Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Before Today
Ariel Pink's audience has been growing over the last several albums of shambolic, four-track pop zaniness, to the point that Before Today's release was met with feverish fanfare (and a feature in the L.A. Times). Part of that excitement was stoked by teaser single "Round and Round," which found Ariel Pink exploiting more sophisticated recording methods and delivering one of the most deliriously fun songs of recent memory.
"Round and Round," perhaps expectedly, is the best song on the album, though there are several other would-be contenders. "Fright Night (Nevermore)" features tacky-chic synthesizers and a melody that is simultaneously stupid, hilarious, and awesome. "Beverly Kills" is catchy, coming across like a lost hit from an ’80s cop movie soundtrack, while "Bright Lit Blue Skies" sounds like a distortion-free version of an early Misfits classic.
The only confounding song is "Butt House Blondies," an overwrought mess that is kind of just idiotic. It's a minor misstep, and viewed differently perhaps contributes to the overall fusing of low and highbrow culture on the album. Pink's ability to encapsulate both the pretty and ugly aspects of his hometown of L.A. is part of what makes Before Today such an interesting listen.
- Album: Before Today (2010)
- Artist: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
- Label: 4AD
- Songs: (1) Hot Body Rub (2) Bright Lit Blue Skies (3) L'estat (4) Fright Night (Nevermore) (5) Round and Round (6) Beverly Kills (7) Butt House Blondies (8) Little Wig (9) Can't Hear My Eyes (10) Reminiscenes (11) Menopause Man (12) Revolution's a Lie
Here's something you might be interested in.
Before Today
Before Today
Ariel Pink's audience has been growing over the last several albums of shambolic, four-track pop zaniness, to the point that Before Today's release was met with feverish fanfare (and a feature in the L.A. Times). Part of that excitement was stoked by teaser single "Round and Round," which found Ariel Pink exploiting more sophisticated recording methods and delivering one of the most deliriously fun songs of recent memory.
"Round and Round," perhaps expectedly, is the best song on the album, though there are several other would-be contenders. "Fright Night (Nevermore)" features tacky-chic synthesizers and a melody that is simultaneously stupid, hilarious, and awesome. "Beverly Kills" is catchy, coming across like a lost hit from an ’80s cop movie soundtrack, while "Bright Lit Blue Skies" sounds like a distortion-free version of an early Misfits classic.
The only confounding song is "Butt House Blondies," an overwrought mess that is kind of just idiotic. It's a minor misstep, and viewed differently perhaps contributes to the overall fusing of low and highbrow culture on the album. Pink's ability to encapsulate both the pretty and ugly aspects of his hometown of L.A. is part of what makes Before Today such an interesting listen.
- Album: Before Today (2010)
- Artist: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
- Label: 4AD
- Songs: (1) Hot Body Rub (2) Bright Lit Blue Skies (3) L'estat (4) Fright Night (Nevermore) (5) Round and Round (6) Beverly Kills (7) Butt House Blondies (8) Little Wig (9) Can't Hear My Eyes (10) Reminiscenes (11) Menopause Man (12) Revolution's a Lie