Ariel Pink - Another Weekend

2017 just got a whole lot better. Ariel Pink has a new album Dedicated To Bobby Jameson due out in a couple of months. Something to look forward to.

Love the artwork. If you wanna know who Bobby Jameson was check out his blog. AP loves his LA mythology. It's a wonder Ariel didn't try and get him to do something for Pom Pom? Jameson would have fitted right in with Pom Pom's maverick LA contributors Don Bolles and Kim Fowley.

This video's from a couple of months ago. Tears On Fire is not on the new record, it was on the Ariel Pink & Weyes Blood collab EP Myths 002 which was released in January and I totally missed it. 

Classic tune from his great Pom Pom (2014) LP. Never seen this video until today and it's amazing. I know I'm not paying attention but whatever. One of the best videos of the century so far. It makes me wanna drink cheep beer, have a ciggy and be weird.

Best Of 2014 - Albums & Mixtapes

Pom Pom - Ariel Pink
Heavenly West Coast pop hits, delirious goth, over wrought glam, funk, glitter scuzz rock and demented bubblegum psych (sometimes all within the same song). I can't possibly write another word on the subject.

Black Portland - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Atlanta's stellar nutcase duo make mental rap classic. Demented euphoria.

You Might Also Like - eMMplekz
More funny shit and mental absurdity ranted by Baron Mordant over some of Nick's most accomplished trax to date.

Unfidelity/Four Track Mind - Ekoplekz

Two classic double LPs in one year! Maybe Four Track Mind just pips Unfidelity at the post but these albums are inseparable as they came from the same recording sessions, I think. Nick Edwards reigns in his wayward machines like never before to achieve stunning results.

Oxymoron - Schoolboy Q
The title says it all. Killah state of the art sex, drugs and rap 2014 stylee. Oxymoron not only refers to Oxycontin addiction but to the dichotomy of Schoolboy Q's being ie. trying to be a good dad but being a bad ass gangsta.

Reconsider Lounge/Session Man - Rangers
I thought they'd vanished but praise the lord here they are again twice! This time in snippet and snapshot mode on Reconsider Lounge, a bit like they were on 2010's classic Suburban Tours. Session Man is almost like stoner jamz but in a Rangers universe. OMG these are guitar albums! Remember them? It's all about past pasts, past presents, past futures and the present present and future past, present and future. Memoredelia! The talented Joe Knight is a star. Why aren't Rangers as big as Coldplay?

By Any Means - Kevin Gates
King Kev's got the best voice in the game and his flow's incredible. An intimate insight into Kev's life. From being dirt poor with no electrical, being incarcerated, having children and being signed to major record label Atlantic. His life's a movie. Louisiana trap at it's finest.

Gangsta Stripper Music 2 - Beatking
He is the Beat King and he's had a sterling year. This was the Club God doing his Houston ratchet thang which is the best mix of 10s rap and 90s rave these ears have ever heard. Crank this sucker up to 11!

$hmopcity - Kool John
The most underrated mixtape of the year. Bay Area ratchet from the HBK Gang that was all killah no filler. Kool John makes the best HBK Gang recording to date. It's party time, are you putting on 10 Summers or $hmopcity? It's a no brainer.

Underground Tape Cassette Music - Gangsta Boo & Beatking
Fucking great collaboration from 666 Mafia's legendary Gangsta Boo and Club Godzilla Beatking. 80s electro & fucked up 90s rave flavas clash with 2014 Texan Ratchet and 90s creepin Memphis shyt. Rewind!

Life After Death Row - Boosie Bad Azz
Lil Boosie gets out of prison and makes a hell of a poignant mixtape about the experience. True Detective had nothing on this Louisiana rapper's gritty reality.

Tony - King Louie
Gangsta tales from Chicago set to mini cinematic synth symphonies. Louie's a King, a God, a Don and they call him Tony after Tony Soprano. Futuristic sex, drugs, violence and megalomania!

Under The Skin OST - Mica Levi
Best soundtrack since _________. Intensely sinister, harrowing and still. A bit like Bernard Hermann if he'd had a stroke and was wasted on painkillaz. Who'd have ever thought I'd enjoy something by Mica Levi? The world is a strange place.

Beautiful Pimp II - Rome Fortune
Atlanta's one of a kind suave space age rapper makes a sequel better than the original. Cito is on the beat throughout the entire mixtape which was a great move.

Heat Vol. 1 & 2 - YP Spoelstra
Two volumes of choice 2014 ratchet from California's HBK Gang. YP's giving Mustard a run for his money and he's just put out a 3rd Volume, bloody hell!

Leporine Pleasure Gardens - Moon Wiring Club LP 
Hallucinatory, phantasmal and lysergical. This is Moon Wiring Club severed from their beats and it's probably the closest sonic equivalent to dropping acid I've ever heard. Flashbacks man!

Torridon Gate - Howlround
Who'd have thunk a 24 minute recording of a garden gate would be this enjoyable?

R.O.C. - IX Tab
A trip into creepy electronic zones where funny things happen.

