Timeline of Lemon Demon's 'Nature Tapes'

On March 24th, 2014, Nature Tapes was released by Lemon Demon, a synth-pop band fronted by multimedia creator Neil Cicierega. But after a glance at the tracklist, it's noticeable that all these songs were released up to four years prior. What's the story of this single compendium? Did each song go viral in some way? These questions are answerable through this assorted timeline of Nature Tapes.

The development of this EP predates Lemon Demon's roots, going back to his childhood in the '90s. Lemon Demon was formed in 2003, with releases as recent as the single "One Weird Tip​/​Funkytown" on January 21st, 2023. Before this, he made music under the name Trapezoid (later anagrammed to Deporitaz by request of an existing band called Trapezoid), starting at the turn of the millennium.

Even before Trapezoid, Cicierega made MIDI files, one of his first being "WIERDNESS.MID" in 1998. Fifteen years later, the Nature Tapes song "Everybody Loves Raymond" was released, with the base of the song featuring this exact composition. Not all of the songs took this long to develop, but it proves that there was no boundary in how precise development went.

The history of Nature Tapes' songs

The lead single of the EP was released with a music video on June 1st, 2010, and you might know it as "BRODYQUEST". The absurd depiction of "the best day of Adrien Brody's life" would be a monumental success for Lemon Demon, becoming a viral video with millions of views, receiving television coverage, and acknowledgment from Brody himself. The song's MIDI became publicly available on March 19th, 2011, opening the floodgates to numerous remixes.

The second single, "Really Cool Wig", came out on November 18th, 2011. This upbeat tune that describes a forgotten dream was no match for "BRODYQUEST" though, getting completely overshadowed as the first single had its full stems put out on December 20th, getting added to Rock Band the next year on March 30th.

Was it possible for Neil to top his earlier virality, or was he doomed for a downward slope in popularity? Luckily for him, it was the former as the EP's third single "A Mask of My Own Face" released on October 18th, 2012. Although it wasn't immediate, the song would be picked up by users of TikTok, receiving high associations with the Minecraft fanbase for YouTuber Dream's use of a mask, ultimately surpassing "BRODYQUEST" in terms of overall success.

The rest of the EP was released as singles throughout 2013, beginning with "My Trains" on January 23rd. This song achieved later popularity through a 2019 fan-made animation, with the views on each paralleling each other as they got millions of streams. The fifth single is perhaps the most successful of the Nature Tapes, which was released on May 3rd as "Two Trucks".

"Two Trucks" has been memed continuously for over a decade due to its blatant obscenity, as the song proudly describes two pickup trucks doing it together. The inanimate objects develop a relationship as all things American celebrate the event. It's generated nearly half a hundred million streams, causing the same effect as "BRODYQUEST" when the next single "Everybody Loves Raymond" was released on October 28th and overshadowed by its predecessor.

The seventh and final single for Nature Tapes was "Jaws", released on December 31st and humorously retelling the movie we all know and love. The EP itself came out the next year with all of the singles included and... nothing else. Neil clarified in a Tumblr post that the EP was meant to act as a compilation, assuring his fans that the long-awaited grand seventh studio album was yet to come.

Re-releases of Nature Tapes included forgotten extras

In 2018, Lemon Demon was picked up by indie label Needlejuice Records to re-distribute all of the band's material, mostly in reverse chronological order. When they released Nature Tapes in 2019 on CD, vinyl, cassette, and minidisc the next year, it was noted that the singles "Goosebumps" and "Sexy DVD" were retroactively added to it for being forgotten about in 2014.

"Goosebumps" was released with a music video on May 30th, 2011, placing it in between the first and second singles of the EP. Filled with references to the horror franchise of the same name, a demo was additionally published through social media on January 28th, 2013. The other added single, "Sexy DVD", preceded everything else with a release date of April 13th, 2010.

These first pressings were remastered by Mark Kramer, later being re-remastered by Angel Marcloid in 2021. Nature Tapes has had a lengthy history, with nearly every song included being a hit one way or another. If you haven't already given it a listen, you can find the EP on every streaming service alongside Lemon Demon's other work.

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