Ariel Pink

the man is a genius, the new record is brilliant, and like VU and The Stooges in the past, most people who don't realize it now - will realize it in the future.
or maybe they won't.

decent interview
http://www.factmag.com/2010/04/26/ariel-pink-russian-roulette/

What the hell is "hauntology"?

ghostbox.co.uk

Is the writer referring to this?

Hauntology is an idea within the philosophy of history introduced by Jacques Derrida in his 1993 work Spectres of Marx. The word, a portmanteau of haunt and ology, and a near-homophone to ontology in Derrida's native French, deals with "the paradoxical state of the spectre, which is neither being nor non-being", according to a professor at RMIT University.[1]

The idea suggests that the present exists only with respect to the past, and that society after the end of history will begin to orient itself towards ideas and aesthetics that are thought of as rustic, bizarre or "old-timey"; that is, towards the "ghost" of the past. In this, it is has some similarity with the cyberpunk literary movement. Derrida holds that because of this intellectual realignment, the end of history will be unsatisfactory and untenable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauntology

Not so sure I buy this. Pink's records are retro (looking back 30+ years or so) but not really any more than anybody else in the history of pop music. I mean the British psychedelic 60s were all Victorian/vaudevillian. And they used harpsichords for Christ's sake!

By 'by this' I mean "Ariel Pink was also central to hauntology (it’s now often forgotten that much of the initial discussion of hauntology was prompted by Pink’s records)"

Still, great article.

that's a real fancy description for steampunk isn't it

in music crit, hauntology concerns the ways in which recording technology can produce a haunted or nostalgic quality. originally related mostly to dub (right?) the ghosts of an original recording drifting through a new mix, evoking dislocation and disassociation.

http://www.4ad.com/sessions/

i've decided "can't hear my eyes" is pretty much as good as "round and round"

I like the Mexican Summer version of that one better than the 4AD version but probably just because of familiarity after I played that 7" so many times

high quality rip of this album leaked... sounds much much better than the previous version.

I've always been put off by the Alan Parsons Project, mainly because of the name. But I'm intrigued by the comparisons between the APP and this. What's a good place to start with Mr. Parsons?

I Robot

Eye in the Sky is one of the greatest songs ever, and the album is pretty good too.

Eye in the Sky is probably more Ariel Pink-ish too. I Robot is more electronic (but a better album, imo)

yeah, if you're put off by the name Alan Parsons Project, I'm guessing you're not big into prog, so the later albums are the way to go.

regarding APP i'd go with a greatest hits, but "i robot" and "eye in the sky" are pretty sweet albums... my favorite song of theirs is "TIME" though.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14324-before-today/

9.0

2004 has arrived -- we are all down w/ hauntology now

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12909-grandes-exitos/ - 7.0
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10966-scared-famous/ - 6.1
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6555-house-arrest/ - 6.2
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6554-worn-copy/ - 5.9
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6553-the-doldrums/ - 5.0

"There's no way this Hollywood hillbilly called Ariel Pink knows who Stephen Merritt is"

for some reason i thought that ariel pink was related to the rapper who calls himself black nasty, whose music i don't like at all. and for that -- i suppose irrational -- reason, i've stayed away from ariel pink's music. now i wonder if i had ariel pink confused with someone else.

http://www.losanjealous.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/ariel_06.jpg

Any Ariel Pink fans wanna weigh in and say whether this is really his best record or not? I've only heard sections of one of his earlier records but it didn't grab me enough to make me listen to the whole thing.

im going to see him at the scala next week
quite excited actually
dont know every single song of his but i did love worn copy and the doldrums
hope hes better than some of the reviews on ilx suggest.

It's up there with the best of his work, for sure. May be my favorite, it's certainly the one I've been listening to the most lately.
Worn Copy may be my sentimental fave.

credit might be my most favourite song of his.

for some reason i thought that ariel pink was related to the rapper who calls himself black nasty, whose music i don't like at all. and for that -- i suppose irrational -- reason, i've stayed away from ariel pink's music. now i wonder if i had ariel pink confused with someone else.

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, June 7, 2010 11:41 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you are probably thinking of black nasty's sister, pink nasty.

yeah, that jogs my memory. thanks.

ariel pink appears on Mayonnaise Pen, a track on Black Nasty's Shark Tank album.

Its great but the disparity between the p4k ratings for (to pick one of my faves) Worn Copy and the new one is pretty crazy.

again, based on the (possibly misleading) soundscan sample, the vocal harmonies on the chorus of bright lit blue skies is precisely the kind of big, sweeping epic chorus i remember fondly from the 80s.

bright lit blue skies is magnificent.

Its great but the disparity between the p4k ratings for (to pick one of my faves) Worn Copy and the new one is pretty crazy.

Which is to say the new one should have a lower rating, amirite?

i'll be fuckin livid if there's a huge disparity between Cokemachineglow's review of his first record and the new one

I'd give Worn Copy an 8.5ish. New one a 7.9ish.

Worn Copy's more of a 8.52 imo

House Arrest and the Doldrums are still where it's at.

Bright Lit Blue Skies is a cover of a song by the Rockin Ramrods circa 1966.

<3 mark richardson

This is definitely not his best album. But it is good. The tracks are shorter, more confined and in a way this is not necessarily a good thing. I do like Butthouse Blondies a lot though.

Worn Copy is my fave. I should listen to his other stuff more, but it's all really hotchpotch. Even Worn Copy which I adore I rarely make all the way through. It becomes kind of exhausting.

couldn't disagree more, worn copy, doldrums, house arrest, and lover boy = all killer no filler

well ok 90% killer maybe 10% filler

Reposting Zeno's YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJLYq0tHAPk

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12909-grandes-exitos/ - 7.0
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10966-scared-famous/ - 6.1
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6555-house-arrest/ - 6.2
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6554-worn-copy/ - 5.9
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6553-the-doldrums/ - 5.0

"There's no way this Hollywood hillbilly called Ariel Pink knows who Stephen Merritt is"

― gorilla vs burrr (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, June 7, 2010 3:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I was hoping for a repudiation, or at least a reassessment, of this long history of trashing Ariel Pink albums. Instead, we get a list of supposed improvements in performance/production and a glib "It turns out that these details make a big difference". What a copout.

idg all the yapping this morning about the disparity between before todays score and previous albums, i mean he addresses it in the review (for basically its entirety), and even admits that there's been a reevaluation of his oeuvre.

i think the review and score are a bit overblown, for some reason this album just doesn't feel huge to me, and i feel like great pop albums should be huge. good songs, though, and i wouldn't want to discourage anyone from getting super excited about it. glad that probably thousands more people will hear it now, too.

xp skip - the review is pretty obviously intended for people who have never heard (of) ariel pink before, though. and i think the little differences adding up to something greater than the sum of their parts is true, if not *revelatory*. a talented nut who got his shit together, i don't know, music isn't always that much more complicated than just that.

Just heard "Round and Round." Damn -- amazing.