(Ariel Pink)
Genre: New Wave/Indie Pop/Krautrock/80s Rock Revival/Psychedelic
Release Date: 8 June 2010
Label: 4AD
Ariel Pink (pronounced r-real pink) has always been a troglodyte. Spending most of the late 90s and the 2000s recording crude and grotesque other worldly songs on cassette tapes in his bedroom that sound like mucky dissonance and tape hiss has been splattered over their grated surface, he managed to somehow gain an underground clout of another set of bedroom sound poppers and listeners who considered him as an influence and could see through the disguised ‘genius’ and the shenanigans of his musical style. Word of mouth publicity got him the attention of the experimental band Animal Collective. After reissuing the 1999 record ‘The Doldrums’ on their label Paw Tracks, Ariel formed a band he called the Haunted Graffiti named after the project it was intended to be. This band after extensive touring (that terminated at Coachella) got signed to 4AD where they recorded this nouveau-riche ‘debut’ album.
The new record is a far cry from Ariel’s early otiose records and flaunts a new glossy finish that transgresses the impenetrable crass that is characteristic of his albums. The album now has a balance of the weird and the accessible and this stems from the fact that 4AD wants to reach a wider audience. When one listens to this new record one is trapped in a time warp; the record gives a nod to The Beatles era pop music, the 70s eccentricity of krautrockers Faust and the 80s new wave and hard rock bands. A few listens in and one realises that a lot of the tracks are directly lifted or copy-pasted from the songs of the yesteryears. Whether it’s the borrowed 80s glacial synths and The Bee Gees-esque childish falsettos with their own twists and mumblings and the ‘Knock knock knock knock/On the door’ lyric from B-52s ‘Love Shack’ in the fourth track ‘Fright Night (Nevermore)’, the queasy pulsating and antiquated synths, proggy drumming driven and over the top The Beatles’ ‘She Loves You’ referencing third track ‘L'estat (acc. to the widow's maid)’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ inspired bassline on ‘Round and Round’ , the Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Paradise City’ inspired riffs and crazy mangled vocals on ‘Little Wigs’, the Joy Division and Guns N’ Roses mish-mash of ‘Butt-House Blondies’ or The Bee Gees’ ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ rip-off ‘Can’t hear my eyes’ to name a few, it is clear that the band does not bring anything new on the table.
Some may argue that every artist is inspired or influenced by somebody at some point of time, but if you start noting down these blatant misdemeanours here, it would be as long as your monthly shopping list. If this is the case, at least one would expect a strong performance to fill this magnanimous creative void. In that sense the album is a mixed bag. There are some really strong tracks like the slow and danceable Talking Heads-esque new wave track ‘Round and Round’ that features the vocal interplay of falsettos and clean vocals laced with the trippy chorus, the queer police car chase and maddening laughs sampled and moony 8-bit synths laved ‘Beverly Kills’, the stealthy bass and relaxed drumming driven and the skulduggery deftness of gender interchange and associated problems of ‘Menopause Man’ and the anthemic ‘Revolution’s a Lie’. The ones that downcast the album have passages where the interest soars but are mostly deadpan either in the drumming, the vocals or the bodily sound effects of Ariel’s mouth or the armpits; that can sometimes put one off. Prime examples that fit this frustratingly boring category and show off the 80s kitsch are ‘L’estat’ (a constant nag are the weird noises Ariel creates – repeated ‘swoosh’ sounds, cork popping sounds and unturned singing), the album opener ‘Hot Body Rub’ and ‘Little Wig’.
Some may argue that every artist is inspired or influenced by somebody at some point of time, but if you start noting down these blatant misdemeanours here, it would be as long as your monthly shopping list. If this is the case, at least one would expect a strong performance to fill this magnanimous creative void. In that sense the album is a mixed bag. There are some really strong tracks like the slow and danceable Talking Heads-esque new wave track ‘Round and Round’ that features the vocal interplay of falsettos and clean vocals laced with the trippy chorus, the queer police car chase and maddening laughs sampled and moony 8-bit synths laved ‘Beverly Kills’, the stealthy bass and relaxed drumming driven and the skulduggery deftness of gender interchange and associated problems of ‘Menopause Man’ and the anthemic ‘Revolution’s a Lie’. The ones that downcast the album have passages where the interest soars but are mostly deadpan either in the drumming, the vocals or the bodily sound effects of Ariel’s mouth or the armpits; that can sometimes put one off. Prime examples that fit this frustratingly boring category and show off the 80s kitsch are ‘L’estat’ (a constant nag are the weird noises Ariel creates – repeated ‘swoosh’ sounds, cork popping sounds and unturned singing), the album opener ‘Hot Body Rub’ and ‘Little Wig’.
In totality the album may be miles ahead in production as compared to his recently excavated tapes, but the content regurgitates the retro and does not showcase any effort to improvise or provide any value addition. One may rather listen to old classics and submerge in their greatness, than listen to these sometimes manhandled and sometimes Xeroxed tracks.
Rating : 5/10
http://www.myspace.com/arielpink
For more interesting articles, read The Big M magazine - http://thebigm.co.in/tag/vikrant-dev/
For more interesting articles, read The Big M magazine - http://thebigm.co.in/tag/vikrant-dev/
+%5B2002%5D.jpg)
+INDIEBANDWAGON.jpg)
.jpg)
+%5B1997%5D.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment