Ariel Pink
Encyclopedia
Ariel Pink is a Los Angeles
-based recording artist who is sometimes associated with the freak folk
scene.
and later the California Institute of the Arts
. In high school, Pink was a fan of such Gothic rock
acts as Christian Death
, Bauhaus
, The Sisters of Mercy
, and The Cure
(whom he cites as his favorite band). He started writing songs "around age 10" and has recorded over 500 songs on hundreds of cassette tapes since 1996.
Pink produces and plays almost all of his own music, and is noted for creating drum sounds using primarily his mouth, and sometimes his armpits. His home recording technique gives his music a very lo-fi sound, to the point where new listeners may mistake the era of his music. Pink's influences range from R. Stevie Moore
--friend, mentor, and "father of home recording"—to Michael Jackson
.
Aside from his music, Pink creates and sells semi-abstract and surreal
grotesque
drawings which can be viewed at his unofficial website.
Pink married Lisa Daniels in July 2002; they divorced in 2005. He currently lives with fellow artist Geneva Jacuzzi.
after being introduced by mutual friend and occasional collaborator Jimi Hey (All Night Radio
, Indian Jewelry
, Beachwood Sparks
, The Rapture
) at one of their shows.
Unbeknownst to Pink, Animal Collective had recently started their own record label, Paw Tracks. Animal Collective member Josh Dibb remembers:
Several weeks later they contacted him to sign him on Paw Tracks
. Pink became the first musician on the label aside from the members of Animal Collective. The next year, the label reissued The Doldrums
, an album which had been originally recorded in 1999. Since then, Paw Tracks (now co-owned by Carpark Records
) has released two other reissues of Pink's previous recordings, Worn Copy and House Arrest
.
Pink has gradually caught the attention of media sources around the United States as well as internationally. As most of his albums are self-made, many of them have never been heard by fans. Almost all of Pink's albums which have been commercially released come from his recently released "Haunted Graffiti" series and are thus the best known.
Pink's solo tours have generally been met with much negativity, primarily because his music was never intended to be performed live for commercial audiences. As he explained to LA Weekly
:
In 2006, Pink's collaboration with Holy Shit front-man Matt Fishbeck led to the release of Stranded at Two Harbors.
After initially playing shows with pre-recorded music, Pink later employed the efforts of Gary War, Robert Robinson (Sore Eros), Tim Koh (White Magic
), and John Maus
while touring. In 2008, Pink formed a new band with keyboardist/guitarist/backing vocalist Kenny Gilmore, drummer/vocalist/guitarist Jimi Hey, and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill (Ethnik Klensr, The Samps, Nite Jewel), who became known as Haunted Graffiti. Drummer Aaron Sperske (Beachwood Sparks
, Lilys
) has since replaced Jimi Hey, and guitarist Joseph Kennedy has replaced Greif-Neill. Consistent touring with a fixed band lineup has led to a much more accessible and musically tighter show for concert goers.
In July, 2008, Haunted Graffiti toured with Chairlift
. In March 2009, Haunted Graffiti toured the US with Cryptacize
and in April 2009 with Vivian Girls
; the tour culminated in a performance at Coachella
.
In November 2009, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti was signed to 4AD
records. He released a new mp3 single "Round and Round" in March 2010, marking a studio quality departure from his former lo-fi recordings. 4AD released it as a 7" single, backed with "Mistaken Wedding". A new album, Before Today, followed on June 8, 2010. Before Today was recognized by Pitchfork in their "Best New Music" category. The album includes some new versions of songs released on previous records, notably "L'Estat (acc. to the widow's maid)", "Round and Round" (formerly titled "Frontman/Hold On (I'm Calling)") and "Beverly Kills".
In December 2010, Pitchfork named "Round and Round" the number 1 song on their list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2010. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti were chosen by Animal Collective
to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties
festival that they curated in May 2011.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based recording artist who is sometimes associated with the freak folk
Freak folk
Freak folk is a genre of folk music associated with contemporary artists such as Faun Fables, Animal Collective, Davenport, Devendra Banhart,CocoRosie, Panda Bear, Kelli Ali, Joanna Newsom, Bowerbirds, Woods, Greg Weeks, Hecuba, Akron/Family, Rio en Medio, Birdengine, Sufjan Stevens, Sean Hayes,...
scene.
Biography
Ariel Pink was raised in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, attending Beverly Hills High SchoolBeverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
and later the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
. In high school, Pink was a fan of such Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
acts as Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
, Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
, The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, and The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
(whom he cites as his favorite band). He started writing songs "around age 10" and has recorded over 500 songs on hundreds of cassette tapes since 1996.
