Reviews
for Elegant Daze
From Aquarius
Records:
NICELY, NICK Elegant Daze: 1979-1986 (Captured Tracks) lp
We had never heard of Nick Nicely before, but thanks to Captured Tracks
we have a new psychedelic electro-pop obsession (did we have an old
one?). Hard to explain exactly what NN sounds like, but there's
definitely a sort of Gary Numan vibe, but wedded to a sort of classic
pop, a la the Zombies or early Bee Gees, a sort of baroque classical
pop futurism? The sound are lush, drum machine driven, with soaring
strings, subtly processed vox, and gorgeous hooks, just check out the
sound samples and you'll be hooked. Hard to imagine folks like Ariel
Pink and John Maus wouldn't be totally obsessed with NN (in fact, we're
tempted to think they were both heavily influenced).. It makes sense
that this would end up on Captured Tracks, cuz it actually sounds like
it could be some weird new retro popwave combo from Brooklyn, except
for the fact, that this stuff is so genuine, and so genuinely quirky,
whereas most modern bands can get the sound right, they can rarely back
it up with songs. But NN is a master of both, total crazy catchy
electro-pop / post-punk / minimal disco / psychedelic synth rock that
sounds more and more like the bastard pop child of Gary Numan every
time we listen to it. We even hear a little XTC, but NN manages to take
all these disparate influences and sounds and creates his own perfect
electro-psych-pop. Fuzzy, groovy, synthy, quirky, druggy, tripped out,
hooky as hell and totally twisted, and just about the coolest thing
we've heard in ages. A new (old) favorite!
[this
one's so nice we simply had to repeat it here. if the author is somehow
offended by this blatant copyright infringement of course we'll be
happy to release a pack of lawyers and pull it from the web, or the
other way round, or just one of these options depending on
circumstances - /webmaster]
More reviews for
Elegant Daze here, and here
And for myself: I can't stop playing it; in my fourth week now. Totally addicitve.