Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Scared Famous"

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Politely Declined (Human Ear Music 2007)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Scared Famous / Human Ear Music

Ariel Marcus Rosenberg aka Ariel Pink is one of the most baffling figures in music. Just large enough for freak-folks the world over to know him, but just small enough to still be something of a secret, Rosenberg has built a weird aura of strange 70s soundtracks and lo-fi, vinyl-ripped 80s TV jingles. He's a master of melody and a bard of bubbly psych-pop, but still he lingers on the fringes even of the more aware.

Maybe a new album in 2008 will change that. For now, we'll have to be content with 17 songs culled from the beautifully mysterious period that surrounds his first full-length release, 2002's House Arrest. Now given that Ariel Pink records his damaged tapes at an insanely prolific rate, it should be pointed out that Scared Famous has already been released in a different format: 2002 also saw the release of a double album, Scared Famous/FF, that had 19 songs on the Scared Famous side to this CD's 17. Even though Haunted Graffiti is the only Ariel Pink incarnation that has seen official commercial release, the reshuffling of the Scared Famous set and the omission of the equally fascinating FF is somewhat bizarre. Perhaps Rosenberg and the lo-fi legend that accompanied him during these recordings, R. Stevie Moore, felt that this would be a better presentation to the masses.

All I know is that this leaner, meaner, round and plastic version of Scared Famous might arguably be better than the original. "Gopacapulco" was originally buried late in the tracklisting; now it opens the album on a bouncy note that wouldn't sound out of place in the late-60s. Every reaction to every Ariel Pink song is pretty much the same: How can this have been made by a Beverly Hills High class of '96 graduate at the turn of the millennium? Yet this is part of the analog magic as the tape gets beaten up and the fuzz muddies the recordings. It's a far cry from the crystalline production of modern pop.

But all of these songs, from "Are You Gonna Look After My Boys?" to "The List (My Favorite Song)," have their own quirks and moments that make not just this album but Ariel Pink's output in general so endearing. I find it difficult to think of someone roving the same territory at the moment, other than the other five members of his newly minted live band. It doesn't matter that each song runs roughly four minutes and after a short while you begin to learn the nuances of the drum machine: You're sucked in because these songs are so fundamentally good. They are built for success in a sonic environment that encourages anything but.

The reason this review is so short is that I don't think I can shed any more light on Ariel Pink than the music can. In this case, I'll choose to make it short and let the selection do most of the talking. Scared Famous is a nice refresher as to why people love this guy in the first place, but I'll be more interested to see what's in store for 2008. Odds are that it will be more of the gloriously gritty avant-pop that Rosenberg has made his name on. Scared famous? Hardly. Ariel Pink has never sounded more unprepared for the big-time. Bring it on.