Pink produces and plays almost all of his own music, and is noted for creating drum sounds using primarily his mouth, and sometimes his armpits. His home recording technique gives his music a very lo-fi sound, to the point where new listeners may mistake the era of his music. Pink's influences range from R. Stevie Moore
R. Stevie Moore
Robert Steven Moore is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. In addition to having numerous albums released on labels around the world, the prolific Moore has self-released over 400 cassette and CD-R albums since 1968, as well as dozens of home videos, mostly through the R. Stevie Moore...
--friend, mentor, and "father of home recording"—to Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
.
Aside from his music, Pink creates and sells semi-abstract and surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
grotesque
Grotesque
The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
drawings which can be viewed at his unofficial website.
Pink married Lisa Daniels in July 2002; they divorced in 2005. He currently lives with fellow artist Geneva Jacuzzi.
Career
From 2000–2002, Pink collaborated with fellow Los Angeles recording artist coL, which resulted in each being featured on one another's albums. In the summer of 2003, Pink passed a CD-R on to New York based band Animal CollectiveAnimal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
after being introduced by mutual friend and occasional collaborator Jimi Hey (All Night Radio
All Night Radio
All Night Radio was an American indie rock band formed in Los Angeles, California.-History:Dave Scher and Jimi Hey, hail from Los Angeles, California, and have known each other since 1995, when a 16 year-old Hey would call Scher's late-night radio program on KXLU requesting Six Finger Satellite on...
, Indian Jewelry
Indian jewelry
Indian Jewelry is a band from Houston, Texas that is known for its droning vision music and seizure-inducing stage show. Since forming in 2002 the band has gone through several touring incarnations as Hong Kong, the Turquoise Diamonds, BENZENE LOTION RASH, the Corpses of Waco, Electric Fuck All,...
, Beachwood Sparks
Beachwood Sparks
Beachwood Sparks are an American alternative country band from Los Angeles. A Daily Telegraph article on America's underground psychedelic pop scene described Beachwood Sparks as "country through a kaleidoscope".-Biography:...
, The Rapture
The Rapture
The Rapture is an Indie rock band based in New York City. The band mixes influences from many genres including post-punk, acid house, disco, electronica and rock, pioneering the post-punk revival genre...
) at one of their shows.
Unbeknownst to Pink, Animal Collective had recently started their own record label, Paw Tracks. Animal Collective member Josh Dibb remembers:
Several weeks later they contacted him to sign him on Paw Tracks
Paw Tracks
Paw Tracks is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. The label's website features artwork by Abby Portner ....
. Pink became the first musician on the label aside from the members of Animal Collective. The next year, the label reissued The Doldrums
The Doldrums (Haunted Graffiti 2; Reissue)
The Doldrums is the second album from the Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti series, re-issued in 2004 by Paw Tracks.-Track listing:#"Good Kids Make Bad Grown Ups"#"Strange Fires"#"Among Dreams"#"For Kate I Wait"#"Haunted Graffiti"#"Gray Sunset"...
, an album which had been originally recorded in 1999. Since then, Paw Tracks (now co-owned by Carpark Records
Carpark Records
Carpark Records is an American independent record label based in Washington, D.C. .-Signed artists:* 242.pilots* Beach House* Cloud Nothings* Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez* Belong* Casino Versus Japan* Class Actress...
) has released two other reissues of Pink's previous recordings, Worn Copy and House Arrest
House Arrest (Haunted Graffiti 5; Reissue)
House Arrest is the fifth album from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti series, re-issued on January 24, 2006 by Paw Tracks and Ballbearings Pinatas.-Track listing:#"Hardcore Pops Are Fun"#"Interesting Results"#"West Coast Calamities"#"Flying Circles"...
.
Pink has gradually caught the attention of media sources around the United States as well as internationally. As most of his albums are self-made, many of them have never been heard by fans. Almost all of Pink's albums which have been commercially released come from his recently released "Haunted Graffiti" series and are thus the best known.
Pink's solo tours have generally been met with much negativity, primarily because his music was never intended to be performed live for commercial audiences. As he explained to LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
:
In 2006, Pink's collaboration with Holy Shit front-man Matt Fishbeck led to the release of Stranded at Two Harbors.
After initially playing shows with pre-recorded music, Pink later employed the efforts of Gary War, Robert Robinson (Sore Eros), Tim Koh (White Magic
White Magic (band)
White Magic is a psychedelic folk rock group based in Brooklyn, N.Y., led by singer/guitarist/pianist Mira Billotte.-History:White Magic's original lineup was Mira Billotte on vocals and piano, drummer/bassist Miggy Littleton and guitarist/drummer Andy Macleod...
