Welcome to October, or as some like to call it, Rocktober. It’s a fun month for music, what with a wide array of great shows as part of the fall concert season, along with the last real month of great album releases as the year winds down. Looking back with fondness on some of the excellent records already released in 2010, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti finally struck it (indie) big with their new record “Before Today”. The whole thing is a fascinating pastiche of lo-fi aesthetics and David Bowie-esque mania, and it’s relatively easy to understand why many have latched onto it. That same impression is just a little bit lost in translation when it comes to this week’s Live Friday session. There’s no auto-lo-fi filter attached to these in-studio recordings, so they’re a bit clearer here than on record. And while Ariel is there with a couple of his bandmates, they’re not able to bring everyone in with every instrument, meaning this is just a little “stripped down” from the norm for them. Perhaps that’s only why they performed two songs, both of which can be classified as good but not quite as amazing as they should be. My impression might just be a little bit skewed though upon having listened to these songs surrounded by an interview with Ariel. Most of the indie community comes off as relatively good and humble people, but Ariel Rosenberg in this situation does not seem like one of them. Pompous and pretentious asshole is one way of describing his behavior when talking about his “process” and how his main goal is to make as much money as possible with his music. Apparently he more than believes his own hype, though the prospect that he’s going to make much if any money with the band almost seems silly given the state of the music industry today. Ah well, he certainly does stand out from the crowd with both his music and his personality, so you can’t really fault him for that even if it is very off-putting. This session is at the very least interesting to hear both on the good and bad sides of things, so if you’re at all intrigued, you may want to download these couple tracks.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Live on WXPN 9-22-10:
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Every Night I Die At Miyagi’s (Live on WXPN)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Bright Lit Blue Skies (Live on WXPN)
