat music.
SIDE QUEST: This animation was inspired a scene from the Studio Ghibili anime “Whispers in the Heart”
Interestingly, the founder of ChillCow is named Dimitri and is from France. When I first found that out, I misidentified him as Dimitri from Paris, a club DJ famous for his Lounge album Sacreblue. But also not to be confused with D.J. Dmitri from the 80’s dance music trio Deee Lite.
Why are so many of my favorite music made by DJs named Dimitri?
In the 1990’s, I was a huge fan of Lounge Music and the revival of Exotica Music from the 1950s. But along with it, an electronica genre that I would later learn was called Downtempo. Downtempo was played in boujie hotel bars and clubs in Manhattan.
Some notable examples of Downtempo are bands like Zero 7, Tycho, Air, and Thievery Corporation.
Downtempo is a sibling to TripHop which was a darker style of music. Both are offshoots of House music that came out of the underground club scene in the British port city of Bristol; wit bands like Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, and Massive Attack.
These were more chill and slower tempo offshoots of the British house music also known as Breakbeat. If you’d like me to explore the origins of Breakbeat, Big Beat, Jungle, and Techno, let me know.
BRAND CONTEST CLUE
This record company published Massive Attack’s first album. This record company got its name from Branson and his partners due to their lack of experience. The word also means “pure and innocent”, which Branson and his friends certainly weren’t.
CONTESTS
CL1P Tech
10% discount this week (until April 30)
https://cl1ptech.com/discount/MOONDOG2A
