The song I’ve chosen for record club is Kaash Paige’s “’64” off of her debut EP Parked Car Convos. Kaash was 18 years young when she released this project in 2019. I found this album while scrolling on Instagram one day when I heard it in the background of the video, which led me to immediately surf the comments for what it was called. The song is very straightforward. Kaash talks about driving around her city in a ’64 Chevy Impala, picking up friends, and just having a good time. At the time when I first heard the song, I couldn’t relate at all. I didn’t have a car to go driving around in and my friends didn’t either. Now that I have a car, this song resonates with me so much more.

The tempo of this song is what sticks out to me the most. This isn’t a slow song. Or at least, this is not what comes to mind when I think of a slow song. It offers a nice in-between speed that is maintained throughout the song. It starts with a fade-in of the beat before Kaash directly goes into the chorus. Maintaining a steady pace throughout, the song carries you into the scene that she paints with the lyrics. “Cruisin’ in my six-four,” is the lyric that proves to be the most vital, as it is under-layered with, “I be riding through your city, yea” which helps to entrain listeners.

Tempo: The speed of the rhythm of a composition.

Fade: A gradual reduction/raise of the level of the audio signal

Chorus: Song Section – The chorus is intended to be the most memorable part of the song. It is repeated several times so that it sticks in your mind. Several other tricks are used to help it stick. Commonly a chorus: Contrasts with the verse, rhythmically, melodically, lyrically, harmonically, and/or dynamically. A chorus is repeated at least once, both musically and lyrically. Usually several times. It is more intense, has more energy. A chorus usually has a greater musical and emotional intensity than the verse. Lyrically: The main message and /or concept are expressed in the chorus.

I knew what you were thinking. Alllllllll along, I knew it. “Gee, wonder which artist he’s gonna pick? Betcha it rhymes with Lob Lylan!” (Cue laughter and general knee-slapping.) Well, you know what? Not today. Today, I’m throwing you a curveball. And not just any old curveball, either. Maybe the most gloriously chaotic, vibrating, raging comet of a curveball ever to grace a 45. White Light/White Heat is a proto-punk gem coming at you all the way from 1968, before the Sex Pistols knew what sex was. (Okay, okay, I made that up, but it might as well be true.) Point being, this is some real primitive shit.

I’d like to think it’s obvious, even to the untrained ear, that this isn’t your grandma’s pop single. It’s absolutely drenched in fuzz; you can only barely make out what the hell Lou Reed is even saying at any given moment. Barely identifiable among the roaring din are the cymbals of Moe Tucker, who, to quote a phrase, is wailing on the crash cymbal like it owes her money. The bass, acting here as a percussion instrument, keeps steady time throughout the song, lending it a primal on-the-beat thrust, the kind favored by contemporary Ginger Baker. All this gives the listener the impression that the Velvet Underground isn’t interested in creating coordinated music so much as they are in astonishing their audience, as wholly and convincingly as possible. The result is one of the few songs in existence whose listening experience is actually cheapened, rather than enriched, by a set of high-end headphones. Go ahead. Rummage through your attic and retrieve your shitty Walkman headphones from 1990 with one side half-dead. THAT’s how this song oughtta be listened to.

Ultimately, I picked this song to reverse my own self-typecasting and prove that (gasp!) I listen to music besides Bob Dylan. Enjoy White Light/White Heat. I sure do. Greatly.

Till last minute I was confused about what song choose for the record club, i was stuck between a Bollywood song and this one, but ended up deciding on this one. This is a song that takes me down memory lane, I remember i first heard this song in 201, during the summertime and instantly fell in love with it. My sisters and I would listen to this song on repeat for days! This was the first song that i have heard of Lana Del Rey, and then started listening to other songs too. When I heard this song in the Great Gatsby, it gave me another reason to love it even more, because I really admired that movie, and it perfectly sits with the 1900s setting as well.

One reason I love this song is because it gives an old era vibe, and i’ve always admired the songs of that era so this was something different. It was a present singer, making songs that made it seem like they were from the 60s or 70s. This song is so melismatic and airy, the way she sings it really sets the mood of summer, or like she’s flying or on the clouds.Her voice is so smooth throughout the entire song. The way the instruments are being played in the back also gives off an airy structure. I love how when she sings the part, “O Lord when i get to heaven….”, that’s probably my most favorite part of the song, the whole song sort of rise, the melody becomes louder. And then calms down at the part, “All that grace, all that body, all that face makes me wanna party….”. Then she rises up again and has a change of tone when she sings the last verse, implicating that the song has ended.

Airy: Lighthearted, graceful

Melismatic: Melismatic’ indicates one end of a spectrum; the other is ‘syllabic’, or one note to each syllable.

Smooth: without breaks between notes; smooth and connected

Melody: A melody, also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity.

Verse: In the countable sense, a verse is formally a single metrical line in a poetic composition.