In the past year or so the music world has seen a rise of a style of music that’s quite intoxicating: It’s called noise pop/lo-fi rock n’ roll. The description of noise-pop stems from the fact it is essentially a mixture of pop sentimentality and heavy distorted guitars. The instrumentation follows that of normal rock bands featuring electric guitars, bass, drums and occasional keyboards, though often times the recording quality is a bit more gritty and rough, hence the lo-fi label.

Noise pop/lo-fi rock n’ roll is heavily influenced by the shoegaze movement that began in England during the mid-80s. The music’s name came from the British press who dubbed it “shoegaze” because of the bands’ stage presence. During live performances, the musicians in these bands would remain almost completely motionless, standing on the stage and staring at their effects pedals or the floor.

Overall, shoegaze helped to popularize the use of heavily distorted pop melodies. While many bands were found within the movement, by most standards, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s 1985 release, “Psychocandy,” is considered to be the album that defined and launched shoegaze. Other amazing groups to emerge from the scene were My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins.

Another major influence upon noise pop is the late 80s style known as noise rock, which included notable artist such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and The Jesus Lizard. This genre also used traditional rock-n-roll instrumentation, but additionally, the tone utilized atonality and dissonance. A connection between shoegaze and noise rock is they both have definite influence from the great band known as The Velvet Underground, who are one of the originators of alternative music and help to influence the inclusion of pop elements found within the common variable of distorted guitars.

So with the combination of shoegaze and noise rock, the bastard child known as lo-fi/noise pop was born. In the last few years many noise pop bands have sprouted up in various locations all over the country. Our neighbor to the north, Ohio, have brought about two bands that have quickly gained indie notability, Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horsesh*t. Through live shows and coverage via music blogs, these bands have been building an impressive following. While an initial listening to both bands may turn off some people because of their jagged sound, upon multiple encounters with their music, the apparent beauty will begin to shine through. Other bands found within the genre that are well worth checking out include Wavves, Deerhoof, Les Savy Fav and No Age.

With such a rich history of influence to draw upon, the modern purveyors of noise pop are making impressive albums that are completely different than anything you will hear on most radio stations, which makes a person investigation into the scene well worth your time. At first, the sound may be a bit rough for some listeners who are used to pitch-perfect, modern day digital recordings, though some will definitely find it to be a refreshing change from the now normal, over-processed sound of modern music.