LA’s Ariel Pink floats in a pink gelatinous pipe organ in the sky and makes tripped out music. [VIDEO INTERVIEW]
Lots of bands say their sound is unique, but then we you listen to their music they actually sound like Lennard Skynyrd, that one 80′s electro band or Pearl Jam.
That’s not the case with LA’s Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. In fact, trying to describe Ariel Pink’s music is like trying to explain a surreal dream you had the other night: You start off in a room in your house and end up naked on a beach on Jupiter with dolphins serving you glitter-filled shellfish of unicorn’s breath-and then you’re at your brother’s violin recital with that one chick from Tacodeli while floating on sunbeams.
Wow-reading that may have been closer to describing Ariel Pink’s sound than I’ll be able to do, but let me give it a shot: Did y’all ever go to raves and watch the visuals? It’d start off with a 70′s early morning cartoon, and then they’d layer on an image of a ferris wheel and then inverse reflect that while mixing in midget porn into Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers dancing backwards-and it WORKED with the music. Similarly, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti layers together sounds that incorporate everything from 80′s yacht rock to 70′s commercial jingles to no wave-like funk to surf rock to Seattle garage rock from the 60′s. And it WORKS.
- LISTEN: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - “Beverly Kills” from the album Before Today
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Part of what carries it together is Ariel Pink himself. And while he may be working with a full band now, ultimately it’s his mind that weaves these beautiful sonic strands together into a cohesive aural tapestry. One part Kurt Cobain and one part Courtney Love, he truly is an interesting fellow.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - “Bright Lit Blue Skies” Video
His set at Fun Fun Fun Fest proved, to me, that he could rock. The more funk and rock aspects stood out, helping to unify the sound across his albums and shine a light on his vision.
After the set, we caught up with Ariel to shoot our video interview. His publicist introduced us to him and Ariel responded with: “What am I, Santa Claus? Does everyone just want to come up here and sit on my lap?” I told him I’d stand. He proceeded to light one up. And we had what could be referred to as one of the most amazingly tripped out rock-n-roll interviews in my 4-year history of interviewing peeps.
- WATCH: In the 2-minute video, below, find out how Ariel describes his sound. Here’s a hint: Raggedy Ann, yellow glitter, clown faces and pasta.
Sometimes you have to figure out how to connect with the person you are interviewing. For Ariel, I enjoyed letting my childlike wonder run wild. For the record, I truly love this beautiful being with all my heart.
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You two are adorable… noodle away!
Thanks, Mary!
2 minutes with Ariel Pink and the best question you had for him was, Don’t you think your music is more of a turquoise? Where are your interviewing skills man? I wanted some actual understanding of what the hell he’s doing up there.
Sorry, but I think you completely missed the point of the interview. If you listen to his response, you’ll see exactly what he’s doing up there. If you need it spelled out for you, you’re probably trying too hard to understand the music and not actually experiencing anything.
So…we aren’t supposed to understand what the band is about musically? And their performance at Fun Fun Fun Fest? Sounds like you were trying to get in the head space of Ariel Pink and show that you know what his music is all about, and you came off like an idiot. Deep down, Chris Apollo Lynn wants to wear silver moon boots and drink the sweat of glitter crusted unicorns while sucking hot sauce from a taco deli servers navel who happens to be…dressed in turquoise…and floating on sunbeams..I think I just threw up in my mouth a bit.
Wooo hoo! You really want that troll of the year.
I have enough faith that my readers 1. can listen to the music contained in the post and come to their own conclusions and 2. google to find out answers to all the traditional questions. Either you get my interview style, or you don’t.
I let Ariel explain what his music was like on his own. I think he did a great job. Don’t like it, start your own blog-oh, and get an interview with Ariel Pink.