Some have called him the ‘Henry Darger’ of music. Some have said that his music is like the sound of popular culture drugged on Rohypnol and staggering down the street before collapsing in a dilapidated mess.
Somewhere deep the in Hollywood hills, recording on some broken tape recorder, is this monstrosity / genius called Ariel Pink. Sounding somewhat like a lost FM radio transmission from from some alternate David Lynch universe, his music is amongst some of the most perplexing and brilliant I have ever heard in my life - and also the hardest to pin down. Is it pop? Sure. Is it experimental? Yep. Will the indie slackers lap it up? Mmmm probably. His ability to conjure up the most infectious melodies and then warp them beyond recognition is astounding. I absolutely adore this guy. Many have criticised him of ripping off shampoo commercials or radio ads for new cars and his lyrics are horrifyingly opposite of whatever his actual music sounds like - dealing with satanism, the end of the world, being broke etc etc… This music is unlike any indie rock, any noise, any freak folk. Epics morphing into ditties that turn into symphonies playing on broken record players which in turn suddenly sound like some 60s girl group track playing at the wrong speed. Genius!
Ariel is great, he’s a true outsider and largely misunderstood by the music press (as usual). His new album proper ‘Before Today’ is a contender for my fave album of the year (sorry Burzum) and a MUST have for anyone interested in music that you just can’t find or hear anywhere else. Or anyone on this forum full stop.
Ariel & co are actually rather mainstream over here in the UK as far as “underground” bands go…they’ve got some good stuff and are well worth checking out.
I think Ariel Pink is far superior to Animal Collective.
His new improved music, complete with proper backing band etc, is about the best thing to come out of the states in years. I think he toured Australia a while back but for some strange reason I missed it.
At the very least I think people on this forum should give him a chance.
I think Ariel Pink is far superior to Animal Collective.
I totally agree although I prefer Panda Bear’s Person Pitch over Ariel’s material. We’ll see how Panda’s follow up compares…
The “Animal Collective” quote was just pointing out that Ariel Pink will get as much media coverage and sell as many records as Animal Collective if he puts out a purely catchy pop album minus the madness. And so it should be considering how great the music is.