Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

Indie rock'’s current wunderkind is Ariel Pink. If you haven’t heard of him you’ve been living a pretty isolated existence or haven’t bothered to pick up any newspaper or music industry publication for the past year; because lately it seems like everyone, mainstream and countercultural alike, wants a piece of Ariel. LA Weekly included him in their “class of ’05,” Fader was “charmed” by him, Spin named him to their “ten best albums you didn’t hear” and “bands to watch” lists and the accolades go on and on.

No one is more surprised than 27 year old Ariel Rosenberg a.k.a. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. The California born and raised “home taper” has been recording incessantly for more than ten years on an old Yamaha 8-track, playing all the instruments himself and making up for his lack of percussion accompaniment by producing the sounds with his mouth. The result? Catchy, addictive music with fantastic pop sensibility.

His latest re-release on Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks label is House Arrest, a collection of songs he recorded on his MT8X Yamaha 8-track cassette between October 2001 and June 2002. It’s fantastic, the best I’ve ever heard him. And don’t let the lo-fi fool you; this isn’t a musician who cites some theoretical or political rationale for his made-at-home, arts and crafts style. It is the result of a particular quandary that Pink has been struggling with for ten years: either make music this way or don’t make music at all. We can all be happy that he chose the former. And I have the feeling, with all the attention he’s been getting over the past year, he won’t have to be recording at home for long.

I had the opportunity to chat on the phone with the extremely humble and very talkative Pink on December 13.

So, I've been listening to the new album, it's fantastic, I'm totally addicted to it. It makes my walk to work in the morning way more enjoyable. Your lyrics seem very personal. Do you get your inspiration from your own experiences and your own life?

Ya, kinda ya. It's more vague than that. I try not to think about the lyrics too hard. If I think about it I just end up dwelling on it. You have to write lyrics for the song, you just let it flow, chuck reason to the wind. Generally I write the music before the lyrics, a lot of times the hook will come to me with lyrics in tact, but then it kinda gives you just sets the mood of the song, sets the lyrical contact.

Do you make your music for yourself, as your own personal expression, or do you consider what others will think when you make it?

I don't think about the larger audience, there wasn't an audience. If I think about it I have to stop. I like that people like what I've done, I'm grateful that people like it. It's pretty amazing. I'm really very surprised that people like it.

Why are you surprised?

I just know from history, a lot of artists that have innovated and forged there own way, have spent many, many, many, many years of their lives totally unacknowledged. In keeping with that, I was expecting the same. I set myself up to be misunderstood, which would have been a sign that I was doing something right.

Were you surprised that Spin was really supportive of you music?

Totally, and I didn't have to [sellout] either. Somebody did, but it wasn't me. I don't even know who it was. It's not that big of deal. I just don't know who to thank.

How much does living in California influence your music?

Shit, I don't know what's it's like to be from the East Coast, I don't like what's it's like to be my sister, or my neighbour. If I were to go to New York now, I would probably still write from the west coast perspective for a couple of weeks and once I got acclimated I would write from the east coast mentality.

Trying to hone my own style escapes me. You can never repeat yourself as much as you try. I can't make the same music that I made when I was twenty even if I tried. I try to make sure that I'm not in control in what I'm doing at any given moment. I grow and learn, not acknowledging what is going on.

How central is the production of the music to what you're trying to achieve? Would you record in a big studio if you had the chance?

I'm trying to set that up right now, different is you know big budget, different from my situation, economy wise, I could very well um if the opportunity vanished without a trace, I would still have my eight track I'm lucky I got to do something that most people like save up, work up, to get a computer, to get the gear to produce there three songs, to submit for funding. I was lucky to bypass that whole process by saying in effect fuck it, I have a piece of shit mic from Radio Shack. It's a misconception to think of my thing as a deliberate fucking up of the sound. It's ludicrous, nobody is born with a fucking SSL console on their back.

I can't amplify because it's [the recording] done at night when generally people sleep. It lends a restriction to the production end, all these things are important, but not in the sense the most important, I do my best. I try to learn, how to do that stuff as I go, I don't even know what I'm going for all the time. If I don't know what I'm doing than I'm less likely to repeat myself and sell out. I wanna like change and evolve. I kinda just hone stuff to constantly change, but like I'm not really a musician.

Why don't you consider yourself a musician?

Uh, I don't know, ok, scratch that, I'm totally a musician. I'm pure musician. I make music I don't just play an instrument.

Who are your major musical influences?

Ok, lets start with the foundations. Michael Jackson, I've been listening to him since I was born, the initial years of MTV new wave, even shit music like Madonna, my sister listened to that. These days, my heroes, the people I think like fuck man I just really respect, are Stevie Moore, Harry Marry out in the field with me, a peer more or less and he's just doing amazing things that blows my mind, John's Mouth, Bubonic Plague, Zoogz Rift, these are my friends. Um, Robert Smith, The Cure, I love The Cure to death. I idolize Robert Smith to death, um, everybody, giant Myspace sections, I don't know just everything. I'm just a fucking fan, I'm a trekkie with music, I'm a total dork, I read all the garbage on it

The Animal Collective guys they fucking saved my life, they couldn't be nicer dudes either. The fact that I wasn't even soliciting them, I wasn't even looking for that when I gave them my CD. I passed my stuff around and they were like we'd like to put you out. Those guys are like my fucking heroes and the fact that they've been around as long as they have the way they do it is almost is revolutionary, they kept it pure.

Do you listen to any commercial music?

Occasionally I like a song on the radio but not too often, you never know, I'm not opposed to commercial music at all I just really want it to happen. I think with most commercial bands there are better sources, and you can go to the source, but that's bullshit too, everybody's entitled to their expression.

How do you feel about the Frank Zappa comparisons?

I can see the comparison, ya I mean I can see that but I'm certainty not I'm way more of a like I don't know how to play my instruments like he did, I'm closer to the Shaggs which he championed, I just try to make pop music as tight as I can, I have limitations ability wise. I think a close spirit would be uhhhhh I don't know Robert Smith, more than Frank Zappa.

Will you be touring behind this album?

Ya it doesn't look like that's going to end. I'm kinda burnt out on it. You're not supposed to wine about it. Lucky me, it's impossible to conceive of uh it's hard to have people even give a shit if you don't tour, if I had it my way I would be the lazy bum that I am. But no one would want to endorse that, it's too much of a risk.

What can we expect from your next album?

I'd like to produce in a studio, I'd like to figure out a situation where I can live in the studio, I have to literally live in the studio. It looks like it will happen it's just a matter of when. There is a timeline that I have to adhere to now, all this attention. The album will be an effective debut as everything that has been released so far has been previously released. The slightest amount of reputation creates all this pressure that I have to figure out how I can completely stay clear of. I'm not in a rush. It can take me forever. It's ok.

I probably already had my golden era, what I would consider one. I'm like a Nazi like that, like Robert Smith 1979-1982 when he was 21 years old had his golden era. I'm over the hump. For better for worse you have to do it how you want rather than what people think. Robert Smith can make a thousand bad albums and I won't care. People listen to too many different artists these days, but like for real, they get so into bands momentarily they have no loyalty, they'll quickly shrug off any mention of them.

I don’t think people will be shrugging off Ariel Pink quite so easily. His latest re-release, House Arrest, will be available January 24.

http://www.arielpink.com/

Stephanie Rebick