"Slee-Pee Mix (EP") (My Room Records): I hadsome credit left after trading in CDs so I pulled this from the dusty 92 cent box kept at big toe level. 2 of the bands listed on the back were Goodnite Moon and Sarcastic Bitch, so I figured it had to somehow be interesting. It's a really nice DIY lo-fi record and it's making me think about all kinds of things.

My Room Records operates out of Sierra Madre, CA and as far as I can tell it's run out of a bedroom, hence the name. Records are also recorded in this bedroom. Very DIY. Their web site, with its crayon lettering and scanned pictures of My Little Pony, looks like the work of a 10 year old, but in this age of irony it can't be what it seems. The cuteness is dollars to donuts a deliberate diversion from the Grrl Power-brand confident, ironic energy that permeates the music itself. All 5 songs are lo-fi, as in Beat Happening, which I like very much even if I don't go out of my way to buy any of it. It's pleasant, catchy, and what would get me into a coffee house if I knew one of these bands were playing.

My Room Records puts out cassettes, records and t-shirts from fellow travelers of a scene I know little about since I don't hang out in coffee houses and do not define myself by a sense of bemused detachment. The sense I've always gotten from lo-fi people is that they enjoy pretending you don't exist by looking at you and past you at the same time. As if they think their only real power comes from pretending you don't exist to them. Sorry, but that's been my take on that scene for years.

Lo-fi bands are for the most part small (many have only 2 members), acoustic, and intentionally a bit off key and time. Most lo-fi bands I've heard feature female singers, and I've yet to hear a bad lo-fi singer. The mixture of sweetness, intelligence and cynicism these singers wield is lo-fi's big selling point. The music itself is literally garnish.

This is a very good record and a fine addition to my small yet growing lo-fi collection. Like I say, I don't seek this stuff out but I'm always glad when I trip my big toe over it."