Ariel Pink to Release Multi-Volume Musical Retrospective

Later this month, the writer and multi-instrumentalist known for his innovative and experimental style is releasing a musical compilation called the “Ariel Archives”, on the indie record label Mexican Summer. The release is said to consist of three volumes of uncollected music spanning almost twenty years as well as multiple reissues of his albums released between 1999 and 2004. The reissues will include Underground, The Doldrums, House Arrest, Worn Copy, Loverboy, and Scared Famous. Many of these albums were originally self-produced/released. Considering his highly inventive and broad range of material, “Ariel Archives makes an effort to reckon with the remarkable volume of outstanding music Ariel Pink made during this time” (Mexican Summer).

The first installment of Ariel Archives to be released will be Underground (originally recorded between 1998-1999 using an 8-track Tascam machine he borrowed from college friend John Maus), followed by Odditties Sodomies Vol. 2, and Vol. 3. Vol. 1 Ariel Archives will be the final piece of the project released, with the first vinyl release of Stranded at Two Harbors, Holy Sh*t’s first album co-written by Matt Fishbeck and Ariel Pink. Also included in Vol. 1 will be a cluster of Pink’s singles as well as tour-only CD-Rs from the last ten years. The compilation will serve to explore the phases and development of Pink’s style, shedding light on his massive and ever-evolving body of work.

The wildly prolific artist has collaborated with a multitude of other musicians in the scene including John Maus (a close friend and previous roommate), R. Stevie Moore (often referred to as “the godfather of home-recording”), and Weyes Blood. A lot of his music has a top note of sickly sweet bubblegum-pop- but upon closer listening you’ll realize where the influence of acts like The Cure and R. Stevie Moore begin to play into his flavor. Initially, many of his albums were overlooked as being pretentiously avant-garde and hard to listen to, and it’s taken years for those other than his die-hard fans to develop a taste for his more experimental work (call him ahead of his time). If you haven’t taken a listen to anything of his by now, do yourself a favor– it’s a trip. It’ll be interesting to see if this release will prompt any sort of U.S tour, as since he made his way around for the Dedicated to Bobby Jameson tour he’s been MIA (in our neck of the woods at least). Regardless, I’m super excited to see what’s been put together for these releases.