Hissalonia by Hussalonia
Tracklist
Credits
released May 30, 2010
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When an adolescent Hussalonia founder first began recording original songs, he employed a dual cassette deck, adding new tracks as he bounced between decks. Anyone who has tried this very modest method of overdubbing can attest to the fact that it doesn't take long for the sound quality to decline. The oldest tracks lose their high end, sounding warbly and muffled, while even the most recent track competes with a formidable noise floor. Hiss and noise were the bane of the founder's misspent youth. And he was not alone; everyone battled tape hiss and line noise in the pre-digital age: nuns, bowling alley attendants, doctors, lizards, and even ghosts. But now, just about anyone with a laptop and a decent microphone can make crisp, clean, noise-free recordings. Tape hiss and line noise, it seems, are a thing of the past.
Ah, but don't we love to romanticize the past, even when the past was not all that good? Like asbestos and The Black Death, now that hiss and noise are no longer a problem, we find ourselves charmed.
Enter Hissalonia - ten, intentionally lo-fi recordings wherein hiss and noise were in fact augmented, creating a fragile, brittle, vulnerable sound. Consider it a last hurrah for hiss, the formal goodbye you never had when you took your Dolby noise reduction system to the curb.
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When an adolescent Hussalonia founder first began recording original songs, he employed a dual cassette deck, adding new tracks as he bounced between decks. Anyone who has tried this very modest method of overdubbing can attest to the fact that it doesn't take long for the sound quality to decline. The oldest tracks lose their high end, sounding warbly and muffled, while even the most recent track competes with a formidable noise floor. Hiss and noise were the bane of the founder's misspent youth. And he was not alone; everyone battled tape hiss and line noise in the pre-digital age: nuns, bowling alley attendants, doctors, lizards, and even ghosts. But now, just about anyone with a laptop and a decent microphone can make crisp, clean, noise-free recordings. Tape hiss and line noise, it seems, are a thing of the past.
Ah, but don't we love to romanticize the past, even when the past was not all that good? Like asbestos and The Black Death, now that hiss and noise are no longer a problem, we find ourselves charmed.
Enter Hissalonia - ten, intentionally lo-fi recordings wherein hiss and noise were in fact augmented, creating a fragile, brittle, vulnerable sound. Consider it a last hurrah for hiss, the formal goodbye you never had when you took your Dolby noise reduction system to the curb.
License
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
Hussalonia is largely the work of a multi-instrumentalist known only as The Hussalonia Founder.
Founded in 1997, Hussalonia is a "pop music cult" and claims to be owned by Nefarico™, a fictional soap company.
The Hussalonia Founder lives and works in Buffalo, New York.