Emmit Rhodes - Emmit Rhodes
The second, self-titled album from Emmit Rhodes was recorded on an Ampex machine in his parents' house in Hawthorne, California, mere months after his band The Merry-Go-Round drifted apart. It was a huge feat at the time, especially as Rhodes handled all the vocals and instruments himself.
When released, it enjoyed minor success but didn't last the test of time. It's difficult to see how. Emmit Rhodes offers 12 unique songs here, including Somebody Made for ME and Fresh as a Daisy. You can't forget about Live You Till you Die and You Should Be Ashamed, either.
Bruce Springsteen
A lot of people and bands who make home albums do so intentionally, to get away from the sour studio experience. Not Bruce Springsteen. At least, he didn't start writing Nebraska with the intention of it being a cosy home record. Inspired by local music in his native New Jersey, the Boss felt compelled to write.
The result of these impulsive writing sessions was a string of intimate and dark demos which Springsteen then took back to New York to show and re-record with his E Street Band. Unfortunately, the songs had lost all their grit and charm in the louder, rockier covers. Springsteen decided to release the demos and the rest is history.
Paul McCartney - McCartney
When John Lennon took the Beatles aside in September 1969 to reveal he was leaving the band, Paul McCartney decided to record a private solo album as a response. The bitter strop turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life.
Lyrics like, "Maybe I’m a man and maybe I’m a lonely man/Who’s in the middle of something/That he doesn’t really understand," perfectly capture the mood of a man who knows everything he loves and has ever known is about to disappear from his life forever.
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
You may think a musical recluse like Kate Bush would have recorded every album she's ever made from the comfort of her home but she's actually only done two outside of a standard studio, The Sensual World and Hounds of Love, and they're probably her best.
Songs like Running Up That Hill - which enjoyed a newfound appreciation thanks to its appearance on Stranger Things - are so much better when you know that Kate Bush recorded them after rolling out of bed and pouring herself a cup of coffee, or more likely tea.
Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider
Mark Linkous loves the home recording session; so much so that he has only ever recorded one album in a typical studio setting: 2001's It's a Wonderful Life - and that was only because his label Capitol Records forced him to do so.
All of his best work, however, is recorded in his Virginia home, most notably Good Morning Spider. At the time, Linkous was recovering from a near-fatal overdose that left him wheelchair bound for six months. This kind of malaise added to the authenticity and beauty of this album.
Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
Iron and Wine's Sam Beam has moved on to the big-budget studio production over the years, and you can hardly blame him. But it's in the fuzzy, rustic grooves of his earlier work that really set him apart from any possible contemporaries he had at the time.
The Creek Drank the Cradle is one of Iron and Wine's finest albums, recorded on a four-track recorder in Beam's home. The slide guitar and banjo work compliments these odes to the passage of time and lost love to the nth degree and then some.
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Some albums aren't just good because of what they sound like but because of the story behind their production. Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago origin story is legendary among his fans. Struggling to cope with loss, Justin Vernon drove to his father's Wisconsin cabin in the woods to compose pure melodies.
It wasn't until much later in the process that Vernon added lyrics to the music this isolation had inspired. Although he didn't intend to make an album, For Emma, Forever Ago was released in 2007 to critical acclaim. Shortly after, Bon Iver signed to Jagjaguwar.
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
A Crow Looked at Me had dark beginnings. Phil Elverum had just lost his wife and fellow musician Genevieve Castree to pancreatic cancer. After weeks of trying and failing to come to terms with the absence, he began writing and recording songs in the room she died, using her instruments.
A Crow Looked at Me is a tale of grief, but it's a newfangled one. Even if Elverum declares death "is not for singing about, not making into art", this album has artistic merit. At the very least, it is an extremely profound personal account of something most people have, or will, go through.
Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again
Jessica Pratt has only recorded one album in the studio, her third and most recent album Quiet Signs, released in 2019. And even then she managed to hold on to that stripped-back quality of her first two albums, recorded at her own house.
2015's On Your Own Love Again is arguably Pratt's best. Her recording style isn't lo-fi, it's subterranean-fi, chock full of buzzes and hums that add to the mystique of this album. This is the kind of music you'd want to listen to on a damp day in your own home.
Daniel Johnston - Yip/Jump Music
You could argue that Daniel Johnston created the lo-fi phenomenon back in 1983 with his album Yip-Jump Music. It certainly remains an inspiration to many a young musician looking to make art on a budget without the micro-managing hand of a record executive.
This album was recorded in Johnston's brother's house on the cheap, featuring all the signature voice breaks and staccato guitar work that made his work so great. We should count ourselves lucky that none of Johnston's early stuff was mistreated or neutered by the soulless studio experience.