A Que Fresco - Que & Mike Fresh
Like Speedy Gonzales, the subject in one of their songs, these guys don't mess about. This is 2014 rap at it's most buoyant and audacious. A pop triumph.

Butterfly Effect - Shinishi Ataobe 
Some of the most enjoyably serene ambient dub tech I've ever heard. There's also some slightly noisier dub tech trax in a Basic Channel stylee (Ataobe once released an EP on the Chain Reaction label). Hypnotic and beautiful.

From Out Here - The Advisory Circle
Perhaps their most fully realised LP to date. A musical interzone somewhere between idyllic and peculiar. An album that plays tricks with your memory.

ALSO REALLY LIKED
My Krazy Life - YG
Monster - Future
Fearful Wiggings - Dave Graney
The Power And The Glory - Perc
Bullet - Zuse
The Mobb Tape - Zmoney
Wet 2 - Skipper
Tha Tour Part 1 - Rich Gang
Leporine Pleasure Gardens cd - Moon Wiring Club
Audio Rehab Vol.1 - Various
Definition Audio Presents Vol.1 - Various
Oculus OST - The Newton Brothers
Pavilion - Panabrite
Influkz - Ekoplekz
We Invented The Bop 2 - Various
8 of The Moon Ballades Series - Motion Sickness Of Time Travel

CATEGORY OF IT'S OWN
Benji - Sun Kil Moon
20 years since I've listened to anything by Mark Kozelek but I couldn't ignore this album's cult groundswell on the interweb. Holy shit things have changed since Red House Painters Ocean Beach (well mostly, he is still singing about his mum) ie. Mark's way more hokey now, getting back to his Ohio roots. There are no Johnny Marr-esque guitar licks or 4AD flourishes of sound here. This is bare bones recording wise. Less is more, keep it simple and let the words paint the pictures. Who would have thought he could get more morose? Well he has! This is a stunning work of a master songwriter. The words just pour out of him unfiltered and somehow it works. Benji is an insight into a tragedy strewn life and a morbid mind like no other. Although he finally makes a joke on the last track. One does also wonder how much of this is possibly black humour like when he's asking you to think of mass murderers when you're feeling happy. I've always thought he was pretty funny I must admit.

WHAT HAPPENED???
Rustie - Green Language
Peaking Lights - Cosmic Logic
Young Thug - 1017 Thug 2
Skrillex - Recess
DJ Mustard - 10 Summers 

ON THE FENCE
Mr Mitch - Parallel Memories
Apparently this is connected to grime. I have no emotional investment in grime so it doesn't bother me. Like last year's album from Logos I didn't even know it was somehow comin from grime. I just liked the tunes. When I first heard Parallel Memories I thought it was like an electronica LP from 1994. Hey 94 was a great year for electronica and it's pretty good....
Vessel - Punish, Honey
Daft Industrial throwback of the worst kind or kinda cool weird noise? I dunno.

TOO LATE
Kevin Gates - Luca Brasi 2 (Only got it yesterday)
Starlito - Black Sheep Don't Grin (As above)
YP Spoelstra - Heat Vol. 3 (As above above)

TOTALLY MISSED IT
Ian Crause - The Vertical Axis. I noticed this in Simon's list. I assume it is he of the great Disco Inferno. I totally did not realise he'd released an album this year as I don't read music magazines anymore and only skim the online one (you can probably guess what that may be). I think I bought one issue of The Wire this year. I've gone from being a chap in the 90s who wouldn't miss an issue of The Wire to someone now who can barely give a toss. Sure things change in 20 + years but who'd have thought so many bad writers would be employed there. Sure the music scene's not the same either but there is still great music being made. The evidence is right here in my list but I wonder how many of the above recordings even got coverage in The Wire? The thing is I probably wouldn't want to read it anyway unless it was written by Mark Fisher. Anyway back to The Vertical Axis, fuck I'm looking forward to hearing that. Mark Fisher probably reviewed it. This is actually from 2013.

TELEVISION
True Detective
Girls
Happy Valley
Orange Is The New Black

BOOKS
Ghosts Of My Life - Mark Fisher
Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story Of Modern Pop - Bob Stanley (sure I got this for xmas 2013 but fuck it took me 4 months of 2014 to read it ie. many pages)

STUPID
Ripping off Young Thug is dumb. It's like ripping off Mark E Smith ie. he's so idiosyncratic if you're copying him it's so obviously not you. It makes you an instant joke.

LIFE'S TOO SHORT
To bang on about artists that are dull, overrated or just plain shite like blanco husalah kokane, salva, fka twigs, beyonce, ben frost, 1001 Young Thug wannabes, popcaan and whoever else innit?

There's only one Young Thug (he's on the left).

*OTHER YEARS
2011
2012
2013

Ariel Pink....Again

ZRW pointed out this tune to me via twitter @zrwilson. This is one Ariel Pink did with Gary War as Gold Digger around 04(?) Totally missed this at the time. So this is another usage of the Dayzed Inn Daydreams chorus, this time under the title Liquid Sun. This was taken from a compilation called Light Dead Sea:Volume 1 which seems to be very rare. It can be found here in mp3 form though. It features another Gold Digger song Destined For Greatness plus Omen from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti as well as two solo tunes from Gary War. Worth checking out for fans of Pink and War who missed it.

