NUDGE VI: Let’s hang out this summer
Themed playlists for your pinball pleasure
(Disclaimer) Spotify sucks. Why Spotify? That’s not very punk of you.
Well hey, who died and made you punk rock sheriff? But seriously, legit question. As a buncha former middling musicians and dudes who are still friends w real musicians who struggle to make money: Why are we doing a Spotify playlist? Spotify is notorious for not paying artists what they’re worth, they ruined downtown Oakland, and uh, the whole algorithm approach to liking stuff weirds us out. That said, we’ll give you a couple of reasons why we decided on this format.
It’s easy. We don’t have a team of hackers working around the clock to get you amazing content. We have a guy smoking weed at 11:30 PM and just sorta figuring stuff out. Spotify makes it insanely easy to make and embed playlists.
They have a ton of music. Do they have everything? Hell no. Not even close. They do have a surprising amount of awesome stuff.
Our goal is not to get you to support Spotify. It’s to support these artists. When applicable (and available) we’ll try and link to better, more equitable links for the artists we feature. That’s gonna include a buncha Bandcamp and other streamers who put artists first. IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND ARE AN ARTIST AND DON’T LIKE SPOTIFY, CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY AND WE WILL TAKE YOU OFF — NO QUESTIONS ASKED. That said, I hope y’all take this in the spirit with which it is intended: we wanna showcase dope artists that will make you play pinball better. That’s it. We good?
NUDGE VOL VI: Let’s Hang out this Summer
Summer changes people
Summer is the best season. I’m not going to debate it. Yeah, fall is beautiful and spring is whatever — but last time I checked you didn’t get three months off as a kid during THOSE seasons. So unless you have a more compelling argument than that, I’m going to politely ask you to STFU and move your winter lovin’ ass down the road. Seriously, even now as adults when we have to work during the summer, it’s still just more fun. Is there anything better than sweating your ass off then entering the air conditioned paradise of a dope pinball spot? Last year, I used to ride my bike every day to the Emagine Theater in Royal Oak so I could play Data East Star Wars, NBA Fastbreak, and (when I had to) Fishtales. Sidenote: Y’all, fishtales sucks. I don’t even know if that’s how you spell it, and I’m definitely not going to look it up. I just assumed it was a bad pun because everything about that game seems ill-conceived to me.
Anyway, last summer was the start of a change for me. I’d ride my bike, get a Hi-C, hit my vape pen, and just kinda jam. Ideas came and then floated away. I kept thinking about how I could interact with pinball in a meaningful way. By the end of that Summer, Nudge was created. Kinda makes ya think: What’s gonna happen THIS summer? Relationships ending, people moving, graduating, getting summer jobs, having summer hangs, staying up too late on summer nights. I will say that summer hangovers are about a thousand times worse. Waking up feels like someone baked your tongue inside your mouth. So who cares that we’re entering into a facist dystopia and the water wars might start this year. I’m gonna enjoy this summer. At least no matter what else happens, we finally get a new Stern game in August.
This is 55 minutes of summer
This mix was designed to distill summer into 55 minutes of pure awesome. There’s some old hits, some new stuff, but mostly it’s just about cultivating a vibe. I realize that I usually make MY mixes (I don’t know what the rest of the contributors do) to have the first half coincide with when I’m driving to pinball and need to get pumped up and the second half be more of a comedown after I’m driving home. You can absolutely listen to this the whole way through, but if you’re struggling to see the delleniaation, I’d put it around All I wanna Do by Sheryl Crowe.
Yeah, we put Sheryl on here. LOTS of Sheryl. Here’s why
What’s on the playlist?
We’ve got lots of dope stuff on this one. From some No-Hit Wonders like The Nerves, to the pure pop punk beauty of All Dogs to some dope ass frickin Pusha-T. You wanna feel cool? Listen to Numbers on the Board on repeat while you just spam the multiball on T2. Put your sunglasses on, black leather jacket. Look around and sneer at any small children. Go outside and rip that vape pen. This is your world now, we’re all just living in it. You put numbers on the board.
LOTS OF SHERYL
Sure, Sheryl Crow is the default summer white wine pairing for moms everywhere, but you know what? Sheryl frickin’ owns y’all. I love the story of how she basically fired all the lame-os who worked on her first record because they talked shit on her talent and then produced her own second album — which then proceeded to have about a bajillion hits on it. She’s a former studio musician, backup singer for Michael Jackson, dated famous people, had kids, and also just happens to write ridiculously good pop songs.
Seriously, I’ll put these songs against anything that Tom Petty did during his career. There are gonna be people who have a visceral reaction to that. Get over it. Have a little fun before you die. If it makes you happy, etc etc etc. Plus she references X-Files and aliens a lot. I’m all in and you should be too.
The incredible music picks of Tyler Jerome White
Social media is 95% dumpster fire, but every once in a while you get a follow that changes your life. For us, that was Tyler Jerome White, known on insta as @therealblacksethrogan. This dude, This dude, this dude. I mean, first off he’s a baller. A true Los Angeles pinball god that has taken some of the dopest pictures we’ve ever seen. P much seems like he’s always having fun, drinking, eating, and popping off on Bad Cats.
I mean look at this picture. Here he is WINNING A PINBALL MACHINE in front of like 100 people. How many times have you done that? Yeah, this dude Fuuuuuuuucks.
Image courtesy of @Waltsbar on instagram
But that’s not the reason we’re here. The reason we’re here is because this guy also picks non-stop bangers to play on his insta stories. Seriously, from Mase to Fallout Boy to whatever. It’s honestly made me re-assess some artists, which is more than what I can say about Pitchfork’s last 10 years. So Tyler, if you’re reading this, baby, keep up the good work. We’re listening.
So what’s off Tyler’s list this month? Just two songs that make you feel like a world beater, Feels so Good by Mase and Numbers on the Board by Pusha T. We’ve already spent too much time talking about Pusha, so just know that no one is too cool for Mase. Seriously, listen to that track and try not to get down. You can’t do it, can you?
The Nerves
The Nerves only existed for 3 years — from 1975 to 1978. During that time they only recorded like 13 songs. For a long time you could only get your hands on them if you were some sort of vinyl freak (the records, not the BDSM stuff). Then I think in like 2008 they did a reissue of basically everything they’d recorded plus some bonus stuff. I’m not gonna go down that rabbit hole because there are better, smarter music writers than me that you can read talk about them (also, if you wanna be bored you could read the pitchfork article). Let’s just say that they nail the jangly, sad aesthetic that every pinballer has in their hearts. If they have hearts. Still not convinced about Raymond Davidson. Is this man a pinball playing cyborg? We may never know.
GOOD JOB. YOU ARE DONE READING. GO FORTH, FLIP PIN, LISTEN TO TUNES.
