Song Review by Sheldon Hubbard
I’ve not experienced the effects of codeine, nor do I plan to, but I’d like to think my brain would slink and sway in the way the visual representation does for The Prof.Fuzz 63’s “Nadine Codeine.” The lead of two singles from their newest album, Owls, released on June 15th, 2020 through Sister Raygun Records. These lo-fi goofballs are native to Dallas and have been preparing music for the world since at least 2014. Their sound stays pretty true to a solid base of fuzzy, beachy-boardwalk guitar, amped up keyboards, and whomping drums that really make your body wanna boogie! “Nadine Codeine” creeps out from a somewhat grungier garage, though. It’s a jam that exemplifies the beauty of minimalist song structure. The instruments are highly technical and calculated. They purposely utilize as little of a mode as possible to generate as full of a noise you can muster. This aspect is the key to being their own machine, and surely holds its own respect when it comes to music composition. Especially nowadays.
You can do anything with “Nadine Codeine." Cruise around. Take a walk. Bust out some house cleaning. Ride out the work day. This character of sound is more than just psychedelic background noise fogging up conversation(s) at your punky, psychonaut buddy’s house party. “Nadine Codeine” takes her time wavering through your ears; making a little more than a three minute experience feel like a hazy movie of movements.
Listen to this song with your eyes closed. You can picture “Nadine” like a silhouette swirling. This is what I saw: a knotted flannel tied snug around her waist. Dangling just over frazzled jet black combat boots and dingey knee-length j’orts. A thick-strapped tank top decorated with a lengthy cord spewing from over-the-ear headphones (that have certainly seen better days) enhancing her sluggish, arrhythmic head humming. She’s easily brought to life by Professor Fuzz’s crooning, “nadine codeine comes in my dreams / spinning swimming in hazy streams / she comes... yeah she comes / she comes... yeah she comes.” Sounding somewhat like a drug-induced phone call from a robotic James Hetfield that was built by Professor Farnsworth (Perhaps in need of a quantum contemporary for the scientific study of cosmic, lo-fi punk rock).
Hardy-hars aside, the self-made majesty known as The Prof.Fuzz 63 makes you feel more like you’re kickin’ it in ‘93. They have created a timeless character, which didn’t just happen overnight. Professor Fuzz himself admitted to Dive In: “...I was reflecting on people with; punk rock names’ like Jean, Johnny Rotten, Johnny Thunders, Captain Sensible, etc. “Nadine Codeine” was the logical extension of that name game (bonus points for drug reference! “Beth Meth” is next…). ‘Nadine’ then began to come together, first as a character living in a slow-moving cherry-flavored dreamscape fueled by cough syrup, then as a song about trying to get inside her and her world.” The combination of Professor Fuzz, Sleepy Redhead, and Mr. B really gives some trippy fruitfulness to the mind and imagination known as “Nadine Codeine." This song will be strutting about your psyche unabashedly even after its final seconds synth out.