This is the version mentioned on this previous post from Odditties & Sodomies Vol. 1.

Ariel Pink - Pom Pom Part 2

Pom Pom was finally released this week. I got it at the record shop. As I said in my original review Pink Raincoats, which I didn't like at the start, has become one of my favourite tunes. This is the tune that reminded me of They Might Be Giants. When I mentioned They Might Be Giants, King Missile, Ween, Nudge Squidfish and Regurgitator it wasn't a sledge against those bands as I'm quite fond of many of their recordings. Hey I own(ed) They Might Be Giants, Ween & Nudge Squdfish records. I was referring to the comic elements in those pop groups. I never had a King Missile or Regurgitator record but I didn't hate hearing them on the radio.

*When I wrote 'Goth Bomb is grunge meets goth meets metal meets space rock meets scuzz.' I had in mind for metal Black Sabbath, for space rock Hawkwind and for scuzz read Royal Trux. That kind of cancels out the other 2 genres doesn't it.

There's also a kind of English homage going throughout the whole record. Many a Brit accent is to be heard throughout Pom Pom. Oh...its just twigged its called Pom Pom which could be a reference to all you Prisoners Of her Majesty. I think he mentions Portobello Road in the first track. There's a sonic reference to the end section of A Day In The Life on Exile On Frog Street. The name of that tune obviously invoking The Rolling Stones. Alice In Wonderland gets mentioned along the way. He'd definitely be a fan of Swell Maps, The Homosexuals et al. I tried not to mention Pink Floyd, glam, Mr Bowie at his most overwrought and thespian & Mr Ronson in the original article. Did someone say side 2 of Diamond Dogs?

No matter how much he may be influenced by things from the UK, America and the rest of the world (read NZ ie. the great Axemen) there is always something so intrinsically LA about his whole vibe. It's in his blood. Having Kim Fowley and ex-Germs drummer Don Bolles on board doesn't hurt either.

*Cleaners From Venus.
I think Ariel Pink may have been instrumental in the reappraisal of this classic 80s under underground band from England. I have a vague recollection of someone (maybe a member of Ducktails or Emeralds) saying Ariel Pink introduced them to Cleaners from Venus via a mixtape and this was way before the reissue program of their oeuvre started. 

*Writers Block.
There are at least three songs with references to writing or writer's block on Pom Pom. I know he had a bad case of it for a while there maybe between Worn Copy and the first 4AD record in 2010. Many believed Before Today (2010) was mainly old songs from his vast archive. Indeed his first LP on 4AD included Beverly Kills which had already appeared on FFWD, L'estat was from Odditties Sodomies Vol 1, Hot Body Rub was on the Added Pizazz EP and Little Wig which had already been on a cdr sold at concerts in 2005 apparently. Before being remodelled for Pom Pom an early no-fi acoustic version of Dayzed Inn Daydreams (really just containing the chorus) was on Oddities Sodomies Vol 1. under the title Before Today/Dazed In Dreams. So he's still dipping into his backlog of tunes to this day. He's also turned writing about writer's block into unblocking writer's block thus creating a paradox.

*Goth.
Pom Pom has me wanting to dig out Cure, Bauhaus and Killing Joke albums. Strangely it had me wanting to listen to bands I never got into and in The Sisters Of Mercy's case, actively hated. Its got me thinking 'Were Fields Of Nephilim or Christian Death any good? Did I miss out on others as well?'

*The Bewlay Brothers is the final track on David Bowie's Hunky Dory. Gouge Away concludes Doolittle by the Pixies. This is a great topic actually - Best final tracks of albums. One has already been mentioned above ie. The Beatles A Day In The Life. I've got a list somewhere I should post it. Suggestions are also most welcome.

*'So that's 9 in a row then.'
9 Ariel Pink classics in a row. That row is very wayward and I doubt anyone got them in the order that they should have been in. Anyway what I mean is from Haunted Graffiti 2: The Doldrums onwards, which includes Sacred Famous, FFWD, House Arrest, Lover Boy & Worn Copy. Then his 4AD Years Before Today, Mature Themes and now Pom Pom.

*Haunted Graffiti 1: Underground
I've listened to this 1998(?) album (although I've never seen a physical copy) and it was ok but no classic. The quantum leap from Underground to The Doldrums was astounding, like he had signed a pact with the devil Robert Johnson stylee. I hope so. That'd be so LA.

This is strange don't you think? Are they all meant to be Ariel?
Only the yellow one has any resemblance. 

Black Ballerina - Ariel Pink

Just one of the outstanding tracks on Pom Pom.



This is the second single probably wouldn't have been my choice. I'd have probably gone for Dayzed Inn Daydreams or Lipstick or White Freckles but anyway there you go. Not a bad tune by any means but it just doesn't stick in my head like the catchy Not Enough Violence or Dayzed In Daydreams. Video had me racking my brain about what it reminded me of. It finally twigged - LA artist/photographer Cindy Sherman am I right? It's been a few years since I've seen her work though.