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
Suspicious of Britain's then-drastic tax percentage, the Rolling Stones decided to move to the south of France to hold on to as much of their money as possible. While living in Keith Richard's rented house, the band recorded Exile on Main St, arguably their greatest-ever album.
Occasionally curtailed by a 1971-era Keith Richards, Mick and the boys managed to put together some of their best-ever work, including the tracks Rocks Off and Tumbling Dice. Nellcote, the villa where Exile was recorded, stands tall to this day, though it hasn't attracted many more tax-dodging rockers.
Radiohead - OK Computer
A band like Radiohead? An album like OK Computer? Recorded outside of a studio? We know, it sounds mad. But it's true. Thom Yorke and the boys holed up in a house in St. Catherine's Court to lay down what has become their most famous album.
With the help of Nigel Goldrich, Radiohead began work on the 1997 album, which would go on to feature iconic songs like Paranoid Android, Lucky, No Surprises and Karma Police. OK Computer took home the Best Alternative Music Album award at the Grammys the following year.
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
When a band decides to compose music in a home setting, it usually comes out of some desire to get back to their roots, or a need to create as wholesome an environment as possible. Not Nine Inch Nails. They wanted to create as dark an environment as possible.
The way they managed this was by recording The Downward Spiral in the house where Charles Manson's "family" ended Sharon Tate's life in 1969. Reznor and co decided to incorporate the sounds of the house on the album, including the bedrooms and bathroom.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
After the release of Mother's Milk in 1989, the Chili Peppers wanted to move on from their heavier, rockier sound and embrace a new funky, melodic one. Luckily, they had a new recruit in John Frusciante who was happy to oblige. Producer Rick Rubin suggested the band record in an unconventional setting and they agreed.
That setting was the former house of magician Harry Houdini in the Hollywood Hills. A documentary titled Funky Monks shadowed the band as they recorded what would be a major release for them. 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik featured one of their most known tracks, Under the Bridge.
Bob Dylan and the Band - The Basement Tapes
In 1966, at the peak of his folk powers, Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident. Having suffered a concussion and cracked vertebrae from the crash, Dylan retreated to his home in Woodstock, New York, where he and the Band ended up recording over 100 songs.
The Band's keyboardist Garth Hudson claimed, “We were doing seven, eight, ten, sometimes fifteen songs a day. Some were old ballads and traditional songs, but others Bob would make up as he went along.” The Basement Tapes were later released in 1975 to critical acclaim.
Boston - Boston
Epic Records wanted Boston to record their debut album the traditional way, in a soul-sucking LA studio with a bunch of random engineers they'd never met. Boston guitarist Tom Scholz told the label the band had no issue and planned to record the self-titled album on the West Coast.
Sholz pants were on fire. He was secretly recording the whole 1976 album in his Massachusetts digs. With the help of a 12-track Scully recorder and $100 Yamaha six-string acoustic guitar, Scholz recorded some of Boston's best known songs, including the timeless More Than a Feeling.
The White Stripes - De Stijl
In 2000, Detroit rockers Jack and Meg White (marketed as siblings but in reality a divorced couple) recorded and released De Stilj, one of the greatest garage-rock albums of all time. A lot of rock bands attempt to sound retro, but the White Stripes actually managed it here
De Stijl was recorded on an eight-track in Jack White's humble home at the end of the 90s. It made a big splash on the independent scene when it was released by Sympathy for the Record Industry, a label on the West Coast. Their follow-up White Blood Cells would turn them into mainstream musicians.
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
Jangly indie pop sensation Mac DeMarco has always favoured the home when it comes to recording his albums. DeMarco's process is so intimate that he even plays every instrument on his tape recordings. The Canadian musician debuted Rock N Roll Nightclub in 2012 to acclaim.
After that followed II and 2014's Salad Days, arguably his most popular album to date. Featuring Passing Out Pieces and Chamber of Reflection, it turned DeMarco into what Rolling Stone called "the richest bum". He has written and recorded a further five albums, all in the comfort of his own home.
Hatebeak - The Number Of The Beak
Perhaps the main benefit of working at home as a musician is that you've got the freedom to really experiment and play around with concepts and sounds in a way that simply isn't possible when you're under the thumb of studio hours and limitations.
Hatebeak is a death metal band with a parrot frontman. We're serious: look it up. Did their label seriously think they were going to sit around writing and recording The Number of the Beak in a studio? The results from Waldo (the parrot) and the gang's home-based sessions are something else.
Beck - Odelay
Beck's poppy, sample-laden Odelay is one of his finest, spawning singles like Devil's Haircut and The New Pollution. It doesn't sound anything like an album that was created in a ramshackle home somewhere but it was. Beck ditched the producers from Mellow Gold to team up with the Dust Brothers, who encouraged the singer to record at their LA house.
