This is a little off the cuff post inspired by this post by @mrslauren. As stated in my forward looking post for 2018, I'm going to be doing some in-depth spotlight posts, and this proved to be a bit of a mental catalyst.

Let's just get something out of the way about me - I'm not a rigid genre enforcer. The gradual meltdown of genre boundaries at the beginning of this decade has been one of the most positive things to happen to the electronic music scene. For me, lofi is a facet of house, of techno, yet not exclusionary in its nature. It, along with all the kaleidoscopic colours of electronic music deserved to be mixed together and never be defined by an ever decreasing set of rules.

However, sometimes a phrase can evoke many emotions and expectations, and lofi is no exception. Low fidelity manifests in tape hiss, saturation, vinyl crackle, obliterated frequencies, basic production and one take jams. There is a free spirit and nostalgia about the work coming from lofi affiliated artists and it stands in the face of increasingly clinical production techniques.

Three paragraphs can only say so much, so let us dig into another Spotify playlist special.

Spotlight - LoFi Favourites Spotify Playlist

Playlist Archive

DJ Boring - Winona

No better way to lead off than with the big hit. Rising to incredible popularity on YouTube, this cut from DJ Boring became the poster child for the sound. An easy going house groove with pastel melodies, swinging beats, a late acidic flourish, and an early days monologue from Winona Ryder about being harshly passed over in casting. In spite of its popularity, this is a deep one.

Terekke - Bank 3

A crying shame there isn't more from Terekke on Spotify. However this older slice does exist, from an early release on Long Island Electrical Systems. The New York based label was a catalyst in the infiltration of raw edged house and techno into a stagnating scene, epitomising the lofi spirit. Bank 3 is all hazy dub atmospheres with watery keys, occasional dissonant textures and languid beats.

Ross From Friends - Talk To Me You'll Understand

Appearing on Lobster Theremin offshoot Distant Hawaii, it was an unassuming first step for someone who was to become a leading figure of the scene. Ross From Friends often serves up soulful melodies and pitched vocal refrains, there is a keen musicianship hiding behind the playful humour.

Patricia - The Electric Eye Is Upon Me

One of the best cuts from the Several Shades Of The Same Color album on Spectral Sound. There's a little hint of Stranger Things about the synths, the midrange and high end is absolutely brutalised, frequencies are getting mashed together. Mastering purists would be weeping, I just get colours dancing in front of my eyes. Fun fact, you'll find Terekke guesting on the album too.

Cloud Face - Coffee

I actually stumbled across Cloud Face after they guested on an earlier Patricia album. Coffee brings in a bit of a mood change is nowhere near as caffeine infused as the title implies. If anything, it feels as if it embodies the ritualistic process of creating a perfect brew. Technique, harmony and peace. The melodies here fall like snowflakes, set over subtle acid vibes and some choice 606 patterns.

DJ Seinfeld - I Always Come Back To That

Another breakthrough star here. Bit of a confession - I didn't really like the recent DJ Seinfeld album. The throwback references were so knowing that I felt the entire thing was winking at me as it played out. Instead, I constantly find myself dialling back to this track from the Season One release. A near oppressive tape hiss runs throughout, cut by sparkling 909 percussion. The groove is unparalleled, constantly flowing as a diatribe about polyphonic singing talks out over the top.

DJ Richard - Vampire Dub

The big closer from Grind, DJ Richard's Vampire is one to get you feeling weepy. It takes an age for the big reverb kicks to arrive as a chiming melody plays. It is when the bittersweet arcing second melody joins that you start to feel all funny in your chest.

STL - Something Is Raw

You could probably pick anything from STL's catalogue really, and it isn't exactly frugal either. His sounds feel like they have been ripped by hand, stuck down with glue, such is the tangibility. Something Is Raw is a pure dance floor heater with rising siren-esque patches of noise and a cracking organ lick melody.

Route 8 - Pacific Paradise

Lobster Theremin has been integral for the lofi vibe, the London based label becoming absolutely prolific. It doesn't seem like a million years ago that I was speaking about them as having an uncanny knack of putting out exceptionally strong releases and that it had an incredibly strong start for a fresh label. Now, it has an army of sub-labels, a record shop, a distribution arm, a playful introduction to the house and techno scene. This track from Route 8 was the first thing I heard from Lobster and it didn't take me many seconds to immediately find the buy button. It's those breathy synths and echoing kick, utterly immediate in impact.

OL - Lum Edit

Known for their work on Russian label Gost Zvuk, OL's sidestep onto Meda Fury - the label run by Phonica's Nick Williams - has one of the most rewindable drops I've ever heard. It's the jacking beats, the high noon whistle and the noise rush of a needle dragging over a label.

LNRDCROY - Slam City Jam (Mix Assist Mix)

You have no idea how happy I was when this album got repressed last year. And then I found that this, my favourite track, was exclusive to the cassette version! Vinyl owners did get a thirteen minute monster exclusive in compensation, but hey. Have a listen and you'll hear why I like - the lazy breaks, cheap retro house organ and latter third flourish.