*These are the only two youtube things I could find from Pom Pom as well as the previously posted Put Your Number In My Phone.

Pom Pom - Ariel Pink

I had this for over a week (on my mac while I wait for the vinyl to arrive) and couldn't bring myself to listen to it. Was my appetite for Ariel Pink dwindling? He of 8 classic albums in a row, without doubt the best artist of the 21st century! What was going on in my mind? This is something I thought would never happen. I finally put it on and I guess it was a bit like putting on an old pair of slippers in a way. In another way it's Pink at his most wacky, quirky and comic, I thought. Some of it reminding me of Lincoln era They Might Be Giants, King Missile, even Ween. "Has he jumped the shark on this one? Maybe? Time will tell." These were my initial thoughts but now I'm coming round(& round). I mean there's always been Ariel Pink tracks that have annoyed me but then later they become my favourites such as Schnitzel Boogie.

Starting an LP with a track I don't like usually isn't a great sign. Pink Raincoats is a bit too 'look at me I'm doing psychedelia'. Of course that means it'll be my favourite in 10 listens time. But then all is forgiven on the next four tracks which are classic Pink. White Freckles is prime Pink. Ariel Pink does Ariel Pink. Only Ariel Pink sounds like this. Four Shadows has got the best synth (Moog?) sounds since_______insert favourite weird synth tune. He's heading towards demented glam/goth rock opera zones on this one and here that's a good thing, a very good thing. Lipstick is like hearing Ariel Pink for the first time again, you know, it makes your heart go funny. You feel ecstatic and confused all at once. You also feel a little bit too close to this guy's mindtank which he has transposed into sound like nobody has ever done before. Listening to it feels a bit wrong but like seeing a car crash you can't avert your eyes, well your ears in this case. A kind of queasy rapture. Nebulous. Not Enough Violence is where he does his best goth voice ala Pete Murphy and it's bloody hard to resist the delight of it all. In particular the synth drums which really get a workout in the bells & clocks passage. Then Ariel is at his mightiest when he's singing 'penetration time tonight.'Then maybe 'When we power plant bodies.' Followed by a glorious chorus where I think he's yelping 'Fertiliser'? at least I hope he is. The blurred backing vocals and harmonies are incredible if undecipherable. This is fanfuckintastic! I'm conjuring in my mind a bizarre super group containing the aforementioned Murphy plus members of Killing Joke and Mike Mills from REM. Who knew that was my idea of pop heaven? Thanks Mr Pink. Then it's Put Your Number In My Phone which left me cold upon first hearing it but has now insidiously wormed its way into my brain with it's enchanting West Coast melodies. It made me homesick for Melbourne even though I never ate from the taco truck, they had one, which was highly rated. Nude Beach A G-Go is an absurd Beach Party film re-imagining that puts me in mind of Ohio's Nudge Squidfish. You think it's totally daft at the start but by the end you're thinking genius. Goth Bomb is grunge meets goth meets metal meets space rock meets scuzz. This is killer rockin Ariel Pink, up there with his previous rawk classics Butt-House Blondies and Trepanated Earth! Next is Dinosaur Carebears which is a bit like Chrome meets Residents meets King Tubby meets The Specials meets Cleaners From Venus and that's just for starters. A concoction of which you may well ask 'what for?' But I reckon you should ask "Why not?' The key to Ariel Pink's success as an artist is that he can mysteriously transcend mere pastiche.

Negativ Ed is next and it's synth-glitter-punk noise which had me laughing when he sings "Negatory, negatory". Sexual Athletics is a melancholy porn boogie-funk psych jam, aren't they all? Jell-o is throwaway funky bubblegum pop but it's not that simple is it with Ariel Pink? It starts to end in a blast of noise but then it's back again to the bubblegum to finish. This is not unlike a tune from 90s electro pop group Regurgitator. Black Ballerina is classic Ariel Pink, how do you describe that again? Well here goes, it's smothered in dense catchy choruses with a lurid interlude featuring a nerdy teen, a stripper and an English bloke. Then we're back to the jam packed and blissfully murky pop again. Or something like that. Picture Me Gone has me conjuring The Beatles doing an 80s power ballad, or hang on, perhaps something totally different. Like say a rough demo of a Lindsey Buckingham track circa Tusk similar to That's All For Everyone, that never made it to the LP because the rest of Fleetwood Mac thought it was too fucked up and maudlin. Exile On Frog Street is a psychedelic fairy tale where I think Ariel is the frog prince. Complete with frog and er..duck sounds. There you go all you little girls, kiss the right frog and you'll end up with one Ariel Rosenberg as your Prince Charming. Who knew? Pom Pom closes with Dayzed Inn Daydreams which starts off in disturbingly dark territory 'I died unknown, still born one morning.' Whether to take that line literally or as a writer's block analogy is a bit hard to discern as the song becomes more puzzling as it continues. It then transforms into the absolutely lovely with a divine chorus that's a euphoric deluge 'I used to dream, dream away, hide in the dark, fade into grey, I used to pray, now I scream (or is it 'now ice cream'), god help me, no more daydreams.' This is another highlight of the album and his best song in this vein since Round and Round,  Bright Lit Blue Skies etc. Dayzed Inn Daydreams also gives The Bewlay Brothers and Gouge Away a run for their money in the best ever final track of an LP stakes. Probably his best album since Worn Copy and that's saying something as the last two weren't too shabby.