Odelay has gone on to sell 2.5 million copies in the United States alone, making it Beck's best-selling album of all time. If you have a look at any list of greatest albums of the 1990s, if not ever, and you will likely see Beck's Odelay among the candidates.
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Compared to Dave Grohl's previous escapades with Nirvana, he and the Foo Fighters have embraced their commercial appeal, happily filling out stadiums with their appropriate stadium rock sound. The idea of the Foos taking a step back and deciding to rough it in some garage is alien.
Nevertheless, rough it they did with 2011's Wasting Light. Dave Grohl offered out his garage for the Foo Fighters to recapture a "raw" style for their sixth album. The gamble paid off. Wasting Light took five Grammy Awards, including the coveted Best Rock Album in 2012.
James Blake - James Blake
James Blake was just an ordinary, boring name before he decided to make and release a dubstep cover of Feist's Limit to Your Love, putting him right at the forefront of the bedroom-producer movement. Blake wasn't too interested in the success of his self-titled debut album. The statement was enough.
James Blake by James Blake proved to millions of budding musicians that they didn't have to cough up obscene money in order to record their music. Pitchfork ranked the album as the 12th best album of 2011 on its list of "The Top 50 Albums of 2011" while Mojo placed the album at number 17.
Christopher Duncan - Architect
You haven't heard of Christopher Duncan before? Oh, that's probably because he spends all his time at home making music. This Glaswegian artist released his debut orchestral album Architect in 2015 and gained a Mercury Prize nomination for his efforts.
Christopher Duncan, who is classically trained, doesn't feel the need to make work traditionally. He told Louder than War about his process, saying: “I can create my own workspace where my mind can flourish and my imagination can go off on a tangent.”
Owl City - Of June
The one and only entry on this list to have been released on Myspace, Owl City's Of June debuted in 2007 after Adam Young had garnered a growing fanbase on the defunct social media site. He recorded the entire thing in his parent's basement.
The album was released digitally in 2008 to much acclaim. From there, things only got better for Young and his electronic project. Within a year of releasing Of June, he had written and recorded his most famous song Fireflies, which helped Young reach heights he could have only dreamed of.
Rosie Thomas - These Friends of Mine
These Friends of Mine was the fourth album released by singer-songwriter Rosie Thomas in 2005. It was recorded over a two-year period in her Brooklyn apartment at a time when lo-fi, bedroom music was beginning to make a comeback thanks to the birth of social media.
These Friends of Mine went down a treat. The Boston Globe said in their review, ""If folky girls hit your heartstrings, Thomas's work is a perfect soundtrack to coffee-shop dreaming and scribbling." Thomas hasn't released an album since 2012, choosing to focus on stand-up comedy believe it or not.
The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
The Black Keys were undoubtedly inspired by the White Stripes, whose celebration and success with the lowest of lo-fi rock in an era of over-produced pop was a revelation. Prior to going mainstream, Patrick Carney and Dan Auberbach were happy to just go along with the indie ride.
They recorded their first two albums, including Thickfreakness, in Carney’s basement, but by the time they were ready to lay down “Rubber Factory” in 2004, their landlord kicked them out for creating too much noise. And so began the journey of the Black Keys into the studio and then onto the airwaves.
Kathleen Hanna - Julie Ruin
After the break up of her feminist punk band Bikini Kill, Katleen Hanna created a pseudonym Julie Ruin in anticipation of her first album. She ended up recording and producing the eponymous record in her Olympia, Washington apartment bedroom and wouldn't have had it any other way.
Hanna said: "Girls' bedrooms can be this space of real creativity. I wanted Julie Ruin to sound like a girl from her bedroom made this record, but then didn't just throw it away or keep it in her diary. She took it out and shared it with people."
Daft Punk - Discovery
Yup. Both Homework and Discovery, Daft Punk's first two albums, were created in their humble abode. “Homework and Discovery were done in the bedroom," Bangalter revealed. "I was watching Modern Times and we had Songs in the Key of Life constantly on the turntables. My parents had given me this small boombox for my 11th birthday."
He added, “One day when we plugged in a few keyboards and samplers, I found that boombox and I put it on the stack of machines. And that little boombox is what we mixed and recorded both Homework and Discovery on. That was the magic one.”
Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
99.99% of everyone Eilish has released has been in collaboration with her co-writer, producer, and older brother Finneas O’Connell. Her debut album, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was recorded in his bedroom at the family home back in 2019.
The album was a massive hit for Eilish and her brother, who became stars overnight in the States. Remarkably, Eilish became the first artist born in the 21st century to have a Number-One album on the Billboard 200, in early April 2019.
The Streets - Original Pirate Material
The album name kind of tells you everything you need to know about the vibe of this album. Shining a sympathetic light on breadline Britain, the Streets was one the greatest acts to come out of the UK's burgeoning rap and hip hop scene in the early noughties.
