DIY: The Rise of Lo-fi Culture [Paperback]

Amy Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

Since the 1990s thousands of individuals have embraced the zine revolution and DIY music-making. Amy Spencer champions the unsung heroes and heroines of the lo-fi scene.

A first comprehensive study of lo-fi culture and DIY production of records, CDs, zines within the alternative scene-including interviews with leading musicians, writers and promoters. The book focuses on the lo-fi movements of the UK and US, and across the globe, introducing the various communities who adopted the DIY ethic, the 1950s beat movement, Riot Grrrl, Queercore and Social Activism.

Amy Spencer is a former zine-writer and record-label founder, current member of promotions collective 'The Bakery' and a key player in the establishment of Ladyfest, the UK's fastest-growing women's arts festival.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amy Spencer is co-founder of the creative collective The Bakery and a promoter of various music and arts events in London. She is currently launching a monthly club night for the band Electrelane. As well as working on her PhD about literary representations of London, she is a volunteer at the Museum of Immigration and Diversity in Spitalfields.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714531057
• ISBN-13: 978-0714531052
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,113,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for historical info, but not for analysis, March 22, 2006

By 

Tina Treason - See all my reviews

This review is from: DIY: The Rise of Lo-fi Culture (Paperback)

This book read really quickly, and was full of neat information that I never knew before, but I can't help wishing it had been better written and edited. I caught several (as in way, way too many) grammatical errors and typos. On top of that, the style was close to awful, with strange sentence construction that distracted from the point of the work.

Like I said, the information was neat, but the analysis was bare bones, and mostly made huge assumptions in the reader's familiarity with the subject matter. I very much enjoyed learning all the historical details I never knew before, like that sci-fi fans wrote the first real zines in the 1930s. But when it came to the more modern stuff, the eras I know more about, there was little in the way of new or exciting information. Thought-provoking analysis would have made up for this, but it just wasn't there.

I got this book on a recommendation from one of the feminist magazines I read, and I'm not terribly upset to have it in my collection. It'll make a good source to cite for clear historical info. Other than that, it's pretty lackluster.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of facts, but little cohesion, September 6, 2005

By 

Megan Streb "Miss Megan" (Southampton, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DIY: The Rise of Lo-fi Culture (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful collection of facts, giving you a wave of information about DIY music and publishing (although she mainly sticks to 'zines, not self-published books or anthologies) The style of writing is pretty dreadful, and it made for slow going, and there was little cohesion between areas. Rather than have a thesis, the book concludes just about every chapter with comments like "And that's part of DIY culture." or "DIY culture is really important"

If you're looking for basic information on DIY music and publishing, and don't mind the lack of a coherent flow, it's a great book. However, if you're looking for insight on the world of DIY, you won't find it here.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Repetitious History, October 20, 2009

By 

dweebcentric (greenbelt, md) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture (Paperback)

For those readers already familiar with Michael Azzerand's "Our Band Could Be Your Life" (cited in this book) or Kaya Oakes "Slanted or Enchanted" (published later) Amy Spencer's disconnected, narrow history of the DIY culture might appear to simply be retracing limited steps. The Minutemen's "jamming econo" ethos sets the foundation, but fails to incorporate much more beyond a background on the (now-obsolete) art of writing zines and nurturing mail-order punk labels, despite the culture's rich history and significant modern-day presence. (Azzerand's book thoroughly discusses legendary punk label distributors, while Oake's traces independent publishing back to the beat poets).

With that said, I would recommend this book only to younger readers (let's say mid to late teens) who are already engaged and inspired by DIY, but not all that familiar with (some of) its roots.