I like.
So that's 9 in a row then.

New Ariel Pink

Just noticed this was released. It's taken from his new album Pom Pom. Sounds like The Byrds or an 80s jingle jangle facsimile. Not sure if that's a good thing or not yet. Slightly reminiscent of The Church at their 80s best, musically anyway.  Both Ariel Pink and Steve Kilbey are complete vocal and wordsmith talents incomparable to anyone really.

Florida Water - Young Thug & Bloody Jay

This could be my favourite track of the year. It's like something from a crappy lo-fi experimental art rock band that only put out tapes in like the mid 80s (that's not a bad thing in my book). I dunno if Thug and Jay are just lazy, bored wasted or just fucking funny. Probably all of the above. Florida Water is from Young Thug & Bloody Jay's 2014 gem Black Portland.

Young Thug & Bloody Jay's Florida Water made me wanna listen to this. I dunno if there's a connection or if my brain's just on random. Anyway this is an Ariel Pink classic from Mature Themes, I wish this song would go for an hour. I just can't get enough.

What's Goin On?

These are the main reasons I've not been posting much this year. I have a computer that's busted. I have 2 cd players that aren't working and a turntable that needs a new stylus. I can play tapes and my i-pod through the stereo but that's about it. I'm not in the zone for writing about music and culture. It doesn't feel right doing it on another computer where all my files aren't. I have the new Umberto album but I can't find it so no comment there. I've been listening to Trick Or Treat, the LP Ariel Pink did with VDO (some Mutant Sounds folk) under the name Shits & Giggles pre 4AD signing. Also just discovered Marcus's 1978 LP From The House Of Trax. Another new discovery is Nuts & Co's Kangouruo LP from like 1984. I have to thank the awesome Mutant Sounds once again for alerting me to these last 2. They do have their problems over there though with Rapidshare and stuff which I hope gets all sorted. I tried to download 6 things but I only got 2. They're still the best! I even started reading David Toop's Ocean Of Sound which has been on my shelf for years and I've never been in the mood to read it!  Hopefully Cardrossmaniac2 (ab)normality will be resumed soon.

2012-A Look Back Part 1

2012

Possibly my worst year as a human being. I did become an Uncle again twice! Yin & Yang. Anyway on with the lists. Well you probably know how much lists get on my nerves by now, so c'mon here's your chance to whinge about mine. Leave a comment. Be nice. Be offensive. Be whatever you want to be. These are not ranked you know, it's not sport. This is just 20 of my favourite Albums of the year.

The Top 20+

The Fog Signals - The Ghosts of Bush House
Resonant reverberations. Who would have thought you could make a compelling record from a building? You can really picture this boffin with mini tape recorder and mike in hand saying "Quick lets get the sound of that floorboard on tape.' Creaks, horns, voices, rusty lifts, wind, squeaks all chime for Mr Fog's tape recorder. Excellent gear.

Ix Tab - Spindle & Bregnut Tree
erie, dank, majickly psychedelic and enchanting. It's getting dark in the forrest, you've become disorientated. Are you gonna make it out?

Swans - The Seer

Does it get any better than Swans in full epic flight?

No.

At their peak again.

Who would have tipped they'd be making the best record of 2012?

No one.

Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

Incomprehensible drunk, incomprehensible madness or incomprehensible genius?

Or all of the above. He has developed his own musical language and is honing it to almost accessible listenability.

Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Games

Just when people were ready to write off GhostBox (the record label) along comes a record to say that isn't going to happen. This one creeps up on you like a stalker (the one it's soundtracking). Then it's in your albums of the year. Perhaps more horrological than Hauntological.

Fabulous Diamonds - Commercial Music

Awesome drones, the coolest drumming and words I don't think I really wanna know. This has a cult like vibe. There is something deliciously wrong (so right) about Commercial Music.

Dave Graney & The MistLY - You've Been On My Mind

Just when you thought rock was dead and gone, unexpectedly Dave makes a rock album. Not only that, it's fuckin great. The soundtrack to wandering empty country town streets alone at 1.30 am and driving in the Australian summer at dusk with the windows down.

Outer Space - Akashic Record (Events: 1986-1990)

For those of you not diggin the new Emeralds record. No need to fear John Elliot's other group went out onto Saturn's rings and bought this back for your pleasure.

BEBETUNE$ - inhale C-4 $$$$$

I don't know if this is a mixtape, plunderphonics or all new material made by James Ferraro. 5th world soundz from a futuristic metropolis. This maze of plastic, neon, digital and HD is all put through the Ferraro warp machine for one bad trip that keeps you coming back for more.

Panabrite - Soft Terminal/Blue Grotto/The Baroque Atrium

This trio of albums was in my life to soothe, calm and rejuvenate me with its Utopian vistas and wombedelia. Then put these records at a loud volume and they can be quite the opposite ie. dark, strange and slightly dread inducing. Then through headphones they reveal that this ain't no ambient/new age dross. The compositions are put together with great thought and care. This isn't synth music on autopilot. Subtly sublime.

