The Singles Jukebox

Not ready to be nice (as fuck).

[Video][Website]
[5.62]

Katie Gill: Is there a name for putting an obnoxious amount of echo over a generic female vocalist that every single damn indie group does these days? We’ve covered at least five of them, that’s enough to give the effect a name. That and the boring bass are the main things preventing this from getting a higher score.
[6]

Tim de Reuse: As a card-carrying post-punk obsessive I do value any effort made to switch up the post-punk revival, especially since we’re probably in the post-punk revival revival revival at this point and I can only take so many identical tom rolls. And, hey, there’s no reason removing the guitar from the equation couldn’t work, but everyone involved in this song acted like it was a chore, and the lack of an instrument is even more apparent given the lack of energy to fill the gap. The bassist repeats an endless three-note loop without expression or variation, the drummer goes for an inoffensive holding pattern, and the listener calmly waits for the song’s subject to meet its verb (it never does). The meek little calls of “shout it” during the denouement only highlight how Jenny Lewis doesn’t seem to have the passion to shout at all. How on earth do you make three minutes feel long?
[3]

Alfred Soto: Jenny Lewis leading a band through a Joy Division rhythm section might’ve been my idea of paradise in 2006, but despite admiring and often loving many of the moments that this scenester has written and sung I’ve never embraced her — colorless productions? an air of hedging, of giving her male critic demographic the right dollops of literate coquetry? “I wanna ride the white dove/in the blessings, the blessings of love,” she croons, invoking Stevie Nicks, another scenester, but one besotted with the possibilities of terrible poetry and being every Henley’s fantasy. Assured and rehearsed in its tautness, “Door” remains shut against the elements.
[6]

Hannah Jocelyn: In theory, anything that sounds like Case/Lang/Veirs freestyling words over “Disorder” should be worth at least an [8]. It probably would be a [10] if the song was a little more developed, but given that Nice As Fuck really isn’t trying to be much more than an amusing, endearing curio, I can forgive them for that.
[8]

Claire Biddles: Like Krautrock for women i.e. it’s better than Krautrock and it doesn’t feel the need to be 17 minutes long to feel expansive and make its point.
[7]

Ryo Miyauchi: While the muddy riffs and stiff drumming might work for anyone else trying to relive the aughts, they’re not doing Jenny Lewis any good. I get Nice as Fuck is supposed to be a side gig for her to let loose, but can’t the music reflect more of the silliness that the band name suggests?
[5]

Thomas Inskeep: Post-punk is as post-punk does: a little Police, a dash of ESG, nice ‘n easy.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Something’s off about the ratio of “nice” to “fuck.” Or of reverb to reason, or of song to no song.
[4]