Ariel Pink

What's a good starting point for Ariel Pink? Not that I want to support him now that he's a gross miogynist or whatever, but I remember one of the members of Warpaint repping for him as something that she enjoyed.

The Doldrums is my favorite, Before Today is also good.

...he berates the likes of Alanis Morrissette and Natalie Imbruglia as if it’s still 1997.

Ha.

his next record will be even weirder

'The Doldrums' is an alltime fave. I like the newie way more than I thought I would.

Worn Copy is my fave

^

'Credit' is the one.

Big fan of Cable Access Follies

Yeah. It's like a non-corny novelty record

"the least male-dominated 'rock'n'roll scene' available"

so what women should be happy because they have a sliver of a voice instead of less than that? 'never mind that you're seen as second-class citizens, girls, wild flag and tune-yards exist'

and i like both those bands but you get my point (i hope)

I think that was in response to Adam's "male-dominated rock 'n' roll scene full of dudes trying to get laid SHOCKER!" post rather than in support of it.

yes it was

(and was referring [Britisher] tweepop rather than whatever it is WF and Tuneyards fit into)

The intro to "Credit" kills me every time. Dude should cut an album of fake consumer exchanges (cf also "Shnitzel Boogie".)

Life in LA.

The intro to "Credit" kills me every time.

Hahaha, yes! Those three Paw Tracks CDs are all so great in their own way, Doldrums would definitely be my #1 pick. Haven't given the new one a 2nd listen yet.

I listened to the Entire Ariel Pink Discography As Research in 2008, concluded that "Worn Copy" was my favourite and had my favourite songs on it in the context of Ariel's Thing, but in retrospect I'm unclear as to whether or not I actually like Ariel's music or have any place for it in my life except to put on to make fun of houseguests who are talking about the drugs they enjoy doing

that makes me sound like a narc maybe but something about cute homos chatting bout where they're gonna score drugs later just makes me reach for my Ariel records

Errr... not sure I can relate to any of that!

Doldrums for me is one of those records that reminds me of a particular time in my life, so sentimental value. I liked the other Paw Tracks ones, but only select tracks here and there. Before Today is consistently a solid record tho.

Have the new one, but this thread has actually put me off listening to it :/

'Credit' is the one.

― Jamie_ATP, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 8:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This.

Errr... not sure I can relate to any of that!

Me neither, was the point

Haha

Doldrums is my fave too, with Before Today and Mature Themes tied for second place. Everything else has its moments and spots of amazing/incredulous mess.

Worn Copy gets to oppressive, House Arrest is good pop fun but spotty sometimes

scared famous 4 me

IM NOT REAL AND I WON'T CALL YOU

call me stupid (and sorry for coming late to the discussion) but why is talking about going on the prowl misogynist?

eg. man says 'i wanna chase some tail'. does that demean women or does that just make the man a bit shallow (in this instance....maybe a month ago he was in a serious and challenging relationship with an equal)?

was it the use of the words 'rape' and 'prey'? it might have been a brutal analogy but i get the idea ariel likes being grotesque. i don't think referring to women as 'prey' necessarily denies their agency. the women 'hunted down' could just as easily talk abt going out on the prowl and hunting down men on that same night.

tho wasnt ariel's whole pt that he DOESNT chase down/'rape', he charms. in which case, isnt HE decrying the 'chase'/'rape' scenario??

>>>"The "beta males" line didn't read to me as "let's get revenge on the alphas by slyly seducing girls with our intellect" thing but a "fuck alpha males, let me deploy the word 'prey' to compare them to predators"

― whiter than... this? (Ówen P.)

^maybe it's a bit of both? 'i am an intellectual charmer, he is a predatory rapist'!

likewise, why is the discussion of hetero male sexual power struggles misogynist? it might not be about women's agency but does that matter? don't women compete for men too? it's just another pt of view

genuinely confused.

is he really as influential as everyone says he is? i think we live in a post animal collective indie world, not ap. way more people heard feels, strawb jam, mpp than anything ap did.

keep in mind i love mature themes more than certain friends

Not a week goes by that i don't read a variation on the phrase 'faded VHS memories' or see a music video that makes liberal use of FCP's "Bad TV" filter. I'm blaming that all on him just for the hell of it.

there are so many bands/solo artists, whatever over the past few years that sound like second rate Ariel knockoffs to me. ariel himself is part of the "post AC" world though too isn't he? he's like the alice cooper to AC's Zappa.

I sort of feel like AC took what they did as far as it can go and can't really see them inspiring any worthy imitators. The fact that Ariel's early stuff was deceivingly rough or under-realized I think probably led more people to want to do what he did but different or better.

also solo artists are where it's at now.

chillwave/hauntology didnt become a thing til 2010 right? when before today came out, but before its release?

ac will/have already become the grateful dead of our generation

AP's been a going concern since before today. that was his first album to be annointed by Pitchfork, but his earlier albums were pretty big in the indie set iirc

yeah, 2004 paw tracks release of doldrums is what put him on the map and then the whole group of imitators started popping up around 2010, just in time for him to release BT and get even bigger.

but why him, and why the delayed response?

I thought the whole Chillwave boom was in 2009 right after Merriweather Post Pavillion came out.

why him what? why are musicians inspired by a guy who is an incredible songwriter? delayed response - maybe because it's harder to copy what he did than it seems?

so if ac is the beatles, ap is the velvet underground?

yeah, I guess '09 was the year of washed out, neon indian, carles chillwave article, etc. I don't think it's likely that those things were influenced by MPP that came out just a few months earlier.

AP is the bob dylan of his generation. other chillwave bands are the byrds, sonny & cher, etc. that emerged 3 or 4 years after dylan's debut.

ariel pink is the tiny tim of his generation

i remember in that article he (and lots of others like james murphy) was seeing his influence on a lot of artists
http://www.spin.com/articles/ariel-pink-in-praise-of-guilty-genius/
"Every time I hear her," he says of Grimes, "I hear a little of myself. It's obvious, but it's cool: You can see the potential for something."
i think "obvious" is pushing it a bit on that one...

i think he's calling grimes' music "obvious" in the same sense that his own is - not that she's taking obvious inspiration from him

Pink isn't even a fraction of the singer or performer that Tiny Tim was. he obviously wins on the songwriting front though.

The tiny tim of today is like pomplamoose or something. pains me to say that because I love tiny tim, but in terms of gimmicky performer that got famous doing covers it fits.

yeah, 2004 paw tracks release of doldrums is what put him on the map and then the whole group of imitators started popping up around 2010, just in time for him to release BT and get even bigger.

― wk, Thursday, April 25, 2013 12:45 PM (52 minutes ago)

the first round of obvious ariel pink imitators i remember showed up in 2008 or so, e.g. gary war's new ratheonport. at the same time, american indie garage bands were going nuts for super-shitty fidelity (in the wake of AP and times new viking, coming from very different directions) and massive amounts of reverb (a la oh sees & ty segall). 2009 saw a shift towards hazy/fuzzy nostalgia vibe surfing from folks like real estate and kurt vile.

blank dogs also figure in there somewhere, drew a lot of attention in 2007 w ap-style take on uk post punk

yeah, definitely gary war. garage has always been shitty sounding though. since the original back from the grave bands, through to the mummies, etc. shitty sounding pop music with synths was something kind of new and different though.

I don't know, to me it's all about the songwriting. I think people underestimate that. it's not like pink invented vhs nostalgia or anything.