Bataille Solaire - Baal Shamash Et Son Char Celeste

They remained a mystery to me. I didn't come across one article on them or seek one out. I liked the mystique. Church organs and synths drifting through labyrinths and wormholes. Soundz from the cosmos that drift into black holes, through the asteroid belt and back again. This was a voyage to strap yourself in for. Hynagogia lives.

Lazerhawk - Visitors

This album had similar sort of influences as Daft Punk's Discovery. You know like AOR, funk, disco, metal, 80s soundtracks etc. Add a little horror and you are almost there. But unlike Daft Punk they didn't put it through the now/house/trance ringer, they just left it as is. Fun, good times and neat tunes. Retrolicious.

Gary War - Jared's Lot

This was like the world had blown up in 1982. Then in 2012 aliens landed. In an old bunker they found a bunch of records including Kraftwerk, Chrome, Ilitch, ELO & Durutti Column. They also salvaged a malfunctioning turntable and ELO's robot. When these aliens got back to their planet they started a groop. Their repertoire was retro electro human rock. The little aliens loved it. The robot sang on a couple of tracks but his batteries were running low. They thought it was great anyway.

Human Teenager - Animal Husbandry

See above.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes

More deliriously addictive pop from the pint size pop master. He's made the pop album of the year again.

Lee Gamble - Diversions 1994-1996
Deep spacious electronics leaving an emptiness that is evocative of the aforementioned era without actually sounding like the jungle pirate tapes that are apparently the source material. Memoredelia.

Dolphins Into The Future - A Star Maker, Strange Dreams & Clairvoyance
Dolphins come back strong in 2012 with some of their most out there music to date. I can see/hear scuttling sea creatures, palm tree jungles, underwater song, neon squids and mysterious deep sea disco fish. Put on The Blue Planet: episode 2, The Deep, turn the sound down and crank up the Dolphins. With a little help from your friends, the good times will roll.

Ekoplekz - Intrusive Incidentalz Vol 2/Mildew Riddims/Skalectrikz
Mutant machine music. How can all of this be so good? Three and a half hours of deliciously deranged dubby electronic noise for the end of dayz. Clank, clatter and squelchy splatter. 

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Motion Sickness of Time Travel
MOTT make immersive echoing electronic drift from the heavens. Sometimes this aquatic pulsating music has a womb like vibe and at other times it's a little ominous. Ethereal vocals send this into almost holy territory. In 2012 it didn't get more beautiful than this.

Sand Circles - Motor City
It's 2am....you fill in the rest. Choose from these words - driving, cruising, cityscape, lonely, bewildered, lost, lights, tunnels, urban, roads etc. There is something allusive about Sand Circles soundtrack for night city cruising that sets them ahead of the pack. Totally irresistible.

The other bewdies

• Umberto - Night Has a Thousand Screams
• Miami Nights 1984 - Turbulance
• LX Sweat - Sweat, Sweat, Sweat
• Mark Van Hoen - The Revenant Diary
• Actress - RIP
• Dolphins Into The Future - Canto Arquepeligo
• Belbury Poly - The Belbury Tales
• Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury - Drokk
• Inner Tube - S/T
• Bassnectar - Vava Voom
• Moon Wiring Club - Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets
• Future - Pluto

Controversy

Created a little controversy on Twitter and over at The Quietus all about Ariel Pink. I just think he's had all these theories thrust upon him and in one interview was quite frustrated by it all saying he just wrote songs whether they were retro, now or future he couldn't care less. Finally got the vinyl of Ariel's Mature Themes today and there is a lyric sheet but I have not read it yet. Geneva Jacuzzi co wrote Kinski Assassin with Ariel which I didn't know. I may check out out what he says about North Korea in Farewell American Primitive but that's about it.

*Listening to Lucifer by Peaking Lights I was thinking they sound like no one else really which is incredible  in this day and age, but there was one tune on the last record that had a little keyboard interlude (of like 25 seconds) that had me flashing on Laika's Sound Of Satellites record. Then there is another one on Lucifer which had me thinkn very vaguely of Moonshake/Laika, all very tenuous links. Like saying someones similar because they use the same guitar. They are very allusive group! You kind of think surely there's been 10 groups like this before but there haven't.

**Been listening to both the Gary War LP and The Human Teenager one and they are both fantastic. The way they try to be Chrome but just end up sounding like a kids version which is even better because we've already had one Chrome. I think it's pop music. Gary's Pleading For Annihalation could be from a prime era Chrome LP. This Ilitch 10 Suicides record that I only discovered this year seems to have been a secret influence on a lot of this American underground stuff. I think I said at the time Oneohtrix Point Never must be a fan and you can add Gary War and Oneohtrix and War collaborator Taylor Richardson as fans. Then I put on Lamborghini Crystal's Roach Motel and well they got a little closer to Chrome's dementia and Human Teenager were probably listening. Fuck me Roach Motel is one of Ferraro's best efforts, really grimy (not in the D.Rascal sense) and mental.

