"Nick Ray, better known as Speculator 'round these parts, has a knack for taking grade school milestones and turning them into music. And I'm not talking about really vibing on some nostalgic lyrics; I'm talking about making carefully composed full-lengths that feature the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, tap the essence of the '80s Top 40, and capture the sentimental haze that grows with age-- without sounding like some dick in a basement. From that description, Ray could very well be some dick in a basement. But he's not. His music is not a chop job from between college classes; it's a well-produced piece of our collective minds."
-- Marissa A. Ross, Altered Zones
With just under a week left before his beautifully warped new LP Nice is released through Underwater Peoples on August 30th, Speculator has a number of treats to share with you. Nice gives listeners another heady dose of screwed pop jams similar to those found on last year's Lifestyle cassette, though this batch of songs finds Nick Ray crafting the hits without the prevalent use of samples that he employed for Lifestyle.
For proof that Ray still has chops when he forgoes the samples, head over to Altered Zones, who is streaming Nice in its entirety until its release on August 30.
Nice: http://alteredzones.com/posts/1804/stream-speculator-nice/
Finally, for those of you that just can't wait until the album is out next week, Speculator is offering one more MP3 for your listening pleasure. The futuristic slow-burner "Blue Rose" is available now via The Fader.
"Blue Rose": http://www.thefader.com/2011/08/24/speculator-blue-rose-mp3/
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