The Proximity Effect

Infobox Album
Name = The Proximity Effect
Type = Album
Artist = Nada Surf


Released = September 22, 1998
Recorded =
Genre = Indie rock
Length =
Label = MarDev
Producer = Fred Maher
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fpv1z8ba1yv4 link]
*NME (7/10) [http://www.nme.com/reviews/nada-surf/328 link]
*PopMatters [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/n/nadasurf-proximity.shtml link]
Last album = "High/Low"
(1996)
This album = "The Proximity Effect"
(1998)
Next album = "Let Go"
(2003)

"The Proximity Effect", released in 1998, was the second album released by the alternative/indie band Nada Surf. The album was self-released under the MarDev label. The songs "Hyperspace" and "Amateur" were the best-known songs released from the album.

It is considered by many fans as their better LP. Matthew Caws confessed that this fact is explained by the cost of its production, as the band was then on Elektra Records. Finding no radio-friendly single on this album, Elektra asked the band to write a hit, and had them record covers of other artists, trying to push "Why Are You So Mean To Me?" as the first single, but the band eventually refused to work on it any further, as they believed it was artistically perfect. As a result, while it was released, critically acclaimed, and welcomed by the public, in Europe in September 1998, with the band doing many shows in Europe, including a 30-show tour in France in early 1999, Elektra cut its funding and later dropped the band, not releasing it in the USA, while a few promotional copies had already been pressed.

Nada Surf spent the following couple of years struggling to get the rights over the album, in order to release it on its own structure, MarDev, in August 2000.

Track listing (2000 re-issue)

#"Hyperspace"
#"Amateur"
#"80 Windows"
#"Mother's Day"
#"Troublemaker"
#"Bacardi"
#"Bad Best Friend"
#"Dispossession"
#"The Voices"
#"Firecracker"
#"Slow Down"
#"Robot"
#"Silent Fighting" (Bonus Track)
#"Spooky" (Bonus Track)

Track listing (1998 original release, Europe)

#"Hyperspace"
#"Amateur"
#"Why Are You So Mean to Me?" (Vitreous Humor cover)
#"Mother's Day"
#"Troublemaker"
#"80 Windows"
#"Bacardi"
#"Bad Best Friend"
#"Dispossession"
#"The Voices"
#"Firecracker"
#"Slow Down"
#"Robot"
#"Black and White" (dBs cover on a promotional bonus disc)