Original Pirate Material was recorded partly at singer and frontman Mike Skinner's mother's house in Birmingham, England and partly at a rented house in south London. Skinner, equipped with an IBM Thinkpad, changed the scene forever and cemented his place in British music history.
Temples - Sun Structure
James Bagshaw and Thomas Walmsley were no spring chickens during the release of Sun Structure. Both had played in various bands when they decided to get together and form a deliberately lo-fi music project in Temples, adding another notch to their musical bedpost.
Sun Structure, released in 2014, is far from some of the damp squibs you get when it comes to bedroom music. There is no feeling here that they are in a boxy, cramped location. If you haven't listened to this album yet, we strongly advise you to do so.
Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings
Yeah, we're rolling back the years with this one. Blues icon Robert Johnson, who has inspired the likes of Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, may have been one of the first ever musicians to record their work outside of the studio. Note the title. The COMPLETE Recordings...
Johnson didn't really gain recognition until 25 years after his death and never lived to see a royalty payment. During his lifetime, he was paid in cash and that was just about enough to hole himself up in a hotel room, in which he recorded his greatest songs.
Charli XCX - how i'm feeling now
Released in 2020, Charli XCX's fourth album is one of the first-ever lockdown statement records. Conceived and executed during the first wave of the pandemic, and made in collaboration with her fans over 39 days, how i'm feeling now dropped in May to critical acclaim.
The singer said, "The nature of this album is going to be very indicative of the times just because I'm only going to be able to use the tools I have at my fingertips to create all music, artwork, videos everything."
Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard
When an album title is an address you can safely assume that it wasn't recorded in a studio - unless that album is Abbey Road by the Beatles. Abbey Road was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. On the cover, you can even see the Fab Four walking towards it.
461 Ocean Boulevard? That's just a random house blues rocker Eric Clapton was advised to live in by his manager who was desperate for the former Cream guitarist to write and record new music. The plan worked. Clapton emerged with a whole new album, and it was great.
The Wrens - The Meadowlands
These New Jersey natives were living together in a house in Fort Lee when they recorded their third album Meadowland. After a nasty split from the label that produced their first two records, the Wrens wanted to go back to basics and fall back in love with the very thing that had brought them all together in the first place.
After a whopping four years, they finally finished the project, which turned out to be a genre-defining album of the 2000s. The Wrens haven't released a fourth album as of yet but rest assured the boys will have been isolating somewhere cosy in order to get the goods.
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style
Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo spent years in his bedroom writing his own material and uploading it on Bandcamp. Embarrassed to be heard singing by his parents, Toledo even recorded his vocals in a parked car outside of the supermarket. How many songs do you know that were created outside Walmart?
The songs caught the attention of a label, Matador Records, who signed Toledo and asked him to start writing new material straight away. Teens of Style and its follow-up Teens of Denial received rave reviews from the likes of music publications Pitchfork and Rolling Stone.
The Mountain Goats - Songs For Pierre Chuvin
When John Darnielle began recording music as The Mountain Goats fans were delighted. Taped on a Panasonic boombox, it was the perfect lo-fi tonic audiences were looking for. Then he got popular. Soon enough, Darnielle found himself working in recording studios for the next few years.
Then lockdown hit, and Darnielle found himself back at home. He decided to resurrect his beloved boombox and devote 90 minutes away from his family to record a song a day. When your hunger to make music is this strong, nothing is going to hold you back.
Paul Westerberg - Stereo
Westerberg was born thinking outside the box, so by the time he joined The Replacements, going against the grain was second nature to him. When it came to his first three solo records, however, Westerberg began playing to the gallery by doing everything the traditional way.
Coming to his senses, he announced that there would be no more studios and no more producers when it came to his music, choosing to record everything in his basement at home instead. The first result of that, the album Stereo, is a perfect burst of energy.
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
At their best, Guided By Voices encapsulates everything wonderful about home recording. Most of their stuff, and we mean this in the best way possible, sounds like a radio that's had water poured all over it. Intersect that sound with moments of pop brilliance and you've got yourself a GBV record.
Bee Thousand, recorded in the various homes of the band, is one of their best. Guides By Voices seem to overlay some of the tracks with other recordings, creating an effect that is tantamount to sensory overload. Who cares, though, when it's this good?
Led Zeppelin - IV
Led Zeppelin was a band marked by excess and noise so the idea of them recording their music in a cosy little room sounds insane. Nevertheless, that's exactly what they did. Well, to a degree. Robert Plant and company weren't recording their fourth album in a grotty little room or basement.
They were recording it at Headley Grange, a three-story stone building in Hampshire, England, which to be fair, probably had bedrooms that could fit an entire band. The likes of Rock and Roll, When the Levee Breaks, and Stairway to Heaven were composed and recorded in this building.