Chrome-A couple of funny guys.



2008 Classic
Roach Motel - Lamborghini Crystal



Ariel Pink/The Quietus

Fuckin young journo wannabees, how annoying are they? This Joe Kenedy over at The Quietus who reviewed the Ariel Pink Mature Themes LP  was so off  the mark I nearly fell off my chair. I couldn't give a fuck about cultural theorising. I like Ariel Pink because of his music which is mostly fuckin' great. It sounds good to my eardrums! My eardrums like it a lot. Joe do you like sounds in your eardrums or just theorising about stuff to try and get a name for yourself ? My brain says to my eardrums or vice versa, 'Mature Themes again please!' and so I put it on again. That's how listening works for me. I imagine this is how it works for others as well. In on a joke? Are you being paranoid about missing the point? What joke? Snore! Wow you slagged off Ariel Pink, feel better now. Why did I even read this review? Because usually I check The Quietus to see if the great David Stubbs has done anything lately. Joe I can't foresee you joining the ranks of such greats but you are a knob just not a great knob.

*'a knob' is a David Stubbs tongue

Pink References

Joe Jackson

This is quite good i'spose. I can't tell if it's offensive or not. Who cares?

Real Men

The Go-Betweens

Spring Rain

Ariel you're not the only one using that guitar sound as a reference point. Hello Dick Diver, Real Estate  et al.  At least AP's not basing a career on it.  I always liked it when they both sang on the same song. They should have done it more!  Err.......Rob & Grant that is.

Ariel Pink's Mature Themes part 37

What the fuck is he on about in Kinski Assassain?

'Australian made something or other'
'Suicide dumplings dropping testicle bombs'
'Bring on the bogan she-males hopped up on meth'

I know he spent some time in Australia this year but even I don't know about bogan she-males!

When i finally get a physical copy of this record I hope there is no lyric sheet. I like the mystery. Something on Before Today was ruined because I read the lyrics in the cover. Anyway then there is the title track Mature Themes which sounds to me like a Joe Jackson song if Joe was good, maybe he was, I only know that one radio song. What is it? Real Men which always seemed a bit wrong to me can't remember why. Does it say something about fags? Anyway Ariel's version I suspect is a bit dodgy too.

'I wanna talk about Mature Things/Taboo things.'

God knows what he wants to talk about and maybe I'd rather not know. Maybe he should have called The LP Taboo Things. On one of the tracks I think he says something about the bad breath of a cross eyed goat. Seriously I haven't dropped acid and well I didn't know it was back in fashion and seemingly readily available on the streets in LA. God knows what Pink Slime is about. What does he say about North Korea in Farewell American Primitive and what the fuck is it about? I like not knowing and just chuckin in my own theories. And fuck me if it's not Robert Forster guitaring on some tracks or whoever played guitar on The Go-Betweens Spring Rain. The ghost of Grant McLennan for all I know and it wouldn't surprise me. He could do entire albums of shit like Nostradamus & Me or slow Jamz like Baby and I would lap it up. I am starting to think it's better than Before Today just maybe.                                        

Blah....

*Pre-Fab Hearts by The Reels was a single for Polygram in 1979 and it was the follow up to their debut single. So Quasimodo's Dream was 2 years after that and their 2nd LP, with Beautifull being the 3rd. Right!

**Alan Lamb was the experimental telephone wires guy and had this record Primal Image. There might be another one but I don't have that.

***Wasn't there a cricketer called Alan Lamb in the 80s?

****Thought I'd mention Ariel Pink again just to say that perhaps Mature Themes is better than Before Today, just maybe.

*****Probably the last issue of Smash Hits I ever bought was this one with Michael Hutchence on the cover and it was a special on the filming of Dogs In Space. Anyway I remember there was a little article on the little bands scene. Then thought 'what there's more people like The Primitive Calculators? That's fucking mental!!' Suffice to say first time I ever heard of Too Fat To Fit Through The Door and Thrush & The Cunts. The later turning up in the movie singing diseases. This was in Smash Hits. I wish I still had that copy, I remember holding onto it for a while. It didn't end up in the incinerator with the rest of The Countdowns & Smash Hits. Although some articles were removed before their fiery death only to die somewhere else later on.

******How about incinerators and that we used to just burn everything!

******* "a rats toss bag" was a Malcolm Blight tongue.

More Ariel Pink

Just read The Wire cover story on Ariel Pink and loved it. Well done Nick but you seem to think there were only 3 records previous to Before Today as well as Thrash and Burn, the early experiments, which I must admit I have rarely listened to but you know there was Sacred Famous, Lover Boy, FF>> etc. which are, I reckon, just as good as the ones released on Paw Tracks but always seem to miss getting attention in articles on Ariel. Don't worry AP  you won't be getting a soundcloud track sent to you from me. You are a Star! The best thing from LA since Arthur Lee and just as awesome.

