Mistletone

Our good pals at Human Ear Music announce that the long-lost Scared Famous by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti is now being released on CD. These tracks come from Pink’s massive bank of half-forgotten cassettes and were all recorded at a key moment in Ariel’s recording adventure, dating back to, or immediately following the recordings on House Arrest. Order your copy here

Vinyl International has also unearthed Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti #1: Underground – the mysterious, unheard first album in the legendary Haunted Graffiti series and full of memorable songs that will be sure to please any Ariel Pink fan – for a limited-run vinyl release. All their pink vinyl has sold out but they have some purple ones left so be quick!

Ariel Pink has also contributed a smokin’ hot cover of Madonna’s “Everybody,” a duet with Julia Shammas Holter, for Manimal Vinyl‘s amazing “Through the Wilderness” Madonna tribute compilation. When asked why he’s doing it, Pink replied “Because it’s Madonna, man!” Buy it now – sales will benefit Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity which is funding the construction of a groundbreaking school and care center for the 1 Million HIV/AIDS orphans in Malawi.

Track Listing: Jonathan Wilson “La Isla Bonita” Golden Animals “Beautiful Stranger (Blues)” Winter Flowers “Live To Tell” Mountain Party “Material Girl” Jeremy Jay “Into The Groove” Ariel Pink “Everybody” Giant Drag “Oh Father” The Tyde “Hung Up” Alexandra Hope “Lucky Star” The Chapin Sisters “Borderline” Apollo Heights “Dress You Up” The Bubonic Plague “Who’s That Girl?” The Prayers “Cherish” Lion of Panjshir “Crazy for You” Lavender Diamond “Like A Prayer”

Mark Gomes reports on Scared Famous for Three Thousand:

Ariel Pink’s music is beautiful in that ultimate, metonymic way of having no substitute; its feeling simply cannot be expressed in any other way. Obsessively recorded second-by-second with his toe poised over an 8-track tape recorder, Pink’s songs are meticulous scrapbook tours as vivid as a glass-bottomed boat view of the Great Barrier Reef. There’s a weird and joyous certainty about them like turning over memories – of piecing things together to make sense of your own story and self-image. Listeners unfamiliar with Pink’s total, vampiric seductiveness are in an enviable position; the joy of meeting this Los Angeles sensation for the first-time is unforgettable.
Scared Famous reissues tracks from the third and fourth volumes of the Haunted Graffiti series; five albums originally self-released by Pink during the early 2000s. The now infamous and much discussed ‘no-production’ sound of House Arrest, Worn Copy and The Doldrums works its ineffable and melancholy power here again. Five-star melodicism and insane arrangements are always par with Pink, but the 2-step jive of ‘The Kitchen Club’, Barrett-esque ‘Beefbud’ and obliterating longing of ‘The List (My Favourite Song)’ are standout masterpieces of transcendent DIY pop.