There’s something very satisfying about low budget art creations – beyond the knowledge that artists didn’t blow their rent money on their project. When done right, art on the cheap not only reinforces the idea that the willingness to do something out of the ordinary is the only tool you need to make stuff happen, but also reaffirms that anyone with a clear idea and the time to experiment and get the results they’re looking for. Lo-fi anything might also be experienced as a throwback to childhood, when playing meant producing a movie, recording a song or putting out a fashion show just for fun with whatever toys and stuff our parents had lying around. It can be seen as a link between those imagination-driven days and the realization of a bigger vision; or maybe the nostalgic feeling we get when something isn’t the latest state of the art whatever is just technology fatigue.
The band formerly known as Yellow Yesterday is promoting their record Sueño Delta which has brought them very good exposure. To keep the ball rolling, they’re releasing a video for their song “No Existe,” filmed entirely with iPads. The visuals are supersaturated explosions of color that mimic old psychedelic light spectacles from the hippie era gone digital glitch error; most of the raw footage seems to be the band performing live. The visuals are a great complement to the song, a groovy number that starts with acoustic guitar strumming and is slowly swallowed by guitar noise damage layered with instrumentals and vocals, and ending with keyboards lighting the way out. For fans of skronky alternative rock from the 90s like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, watching the “No Existe” video will be like watching old episodes of MTV’s late night indie rock show 120 Minutes.