Doldrums

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 12, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Paw Tracks
• ASIN: B0002VETC2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,487 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Ariel Pink (b. Ariel Rosenberg, June 1978) is an L.A.-based home taper who for years "fell out of bed onto [his] eight-track analog cassette Yamaha MT8X." He eventually wore down the unit, which succumbed, and Yamaha no longer makes it. "I now use whatever I can get my hands on," he laments, meaning cheap, scrounged-up equipment. "I can't spend money on gear, because I don't have any." He was influenced by the DIY ethic of R. Stevie Moore, with whom he subsequently became long-distance pals. Ariel has a great pop sensibility, and plays the "standard rock line-up of guitars, keys, bass, and vocals." Noticeably absent from that roll call are drums. In fact, Ariel makes all recorded drum and percussion sounds with his mouth! "It's a funny neurotic tic, which I honed since childhood," he explains. The punchy rhythms are achieved by close-miking. "Making sounds with my mouth is more acoustically akin to what i hear in my head than miking up real drums, which people spend hours on to get the right sonic effect.

Ariel has been in bands, but records by himself. (Personal estimate: 200-300 master tapes since 1995, comprising of over 500 songs.) He occasionally gigs out, but he's never felt that club dates reflect what his music is about, because his vision is intensely personal. Unlike some artistic cave-dwellers, Ariel gets along with people; he just doesn't often make music with them "It's what always ends up happening," he says. "Sometimes I get musicians offering their services but when it comes down to it, people just don't commit to joining my crusade. I have no idea why I'm alone! But writing is easier alone."

- IRWIN CHUSID ____________________________________ © 2004 Irwin Chusid. Reprinted by permission. Originally appeared in the track notes for the Sonic Arts Network release INTERESTING RESULTS, which included the Ariel Pink track "Alisa.

Product Description

After years of recording in relative seclusion in the hills of Los Angeles , Ariel Pink (the first non-Animal Collective member on the Paw Tracks roster) makes his official Paw Tracks debut with "The Doldrums". Originally a handmade CD-R release a couple years back, "The Doldrums" by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Grafitti was discovered by the Animal Collective during one of their west coast tours and became an immediate favorite.

Recording at home with only a guitar, keyboard, and 8-track (the drum sounds are all unbelievably created with his vocals), Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something beautiful and confusing, yet highly addictive.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Doldrums, April 16, 2008

By 

qwff (italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doldrums (Audio CD)

When I first heard tracks from this album on Stuart Maconie's "Freak Zone" show on BBC, I knew I had to have it. It sounded different from everything that I had been listening in the past. A fan of hardcore diy, Ariel Pink creates an unique sound based on lo-fi and classic pop. Another reviewer says that it sounds "as if a pillow was pressed against the stereo", but I think that is an essential part of Ariel's style. You see sudden bursts of beauty but you can't take it or control it. It is like if the music came, distorted, from a neighbor party to which you are not invited.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars goodbye horses, March 17, 2005

By 

Monigan Addiman "monigan" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doldrums (Audio CD)

While everyone's mining the 70s and 80s for nostalgic purposes or in this self-conscious, tongue-in-cheek kind of way, it's refreshing to hear kids who grew up then just sort of expressing how that was. At the Whitney this year there was a room full of Super Mario clouds advancing across the walls with this 8-bit soundtrack over, and it made you remember how weird it felt to spend an entire afternoon just in that small square world. Ariel Pink reminds me of how MTV felt. I didn't have cable, and so I got it in glimpses from friends' older sisters, and it is in my head this jumble of synths and halated light and cheap drum loops and effete young men with lined eyes. It's like Ariel and I had the same wallpaper.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly Beautiful, April 26, 2005

By 

Music Lover from Wisconsin (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Doldrums (Audio CD)

I got this record because a recent SPIN review gave it an A. This record is the kind of music you'd listen to while painting or writing poetry. This is not happy dance music, but it is so unique and different. The low-fi effect can get a little annoying, but hey, just take it as it is and get your creative juices flowing.