I’ve always seen Ariel Pink as the Rauschenberg of late 2000s’ hypnagogic boom. Not only because of the chronological precedence (The Doldrums came out nine years before the glow/chill craze of 2009), but the abysmal difference between the qualities of Pink’s music and that of his imitators and heirs. A bit like what happened with some pop art, articulated following Rauschenberg’s antiartistic Combine Paintings, but in reality just riffing on its most superficial signifiers. So, imagine a lithographed Lichtenstein when listening to the late-2000s bands that embraced Pink’s music’s hedonistic vacuity, commercial pop nostalgia, and slumbered memories, but missed its absurdist-pop heart.
Last September, completing his decade-long transition from outsider pop savant to Paw Tracks protégé and unlikely indie darling, Ariel Pink announced his third album, pom pom, a double LP produced by Kim Fowley and due November 18 via 4AD, as you may remember. Little over a month from its release date, Pink has shared the album’s second single, “Black Ballerina.” But do not be fooled; Pink is not ready to pull a Degas on us, extending the previous paragraph’s pictorial analogy, but most importantly the rosy, near jangle pop of pom pom’s first cut “Put Your Number in My Phone”: “Black Ballerina” is a freaky jam about going to a topless bar. Certainly, a song that manages to strike an odd balance between the gnarly pop of Pink’s cassette years and the performatic, longer pieces of 2012’s Mature Themes. You can stream “Black Ballerina” below.
Aware of how much a track like this would spark our interest, Pink has also announced his 2015 North American tour dates, which you can check out after the vid.
Tour dates:
11.17.14 - London, UK - Scala
11.28.14 - Los Angeles, CA - Regent Theater
01.24.15 - Melbourne, Australia - Sugar Mountain Festival
01.25.15 - Brisbane, Australia - Brisbane Show
01.28.15 - Sydney, Australia - Oxford Arts Factory
01.29.15 - Perth, Australia - The Bakery
02.07.15 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo’s
02.09.15 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne
02.10.15 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s
02.11.15 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw
02.13.15 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
02.14.15 - Denver, CO - Bluebird
02.16.15 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line
02.17.15 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
02.18.15 - Detroit, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
02.19.15 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix
02.20.15 - Montreal, PQ - National
02.21.15 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
02.23.15 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
02.24.15 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
02.25.15 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
• Ariel Pink: http://ariel-pink.com
• 4AD: http://www.4ad.com
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