Just acquired a copy of The Doldrums, the 1st record by Ariel Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti out on Paw Tracks (guilty by Animal Collective association? I think not.) When I put it in my car stereo it was a hot sticky day and I was driving w/ my girlfriend. I had to turn it down, because all that bled through my blown speakers was Ariel's squeaky, helium voice and a patchwork of song sketches thrown together, sounding like a mish-mash of garbage.
This album is amazing, don't get me wrong, but I've decided it's meant for headphones, while working at a somewhat boring job; this really peppers my day. This record is a real treat, especially the 1986 thrift store radio classic-that-never-was: For Kate I Wait, or the 10+ min psychedelic sludge of The Ballad of Bobby Pyn (album closer), and the high school dance - after everyone's left chorus of Gray Sunset. I think what can be so great about this music is that you feel like you're hearing something private, and that it's this secret collectible thing that u can laugh at and enjoy. Of all the albums I've sampled, The Doldrums has this spectral, natural quality, which perfectly matches the cover - a worn snapshot of the man himself pulled over on some strange backroad in the Hollywood Hills.
Ariel is the spoiled Hollywood brat, living next door to his parents and recording scary, reminiscent snippets that drift in and out of his deranged mind, creating all the drum parts w/ his mouth on a cheap radioshack mic, eating cereal and smoking joints on his balcony. In other words, there's a lot of mental work to be done and it's fun to dissect this album. I can't get over it. Listen:
No comments:
Post a Comment