Listen To: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Before Today”

Crucial to every good summer is an equally good soundtrack. And for the summer of 2010 noted weirdo Ariel Pink has delivered. The latest release from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today marks the first full fledged studio album from the notoriously lo-fi artist. And while we could litter the first half of our review with Pink’s back story (reclusive, compulsive, makes drum sounds with his mouth and armpits, blah, blah), let’s just say this, Before Today is an f-ing brilliant album.

If you’re a child of the 80′s, no doubt the cheese of the synthesized dial along with mom and dad’s left-over nostalgia for the epic ballads and hard rock of the late 70′s creeped into your musical sensibilities. Pink has taken your childhood, chewed it up, smoked it up, and spit it back out at you thirty years later with the kind of growth that can only come from experience. Listing references heard through Before Today can become a never ending game. On “Beverly Kills” Pink channels Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall with a funky bass riff, sexy synthesizer stabs and a catchy falsetto chorus. By the next two tracks “Butt-House Blondies” and “Little Wig” Pink has moved into a jazzy post-punk sound that touches upon the guitar fervor of The Replacements and complex arrangements of Steely Dan without losing the weird transitions Pink fans have grown to love. “Can’t Hear My Eyes” has a vaguely familiar intro and laid back feel reminiscent of hit-makers Hall & Oates, Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire but never moves into a straight homage to the best cheese of the early 80′s. Pink won’t allow for that, both his lyrics and vibe are far too trippy for nostalgia to completely take over the album. Joy Division, the B-52′s, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Roxy Music, we could go on but we’ll let you pick out Pink’s other influences for yourself.

A long time in the making, Ariel Pink did not waste any opportunities in creating his first studio album Before Today. And although we’ve been allowed to hear the progression of the artist through hundreds of home recordings, according to Pink this is his first record. He may not wow you with technical prowess, but when you find yourself bobbing to the pure pop surging past abstract breakdowns you will know that Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have created something truly original in Before Today.

Before Today is out now on 4AD

“Beverly Kills”

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“Butt-House Blondies”

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“Can’t Hear My Eyes”

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Listen to/download the single “Round and Round” here

by: Brent Carter and Tricia Rock