Top 10 Greatest "Low Fi" Albums

You can have your million dollar Genesis productions. This is a list dedicated to a musician and a cassette tape recorder.

The Top Ten

1 Velvet Underground: The Quine Tapes

Bootleg quality live V.U. The sound seems to seep out of your closet.

2 Throbbing Gristle: Second Annual Report

Partly because of the recording quality, this album will mess you up.

3 Daniel Johnston: Yip Jump Music

Daniel would have never survived in a professional studio.

4 Times New Viking: Rip It Off

After putting this on the turntable, I almost thought something was wrong with my setup.

5 Thirteenth Floor Elevators: Easter Everywhere

If this band had signed to a label that put some effort into production, they would be much more well known. It is what it is.

6 Belong: Colorloss Record

Where notes go when they die.

7 Devendra Banhart: Oh Me Oh My

Is that his voice or tape flutter?

8 Sun Ra: Magic City

All Sun Ra albums are low fi, but this is my favorite

9 Bad Brains: Black Dots

When you have enough attitude, the tape gets it.

10 Inside the Dream Syndicate: Vol 1 Day Of Niagara

Tony Conrad and John Cale... A minimalist classic.

The Contenders

11 Liz Phair: Exile in Guyville

12 John Lennon: Piano Demo

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