HI54LOFI / HI54LOFI Records (Hi-Five for Lo-Fi) is good stuff. It is run by a guy named Jeremy Sroka over in the UK and he runs the what is “not a record label and not not a record label”. This is a description I like as I think it covers us types (as I graciously include myself in… #humblebrag) that love the music first. Then do the fine line dance between running a record label and being part of a record label. And he is doing a great job.
The same way artists are having more and more flexibilty to release music and get heard globally, music labels (smaller independent labels at least) are finding themselves in collaborative efforts with musicians instead of just overseeing/releasing musician’s albums. These are less and less the days of sitting behind a desk smoking a cigar and ripping off musicians of their intellectual property. Music labels are not a bad thing and I think the ‘music industry’ needs to get in line a bit more and actually start to believe it – speaking from my “I own an independent label and I’m a real person” side of my brain at least.
Buuuuuuuut I digress. Enough fawning over like minded people (no, seriously this is good stuff), I am here to give a massive stamp of approval that has been late in coming. A lot of what happens with hi54lofi whether it be label stuff, blog stuff, et al, it is most likely up my alley and the Bedroom Sessions get both thumbs up around Slowcoustic HQ. Not that it needs my approval, I just didn’t have too many other resources to try and promote a good thing, so I am doing this blog post with my ‘approval’…so get off my back and open your ears for the below.
So then, are you not impressed? I am familiar with all the above except for Scott Rudd that I am just listening to and enjoying now. This is all “bedroom” style recordings (obviously) so it falls right in line with the kind of slow and acoustic music I like around here and All Are Free Downloads! Long time readers will appreciate the Tyler Butler and Zachary Lucky sessions – the Canadian one-two punch of the sessions so far but do not miss out on the entire series.
So in closing, please swing by Hi54LOFI to listen, read and become part of what Sroka is doing over there. You won’t be disappointed.
HI54LOFI: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter
~Sandy (Smansmith)