NME called his oeuvre “the work of a unique mind,” which is like half a compliment, half the way a perplexed teacher tries to explain to anxious parents that their little darling has been drawing pictures of angry vampires mass-murdering the entire drive-thru line at the In-N-Out Burger in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Except for the only thing Ariel Pink is killing is our preconceived notion of what pop music should sound like! Hey now!!!!!
And so Los Angeles’ most mighty purveyor of freak pop trudges onward, carrying his burden from city to city, all in the hopes of enlightening the people. This spring he’s touring in support of last summer’s critically be-drooled-over second record for 4AD, Mature Themes (TMT Review). And he’s playing festivals! He’s playing Hollywood Forever Cemetery! He’s playing the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, America’s sexiest library! He’s playing Portland’s Wonder Ballroom, the ballroom that begs the question, “Why doesn’t every city have a place called Wonder Ballroom? Hot damn that’s a cool name.” All for you, America, Ariel Pink does it all for you.
Dates:
03.09.13 - Monterrey, Mexico - Festival NRML
03.23.13 - Santa Ana, CA - Burgerama Festival
05.17.13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
05.18.13 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
05.20.13 - Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Library
05.21.13 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
05.23.13 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
05.25.13 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore
05.27.13 - Gorge, WA - Sasquatch! Fest
05.28.13 - Missoula, MT - Badlander
05.31.13 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
06.01.13 - Chicago, IL - Do-Division
06.01.13 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (late show)
06.02.13 - Dekalb, IL - Pink Otto’s
06.03.13 - Champaign, IL - Blind Pig
06.04.13 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
06.05.13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Altar
06.06.13 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
06.07.13 - Boston, MA - Sinclair
06.08.13 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
06.09.13 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
06.10.13 - Washington DC - U Street
06.11.13 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
06.13.13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
06.14.13 - Pensacola, FL - Vinyl Music Hall
06.15.13 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitina’s
06.17.13 - Dallas, TX - Trees
06.18.13 - Austin, TX - Mohawk
• Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti: https://www.facebook.com/arielpinkshauntedgraffiti
• 4AD: http://www.4ad.com
[Photo: Raymond Flotat]