Nicotune #1
Written by ashkap on Wednesday, 8 of October , 2008 at 9:47 pm
An iPod isn’t that much different than a pack of cigarettes. This revelation that was the genesis of the latest Tape serial, Nicotune. The segment is based on the following principle: certain songs, for whatever reason, are listened to more than others. They get in your head, you whistle them, hum them, sing them in the halls and on the sidewalks, trying to recreate those golden moments until you can get to your iPod and return to the song that has been capturing your imagination. My iTunes looks a little erratic; on some albums, one or two songs have twenty or thirty more plays than others. These are rarely singles; my sense of anti-anti-indieness makes me always try to listen to all the songs on an album, and not focus on the catchiest single. That isn’t to say that the single can’t be the best song, but it certainly questions the integrity of an album when the lead single is also the clear, lone, standout track.
Onward.
The tracks will be arbitrarily measured in the following categories, subject to change at any time:
Nicotunity: How straight up catchy the song is. The higher the score, the more you will find yourself whistling and singing the song. (Young Folks is the perfect example)
Rad-ass: How rad/ass the guitar, drums, or other instrument part is.
Bleep/Bloop: How cool and catchy the electronic bits are.
Emo Status: How emotionally wrenching the song is.
Jungle Book: How much like a pack of animals the singing sounds like.
Vampire Weekend: How tribal, African, or generally eclectic a song is. The farther from America the sound is, the higher the score, including outer space. (This works for Pitchfork as well)
And now.
Nicotune #1
Each Nicotune post will feature a new song that I just can’t quit, along with an old one that just keeps coming back for more. This time, the newest track to bounce around in my brain is by LA locals The Mae Shi. The Tape witnessed their fantastic show at the 3rd annual LA Weekly Detour Festival in downtown LA. It was fucking rad. Fucking. Opening track “Lamb and the Lion” is one of this extreme band’s most accessible, and it rocks, stadium-status. It all begins to be majorly rad when the background vox start screaming, “Dooooooooooooooown.” When the rest of the song cuts out, your brain is done, and as all it comes back in, it kicks ass downtown and back.
Nicotunity: 7
Rad-ass: 10
Bleep/Bloop: 10
Jungle Book: 9
Vampire Weekend:7
Lamb and the Lion - The Mae Shi
The second cut for you today is The Boy With The Arab Strap, an amazing track by one of my favorite bands, Belle and Sebastian. It has one of the top play amounts in my iTunes. It was also chosen from their Coachella performance for the official Coachella DVD. No more need be said.
Nicotunity: Classic 10
The Boy With The Arab Strap - Belle and Sebastian
Category: Nicotune
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Comment by Nini
Made Wednesday, 29 of October , 2008 at 12:19 pm
Ha, how true about the Boy With The Arab Strap!
