Slacker rock

Last updated

Slacker rock (also called slack rock) is a loosely defined genre of indie rock and lo-fi music that originated in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Contents

Definition

The term typically refers to a style that is more laid back and relaxed when compared to regular and contemporary rock in order to make it more "authentic" when compared to other rock. [1]

History

Slacker rock is closely related to "slacker" culture that arose in the 1980s and 1990s with Generation X and can be seen in the way the music is composed with less emphasis on playing certain notes correctly, having slightly out of tune instruments, and having lyrics be sung in a form that was more relaxed similar to the slacker style. [2] The image of the genre is that of a cool laziness or mellow swagger which came as a result from artists in the genre wanted to detached themselves from the "sellout" culture of other rock genres. [3]

Examples

Taking influence from 1980s lo-fi bands like Beat Happening and Tall Dwarfs, slacker rock was pioneered by indie rock acts including Sebadoh, Pavement, Sparklehorse, The Apples In Stereo and Guided By Voices. [4] The genre saw its height in the 1990s with popular artists like Beck. [5] Since the 2010s, it has seen a revival with the likes of Mac DeMarco, Alex G and Courtney Barnett. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock is centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4
4
time signature
using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.

Outsider music is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who have intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses. The term was popularized in the 1990s by journalist and WFMU DJ Irwin Chusid.

Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels, by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.

Alternative rock is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock.

Downtempo is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may be played in relaxation clubs or as "warm-up or cool-down" music during a DJ set. Examples of downtempo subgenres include trip hop, ambient house, chillwave, psybient and lofi hip hop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American rock</span> Overview of rock music in the United States

American rock has its roots from 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also draws from folk music, jazz, blues, and classical music. American rock music was further influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop charts from 1964 and resulted in the development of psychedelic rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent music</span> Music produced without commercial record labels

Independent music is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by independent record labels. Indie music describes a number of related styles, but generally describes guitar-oriented music straying away from mainstream conventions. There are a number of subgenres of independent music which combine its characteristics with other genres, such as indie pop, indie rock, indie folk, and indie electronic.

Chill-out is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally refers to anything that might be identified as a modern type of easy listening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lo-fi music</span> Music aesthetic

Lo-fi is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic choice. The standards of sound quality (fidelity) and music production have evolved over the decades, meaning that some older examples of lo-fi may not have been originally recognized as such. Lo-fi began to be recognized as a style of popular music in the 1990s, when it became alternately referred to as DIY music. Some subsets of lo-fi music have become popular for their perceived nostalgic and/or relaxing qualities, which originate from the imperfections that define the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychedelic music</span> Range of popular music styles and genres

Psychedelic music is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as DMT, LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin mushrooms, to experience synesthesia and altered states of consciousness. Psychedelic music may also aim to enhance the experience of using these drugs and has been found to have a significant influence on psychedelic therapy.

A number of overlapping punk rock subgenres have developed since the emergence of punk rock in the mid-1970s. Even though punk genres at times are difficult to segregate, they usually show differing characteristics in overall structures, instrumental and vocal styles, and tempo. However, sometimes a particular trait is common in several genres, and thus punk genres are normally grouped by a combination of traits.

Alternative dance is a musical genre that mixes alternative rock with electronic dance music. Although largely confined to the British Isles, it has gained American and worldwide exposure through acts such as New Order in the 1980s and the Prodigy and in the 1990s.

Chillwave is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized by evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of memory and nostalgia. Common features include a faded or dreamy retro pop sound, escapist lyrics, psychedelic or lo-fi aesthetics, mellow vocals, slow-to-moderate tempos, effects processing, and vintage synthesizers.

This article is an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slack Motherfucker</span> 1990 single by Superchunk

"Slack Motherfucker" is a song by American rock band Superchunk. It was the first single released from the band's debut, self-titled album (1990). The song was penned by vocalist and guitarist Mac McCaughan in reference to an indolent co-worker he had at the time. Credited to all four band members, it was the band's second single and first to be released under the name Superchunk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mac DeMarco</span> Canadian musician (born 1990)

MacBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has released five full-length studio albums: his debut, 2 (2012), Salad Days (2014), This Old Dog (2017), Here Comes the Cowboy (2019), and Five Easy Hot Dogs (2023). He additionally released the mini-albums Rock and Roll Night Club in 2012 and Another One in 2015, as well as the compilation album One Wayne G in 2023,in addition to those albums are his singles,Plus all albums have demo albums released after. His style of music has been described as "blue wave" and "slacker rock", or, by DeMarco himself, "jizz jazz".

Cloud rap is a subgenre of rap that has several sonic characteristics of trap music and is known for its hazy, dreamlike and relaxed production style. Rapper Lil B and producer Clams Casino have been identified as the early pioneers of the style. The term "cloud rap" is derived from its internet origins and ethereal style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaporwave</span> Online musical genre and visual aesthetic

Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music and a subgenre of hauntology, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s, and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970s elevator music, R&B, and lounge music from the 1980s and 1990s. The surrounding subculture is sometimes associated with an ambiguous or satirical take on consumer capitalism and pop culture, and tends to be characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist engagement with the popular entertainment, technology and advertising of previous decades. Visually, it incorporates early Internet imagery, late 1990s web design, glitch art, anime, stylized Ancient Greek or Roman sculptures, 3D-rendered objects, and cyberpunk tropes in its cover artwork and music videos.

Hypnagogic pop is pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past. It emerged in the mid to late 2000s as American lo-fi and noise musicians began adopting retro aesthetics remembered from their childhood, such as radio rock, new wave pop, light rock, video game music, synth-pop, and R&B. Recordings circulated on cassette or Internet blogs and were typically marked by the use of outmoded analog equipment and DIY experimentation.

References

  1. Harper, Adam (2014). Lo-Fi Aesthetics in Popular Music Discourse (PDF). Wadham College. p. 44. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  2. Harper 2014, pp. 273–274, 294.
  3. Harper 2014, p. 307.
  4. A Rough Guide To: Slack Rock
  5. David Wild (21 April 1994). "Meet Beck: The Unlikely Success Story of a Hip-Hop Folk Rocker". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  6. Leonie Cooper (12 April 2019). "Mac DeMarco and the artistic slouch: has slack rock come to an end?". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 August 2021.