Speculator - Premier Authentic / Speculator Radio (Mix Tapes CS)

Here's a total bomb from fellow Heron member and partner in crime Nick Ray, aka Speculator. Lately it seems that every time I prowl on past Nick's room he is kicking the most heavy duty jams I've heard from him yet with burnt out tape zoner zones as transfigured onto eighties hair metal motifs for a sound that's half James Ferraro, half Wavves, half Sun Araw and half straight up Billy Idol. For y'all keeping count, that equals way more than just one.

First track is called "Coolest Car," and it's a total summer roller. Finding a tasty Van Halen morsel, Speculator grinds the shit down until it's so fried that it just lopes along in head nodding nowhere zones that just spread and spread. "Game Day" follows with some anthemic blowout jock jam as rendered by your home cassette player after you've smeared some football face paint across the medium. Goes right on in to "Harpur," some pulsing free ride bloops with enough bass to make Chingy cry. Nice and minimal too, Nick's got a hell of a way with expanding one idea to it's logical conclusion, infusing each bit with his own vibe. No hipstery nonsense here either, just ride till you die attitude. Would make a killer soundtrack to one of those extreme snowmobiling videos for sure.

Best part of the side is that the each bit is so short that it never runs out of steam, instead just bouncing off the walls in total maniacal mental weirdness. "Bar Fight," "Motorcycle Tough Guys," "Downtown," just hit after hit of total adrenalin amphetamine burnout. And when the second half of the side hits (that's only seven a half minutes in despite being ten tracks down for those keeping count) the whole thing switches modes to some beach front crack house with "Coconut Water." Explores the same Miami vice territory of those much loved Ducktails, Skaters, etc. only as rendered through brief chopped up snippets, total flashes of Hawaiian shirts and Landshark beer. "Waterski/Wipeout" rides on before moving through another four tracks ending with "Intelligent Tabloid Star" and "Spear Gun," which just exudes awesome all over its sixty seconds.

Speculator uses the same approach on the second side, Speculator Radio, which tones down the headbanging in favor of straight remixes, some of which are way messed with (i.e. the opening waaay slowed down R. Kelly remix "Bump'd & Ground") while others are totally recognizable despite their being tampered with. "God Damn the Pusher Man" slows down the Steppenwolf classic before "Cascade Miller Band" takes "The Joker" and turns it into a wash of twenty plus staggerings of the song, turning it into a wash of tone, of course with those signature Speculator highs and lows. Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Big Youth, they all get covered--hell, dude's even got the gumpshun to go ahead and remix Led Zeppelin with "In California," ragaing the hell out of it to let you know we've arrived. Dylan's "In Acapulco" takes the whine out of the original for a slower but totally true version before the closing "Up & Smoked Out" gives the original Cheech & Chong title the treatment it deserves for the proper state of mind.

Total killer, and I'm not just saying that cause I know the guy. Well worth getting, and I'm sure he'll hook you up for cheap if you get in touch with him over at his myspace. Nick's no fake either--I caught him listening to Billy Idol this morning. And you should hear what he's done to it already. Dude's just exploding with sick track after sick track, so get while the getting's good. Total gold.