Nicely done

If you're a regular around here, you know that Planet Songblague is populated by two species of songs—those that are meaningful to me and those that I humbly think the world should care more about. Sometimes they crossbreed.

Today's track is one for the imaginary megaphone. To the extent that I'm influencing anyone's tastes, let me lobby for some attention to be thrown Nick Nicely's way. I guess his main claim to fame is that he influenced XTC to adopt their psychedelic Dukes of Stratosphear alter egos. He released a couple a singles that couldn't have been more at odds with the climate of the early '80s, so he packed it in. All of his stuff was subsequently released on a compilation that you can drive home today. It's a wonderland of psych pop, with some nice krautrock elements that are especially prominent in this jam. I'm not sure what Nicely is up to today, but someone should get him on tour with Animal Collective or Ariel Pink or some other bigshot who could get this man his overdue props (and cash).

Nick Nicely - Treeline