Pretty & Nice and Upbeat Vibes

Buried on Bandcamp

Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Buried on Bandcamp

Episode Title: Pretty & Nice and Upbeat Vibes

Episode #5

You are listening to Buried on Bandcamp the podcast with your host Taylor.

In this episode of Buried on Bandcamp the Podcast, we discuss the band Pretty & Nice, their work, and their unrelenting positivity.

Segment 1: Pretty & Nice

Now, I have to start this episode off by saying I don’t know much about Pretty & Nice themselves and their background. Most of the information I’m getting is from their Bandcamp or what I assume to be unauthorized sources, so maybe take everything I say with a grain of salt. Their last release seems to be from a good while ago, back in 2014, and their website is now defunct. From what I can gather, the band consists of three members: Holden Lewis, Jeremy Mendicino, and Roger Lussier. They are a pop-rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, and they released music from 2006 to 2014. I don’t know what happened to them after they released their final album, since like I mentioned before, I don’t have a lot of info on them. This doesn’t stop me from liking them, though- I don’t see why it would. Their music is very post-punk, but they lean a lot into the experimental side, with electronic elements as well. And, as you can from the title of this episode, their music is very upbeat and fun, but we’ll delve into that in a later segment. For now, let’s actually discuss their discography.

Segment 2: Their Music

Pretty & Nice’s first was release was on December 6th, 2006, titled Pink & Blue. (tangent starts around here!) I didn’t know about this and their other earlier work from the late 2000s, mostly because I just didn’t check if they had any other music than the album I first listened to. Luckily, I remedied that recently- very recently, maybe just over a week ago.

• Went to a hotel in Pennsylvania for my sibling’s birthday Veteran’s Day weekend
• On the ~hour and a half ride there, I binged whatever parts of P&N’s discography I hadn’t listened to yet
• And I really really enjoyed it! Their earlier work is much more rock-y than their later work
• I found myself listening to their earlier stuff, especially Pink & Blue, all the time throughout the weekend
• it was nice :) tangent over now
• My favorite songs are definitely Hey Hey Come On and Lazy Lazy Bumblebee. Both have a more? Emotional and dramatic vibe than the rest of the album? But that’s what I like about it. They’re also much louder and erratic, which I always find is a plus.
• After that was Blue & Blue, released in July of the next year, with one new song- Pretty Shells- and remixes of songs off Pink & Blue.
• I’ll be honest, I don’t really listen to their releases where most of the songs are just remixes. Just not my thing, personally
• So I’m afraid I won’t be talking too much about those in depth. Sorry
• After that was Get Young, released yet another year later on October 7th, 2008. While admittedly I don’t like this one as much as Pink & Blue, it’s still very fun and I still listened to it quite a bit over that weekend at the hotel.
• My favorite song is Tora Tora Tora, which is also their most popular song, I believe. I like how? Choppy it is, for lack of a better word? Especially the little instrumental break after the first chorus. It’s very fun
• After that was Fantastic Artifact in April 2011, and Capsules in October of the same year, both featuring singles that would be on later releases
• (I’m looking at both their Bandcamp and their Spotify page for this, so some things are present on one page and missing on the other)
• Anyways, the first of those releases would come in November 2012, titled Us You All We. I’d say Capsules is my favorite off this EP, but they’re all pretty close.
• After that, their other release, Golden Rules for Golden People, was released in April 2013. This is their most popular album I believe, and for good reason. It’s definitely the highest quality production-wise
• My personal favorite on GRFGP also happens to be the most popular song on the album; Q_Q.
• Their final release would come in August 2014 titled Infinitely Forever. Nice closure- I really like the album art
• Features two new songs, Rock n Roll Wizards and Summer Boyz and three remixes
• I’m honestly kind of surprised I didn’t want to check their whole discography out sooner, because it’s all really good

Segment 3: Their Positivity

• Pretty & Nice’s main draw, other than that their music is just plain good, is their positivity
• Refer to Angel Electronics- you know I already like it when music is very upbeat and optimistic
• To quote their last.fm about page: “Pretty & Nice are a Boston quartet bent on creating joyous feelings. Songs are born on sunny porches, zapped with electricity, arranged around dancing morpho-rhythms, and slingshot skyward. It’s an advanced pop crash course, and your brain may have trouble keeping up with your feet.”
• I definitely agree. While their earlier stuff is more dramatic, it still has that vibe, and as time went on they only leaned into the sweet positive energy more. And both takes are really good!

Music Credits: List the artist and song name

• Breezy - mandimore
• Pretty & Nice - Q_Q
• Pretty & Nice - Hey Hey Come On
• Pretty & Nice - Capsules
• Pretty & Nice - Lazy Lazy Bumblebee

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