As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations, Sister 9 Recordings present High On Low Fidelity — The M.A.D. Sessions, an intriguing insight into the roots of the label, the Parlour 9 era. It tells a fantastical story that has never been told before, and BSM is honoured to premiere it in full.
In the early noughties, running a record label was a mere pipe-dream for label-founders Dolium, and without any funds to start anything in the real world, Reece Adamo (aka Rhys Bloodjoy) began writing “High On Low Fidelity” — a story about a fictitious underground US-based record company called ‘Mary Had A Little Label’, which had been set up in the mid 90’s by a character known only as ‘Jimmy 9’ and written through the eyes of another character called Pete Kerouac, who supposedly ran an underground publication called ‘Sounds Of The Lo-Fi Times’ from his home in New York City around the same time.
The story described how Jimmy had built a thriving underground community of “alternative lo-fi music-loving freaks and geeks” mainly using internet forums and online file sharing (FTP) servers for almost two years — after which time, ‘Mary Had A Little Label’ had found itself in a position to sell thousands of records and sell out gigs without the need for any mainstream promotion or distribution.
The label’s discography was also written out in fine detail, until it all came to a dramatic end in late 2001, shortly before ‘Jimmy 9’ relocated to the UK. The tale went on to tell how he then crossed paths with Dolium at a live gig in London and ultimately signed them to his new label, Parlour 9. Of course, the story needed a soundtrack, and so Reece (along with Ms De Vine and Dolium’s elusive ‘feedback merchant’/live backing guitarist, Gavin Melnyk) set out to record music for an imaginary roster of artists that would hopefully one day merge with reality and pave the way for real-world releases by real-world artists on Parlour 9.
That day did (sort of) arrive, when one of the ‘bands’ on this compilation (Lo-Fires) made an appearance on BBC Radio 1 — this was before the BBC Introducing platform existed — and ‘Jimmy 9’ even surfaced in the real world when he was credited as writing the sleeve notes to the ‘Parlour 9 Sessions Vol.1’ CD release in 2006.
Let’s be honest: the music on this compilation is downright dirty, cheap and lo-fi in every way — and all recorded direct to tape using cheap analogue equipment and basic stuff available at the time in the attic at Dolium Towers. There were no computers, no compressors, limiters or anything else ‘professional’ in the equation, and songs were mostly written and captured on the spur of the moment. They explain “the sessions were always fun, sometimes exciting, and occasionally even absurd, but the music behind the ‘fantasy’ was always authentic. With that in mind, we hope you enjoy the journey — so sit back, relax and get high on the low fidelity sound of the M.A.D. Sessions.”
The entire album will be available as a FREE digital download here from tomorrow.
