The most interesting thing about Original Lo-Fi (!K7) by Rockers Hi-Fi is what you don't hear: highly polished studio work, calculated arrangements, the oiled craftsmanship of seasoned professionals. Instead: a storage room above a piano shop in Birmingham, Casio samplers, an Atari 1040, and the feeling that these people are experimenting with something that doesn't yet have a proper name. It is precisely this rawness, this productive uninformedness of the early nineties, that makes the album such an insightful document three decades later.
What particularly impressed me was that Rockers Hi-Fi was ahead of its time (by pushing the boundaries of Dub boldly crossed boundaries) – and were simultaneously perfectly in tune with the times. Like Dreadzone, Zion Train, Groove Corporation, or Rhythm & Sound, they successfully crossed over into the house genre without the Dub-core to abandon. On “Sexy Selector” and “DeMat DubRim" you can clearly hear it: Dub-An aesthetic that isn't ashamed to have been produced for dance floors. And "Clint Eastwood Is Tuffer Than Lee Van Cleef" is a Dub-House-Bastard of the best kind – direct, rough, unforgettable.
That the album is now being re-released and remastered thirty years after its creation makes perfect sense. It doesn't sound like nostalgia, but rather like an idea that has since proven itself. Anyone who wants to know where a good part of today's DubThe Electronica discourse finds one of its roots here.
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Rockers Hi Fi: Original Lo Fi
A response to “Rockers Hi Fi: Original Lo Fi”
Here I could simply write "I like it".
It's strange, but this "Push Push" thing was really like a DubA tune that made it into the mainstream top charts. Maybe I lack a bit of humor, or maybe I've always been a little too wise, but this "Push Push" annoyed me so much that I had to stop listening to this very successful "DubHe didn't even want the song on cassette.
I find nothing about "Original Lo-Fi" that annoys me in any way. This music is perfectly suited to a Dutch beach bar with an adjoining open-air lounge, where you can blissfully indulge in idleness and ponder which utter idiot actually described idleness as "the root of all evil" or even a sin. After all, the main reason for working is to be able to chill out properly afterwards, not for the immeasurable wealth of a few orcs.
What I ultimately miss is the power of reggae, which finally captivated us from the very beginning. Dub It's accompanied by something else. This simply can't replace a fast, jittery drum kit or a drum machine with a "jittery rhythm" like "drum and bass." However, it's only used briefly here, and therefore very pleasantly.
I like the album, but I don't need to listen to it that often. And so it happened that I only added "Mecca Of Space" to my playlist.
The Dub It almost sounds like a cover version of something really cool. DubA tune by African Head Charge. But I don't feel like looking it up right now so everyone knows what I mean.
Conclusion: I like the album! …………….. lemmi