LA's Finest

LA's finest
Old Skool

Mature Themes Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

So I think they have or are going to release Baby as the first single. Disappointingly it's not Tina Turner on backing vocal but an impersonator. I liked not knowing and having that fantasy of Tina and Ariel gettin down and dirty in some seedy studio in LA.  Baby is a fuckn great song and may even get airplay. It's a cover apparently. Anyway I was listening to the album again and thought 'What else could be a single?' Only In My Dreams has already been a free download. The catchiest song on the record and really should be the next single in the perfect world would be Symphony of The Nymph. That is a classic pop song but I just can't see it gettin commercial airplay with mentions of lesbians, nymphomaniacs, colonoscopies  and Ariel referring to himself as a lesbian, a MILF or a Nymph or whatever...... We live in a sad world if this cannot be a hit! But you never know Lou's Walk On The Wild Side was a hit. Katy Perry can kiss a girl and we liked it. Fingers crossed!

Just another normal night in with Ariel

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

Here's the only track off the new LP that I can find on the youtubes, it reminds me a little of The Go-Betweens well instrumentally anyway because nobody sings like Ariel does. Just listening to the album again and is it Tina Turner on Baby? I'm thinking now these tracks could've been recorded anywhere between The Doldrums and Before Today. It's more upfront in it's new waviness ie. not swathed in so much hiss or noise but also not as overtly Hi-Fi or reverby as Before Today.

*What I meant by it not being his In Utero (Nirvana's follow up to Nevermind) is that he wasn't trying to go back to street cred/noncommercial roots due to a loss of nerve ala Cobain Stylee. You know second guessing himself and all that and being torn between mainstream and indie culture. I don't think Before Today sold that many units for Ariel to be having such an artistic/existential dilemma of this kind. It was probably good in the end that it wasn't his Nevermind (Before Today that is) now.

*And what I meant by it not being Ariel's Dirty (SYs 2nd major label LP) Sonic Youth's follow up to Goo their first  LP for a major label. On Dirty is where Sonic Youth went off with budgets and production and everything. They went OTT and it was a brilliant move but a hard one to come back from. I think at the time time Thurston was calling it their Aerosmith LP. They had the opportunity to make a massive budget album so they just said why the fuck not?! Ariel going way more Hi-Fi would have been good too or ending up with something like a Tusk (Fleetwood Mac's follow up to the multi-platinum Rumours) which was great but weird and well Mr Pink already ticks those boxes.

*I had this whole theory a couple of years ago now that Before Today was his Nevermind. But instead of him pilfering from ten years of the whole of the American underground you know Flipper, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Wipers, Mission of Burma, Black Flag, Scratch Acid, Big Black, Dinosaur Jnr, Meat Puppets, UK Post Punk and Metal, that Ariel Just pilfered from his own 10 years (at least) of underground activities as he really was the only happening thing in the US in the 00s bar a couple of misc. artists. I really thought that's what Before Today was his very own Nevermind. You know a cleaned up radio friendly version of the past 10 years for the masses to consume in vast quantities. Then when he was on Jimmy Fallon I thought yeah he's gonna do it! It was weird after like 8 or 9 records that all of a sudden someone was willing to throw money at him. He was nearly forgotten then all these acolytes turned up, swarms of them, and putting out good records as well (just before the signing/recording of Before Today). I had all these other parallels that I can't remember now something about gender issues Rape Me/Menopause Man similarities, the effeminate, being a female identified male heterosexual........... was the gist of it. So maybe it was happening in reverse-now there's going to be ten years of other groups underground activities inspired by A.Pink (we'd already be in our 4th or 5th year anyhow) I don't know how many units he shifted of his last LP. I suppose he got halfway......well probably not even that far. You know what they say in showbiz 'better to be lukewarm than hot.' He's always been hot with me but you know what I mean?

There were even image parallels. That's Ariel not Kurt!

*When I said his other classic 8 I meant from The Doldrums onwards including Oddities Sodomies Vol 1. & The Holy Shit EP. Haunted Graffiti 1:Underground is good but it's not in the same league as the rest.

Stereeolab/Ariel Pink

I just noticed on the blogosphere some group claiming Stereolab to be a big influence on their new LP wow was I ahead of my time by 10 seconds or what? Well I didn't mean it. I'm not sure of the move here with Ariel, this new LP could have been recorded anywhere between House Arrest & Worn Copy really. It's neither his In Utero nor his Dirty. There are no coordinates with Mr Pink and who needs em. I'm loving this great new LP as much as the other great 8. Particularly Nostradamus & Me, Schnitzel Boogie, Symphony of The Nymph and Farewell American Primitive er......and the rest.

Ariel Pink/Gary War

Just scored these two it's like fucking Christmas! Let's hope it's a good Christmas. Very Excitement!

Gary War's new LP! I loved his previous one and this years

collaboration as Human Teenager. Cant wait to hear this!

Jared's Lot is its title

Mature Themes is the most anticipated LP in living memory, probably since Before Today (for me anyhow). 3/4 of the way through my first listen it sounds very good. Perhaps not as Hi-Fi as Before Today and on some tracks his vocals are quite upfront. Can he do it? Can he top the best LP of 2010s?.....er.....that being the one he released before this one. I've gotta get up early but now I'm too excited. How old am I? Is that Tina Turner guesting on the last track Baby? I think he Ariel and his Haunted Graffiti have done it again.