), and John Maus
John Maus
John Maus is an American composer. He grew up in Austin, Minnesota, and studied music at the California Institute of the Arts. He later went on to study philosophy at the European Graduate School, in Saas Fee Switzerland, and in 2011 is working towards a PhD in political philosophy...
while touring. In 2008, Pink formed a new band with keyboardist/guitarist/backing vocalist Kenny Gilmore, drummer/vocalist/guitarist Jimi Hey, and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill (Ethnik Klensr, The Samps, Nite Jewel), who became known as Haunted Graffiti. Drummer Aaron Sperske (Beachwood Sparks
Beachwood Sparks
Beachwood Sparks are an American alternative country band from Los Angeles. A Daily Telegraph article on America's underground psychedelic pop scene described Beachwood Sparks as "country through a kaleidoscope".-Biography:...
, Lilys
Lilys
Lilys are an American indie rock band formed in Washington, D.C in 1988. The only constant member is Kurt Heasley, with the line-up changing regularly...
) has since replaced Jimi Hey, and guitarist Joseph Kennedy has replaced Greif-Neill. Consistent touring with a fixed band lineup has led to a much more accessible and musically tighter show for concert goers.
In July, 2008, Haunted Graffiti toured with Chairlift
Chairlift (band)
Chairlift is an American electronic pop Duo.Based in Brooklyn, New York, Chairlift consists of members Caroline Polachek and Patrick Wimberly .-History:...
. In March 2009, Haunted Graffiti toured the US with Cryptacize
Cryptacize
Cryptacize is a California pop band founded by Nedelle Torrisi and Chris Cohen in 2006. Cryptacize, along with Cohen's other project The Curtains, records for the Asthmatic Kitty label. Nedelle has released two cds on the Kill Rock Stars label, one as a solo performer and one as a member of the...
and in April 2009 with Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls are an American band from Brooklyn, New York.- History :Vivian Girls, named after the magnum opus of outsider author Henry Darger, started in Brooklyn, NY in March 2007 as the trio of Cassie Ramone ; Katy "Kickball Katy" Goodman; and Frankie Rose...
; the tour culminated in a performance at Coachella
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
.
In November 2009, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti was signed to 4AD
4AD
4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...
records. He released a new mp3 single "Round and Round" in March 2010, marking a studio quality departure from his former lo-fi recordings. 4AD released it as a 7" single, backed with "Mistaken Wedding". A new album, Before Today, followed on June 8, 2010. Before Today was recognized by Pitchfork in their "Best New Music" category. The album includes some new versions of songs released on previous records, notably "L'Estat (acc. to the widow's maid)", "Round and Round" (formerly titled "Frontman/Hold On (I'm Calling)") and "Beverly Kills".
In December 2010, Pitchfork named "Round and Round" the number 1 song on their list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2010. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti were chosen by Animal Collective
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
festival that they curated in May 2011.
Albums
- The Doldrums (2004)
- Worn Copy (2005)
- House Arrest (2006)
- Lover Boy (2006)
- Ariel Rosenberg's Thrash and Burn: PreAriel Rosenberg's Thrash and Burn: PreReleased by Human Ear Music as both a two disc set and a four cassette collection, Ariel Rosenberg's Thrash & Burn: Pre was recorded on cassette in 1998 and presents a more experimental Rosenberg than is found on his eventual Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti albums...
(2006) - Scared Famous (2007)
- UndergroundUnderground (Ariel Pink album)Underground is the first album from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti series, released by Vinyl International in 2007.-Track listing:#"Shaven" – 2:11#"Spires in the Snow" - 2:07#"Jack Off" - 2:07#"Ghost Town" - 4:55#"Crash Crash on the Drummer" - 1:44...
(2007) - Odditties Sodomies Vol. 1Odditties Sodomies Vol. 1 (album)Odditties Sodomies Vol. 1 is an album of unheard and rare tracks spanning 1997 to 2004 from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti series, released by Vinyl International in 2008.-Track listing:#"Suicide Notation" - 3:06#"I Wanna Be Young" - 2:39...
(2008) - Before TodayBefore Today (album)- Personnel :*Chris Cohen – backing vocals*John Golden – mastering*Aaron González – bass guitar*Dennis González – trumpet*Stefan González – drums*Max "Sax" Kaplan – saxophone*Douglas Lee – artwork*Jim Lehnert – alto sax, baritone sax...
(2010) (#163 U.S.)