The Boston Phoenix released the first installment of “Homework,” a monthly series of free mp3 downloads in which bands are assigned to write original songs under somewhat unreasonable guidelines & deadlines.

For the inaugural edition, the Phoenix tapped hometown prog-pop heroes Pretty & Nice, who are currently recording the follow-up to their Hardly Art/Sub Pop debut Get Young. To coincide with the fall return of Boston’s voluminous student population, P&N were given the following instructions by Phoenix music editor Michael Brodeur:

“For our ‘Welcome Back’ issue, please record one (1) song that:

* contains the phrase ‘welcome back’
* includes, somewhere/somehow, a reference to the guitar accents at the beginning of the Welcome Back Kotter theme—but nothing else Kotter-related
* insults the Green Line at some point
* includes the names of 10 local colleges (used however you wish: “Tufts” can refer to clumps of hair, “Emerson” can refer to Ralph Waldo, “B.U.” can be the first syllables of the word “be-yoo-tiful,” etc.)
* is rad

Shortly thereafter, Pretty & Nice delivered “Massive U,” a brand new track which manages to do all of the above.

“Massive U” | download

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