“The final world-shattering salvo of the Loudness War”: Here’s the waveform of the first minute of Sleigh Bells “Crown on the Ground”.
Ohmygod. It’s clipping-as-distortion-effect.
but clipping (or, at least, serious deterioration of sound quality) is already an effect of distortion, when you listen to enough low-quality vinyl rips of 90s emo bands turning from pin-dropping to full-on, crashing crescendos.
this is beyond lo-fi; it’s fail-fi. deliberately sabotaging every second of your music might be an interesting artistic statement - it might even sound exciting, for some - but I can’t help feeling it lacks the energy and integrity that comes from ‘honest’ music. not that there wasn’t some dishonesty in ripping off Slint and then screaming on top of it, but there was feeling.
(here’s agrammar on the topic of production and this Sleigh Bells song)