Morphosis - Too Far

A dark one here with a mess of discordant church organs, bitcrushed clangs, ominous droning bassline, and drum programming that sounds like it is being playing live, desperately trying to cling to a metronome.

Grant - Bend

More from Lobster Theremin, this time their Mork sublabel. Grant's album was three slabs of quality deepness, hearkening back to turn of the millennium west coast tech vibes. Bend, the second track in, was an early highlight, really getting its hooks in when the heavily phased Think Break comes in. Always pleasing to see it well used.

Nature Boy - Ha Ha

Raw sample based house music. It sounds throwback because it is throwback, recently given a new lease of life from Gerd's Frame Of Mind label. You really feel the red line on the meters getting a bothering here!

Kassem Mosse - Untitled A1 from Workshop 12

You don't get track titles from Workshop! You could pretty much stick up the entire Workshop catalogue here, with the line led by Kassem Mosse and his dusty beats. I particularly love how the vocal on this appears to be the word "sensuality" stripped back so it says "ensualit". Bare minimum instruments here and absolutely no fear by finishing off with about three minutes of that vocal snippet.

Jacob Stoy - CFM

I love a good bargain and I found this Uncanny Valley release in a 40% off sale. There was something about the low slung groove and languid melody that caught me up. It's like one of those mid-afternoon naps that you have on a Sunday afternoon, half awake and aware that the world is slowly moving by around you.

Gerstaffelen - When The Mind Stops

One from Aroy Dee's offshoot to M>O>S. This starts out with the most brittle of beats and one of those absolutely terrible mid-nineties house organs. By the time all the layers have started unfurling and you're grooving along, the genius is revealed.

Legowelt - Cruise Til The Sun Shines

Prolific synth virtuoso Legowelt was wringing sounds out of long forgotten synths way before their recent resurgence. Legowelt sounds like Legowelt, no other way of saying it really other than to dive in. Instead of a description, here is a video of him saying synthesizer for a minute.

Willow - Untitled A2 from Workshop 23

There is a synergy with the work of Manchester artist Willow and that of label mate Kassem Mosse. The sense of space, the sparsity of instrumentation. However Willow's production is pristine in the face of Kassem's antiquity. Without obviously aiming to do so, Workshop 23 managed to straddle an intriguing divide between house and soul

Disco Nihilist - Money Don't Matter 2 Night

Great track hearkening back to early nineties house. Crispy 909's and an organ that isn't a million miles away from Atlantic Ocean's Waterfall. Simple and effective.

Person Of Interest - NOFYB

One thing I love about lofi leaning house is its way to retread familiar tropes with a new angle. Long Island Electrical Systems artist Person Of Interest stepped out of their raw tape grooves for this excursion onto Clone Records offshoot Royal Oak. Disco strings, urgent beats, familiar structures, yet this sense of melancholy.

Imre Kiss - Spellbound

More from Lobster Theremin and a house cut that could give trip hop a run for its money. Huge amount of vinyl crackle runs through this and features pads that sound like they are emitting from a cassette deck that isn't too far from expiry. Smoked out to the end.

Lowtec - Untitled A1 from Workshop 20

You should be getting a feel for Workshop's pared back vibe by now. This track from Lowtec also has a similarly cassette chewed theme to it with a ripped up disco snippet. The key intrigue is when everything is dropped halfway through into a completely different downtempo movement. Unexpected and beguiling.

45 ACP. - 7th Circle

Fantastic album end to end on Long Island Electric Systems, crafted on some of the lesser used synths in dance circles in recent years. At the time, at least. The beats are serrated and the pads wash like the ocean up a beach.

Bill Converse - Riverbank

Bill is the master of the archive tape hardware jam. This is one of the best, a 303 acid workout at heart. Of note is the way that the different elements handshake over and get their moment to exist in the spotlight. Heads down and gnarly.

DJ Windows XP - I Cried Last Night

Honestly, I put this on on the off-chance because I found the name utterly hilarious. Turns out that it was a fantastic retro house track right out of the DJ Seinfeld mould. Can't name check the vocal sample in this, but I'm sure someone here will step up!

DJ Plant Texture - AFi

DJ Plant Texture tends to operate in more retro junglist circles. AFi goes right back to nineties warehouse vibes, Sheffield Bleep in effect. For lovers of 808 State.

Delroy Edwards - 4 Club Use Only

One of the early Long Island Electrical Systems tracks, laying out the manifesto. Blown beats and simple grooves. Delroy Edwards is actually lesser known for being Rob Pearlman's son, he gets his accolades through talent.

Simoncino - 90's Theme

Lofi, for me, is not all about rawness, dilapidation. I get a lot of it from utilising long forgotten sounds that are often deemed out of fashion. Check this from Simoncino, full of Roland D-50 vibes, rain forest trills and the well worn Apache break.

Gut Nose - Filthnoid Mixx

A big one to finish here. When I reviewed Gut Nose's Filthy City many years ago, it was presented as two sequences of audio - one downtempo, one house. You can actually get the disparate sounds from each mix as individual tracks now, however I will always associate them with this original form. Filthnoid Mixx is a house session that sounds like broken VCRs, ghostly breaking hardware and recording levels that are way too high. It's raw and fabulous.