After years of recording in relative seclusion in the hills of Los Angeles, Ariel Pink (the first non-Animal Collective member on the Paw Tracks roster) made his official Paw Tracks debut with The Doldrums. Recording at home with a guitar, bass, keyboard, and 8-track (the drum sounds were created with his mouth).
Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something by turns beautiful and confusing. Some may find his personal yet detached approach highly addictive, while others may be instantly turned off by the obvious lo-fi production and the vocal drumtracks.
In the summer of 2003, Pink passed a CD-R on to New York based band Animal Collective after being introduced by mutual friend Jimi Hey (of All Night Radio and Beachwood Sparks) at one of their shows. Unbeknownst to Pink, Animal Collective had recently started their own record label, Paw Tracks, and several weeks later they contacted him expressing an interest in releasing his music. Pink became the first musician on the label aside from the members of Animal Collective. The next year, the label reissued The Doldrums, an album which had been originally recorded in 1999. Since then, Paw Tracks (now co-owned by Carpark Records) has released two other reissues of Pink's previous recordings, Worn Copy and House Arrest.
Pink has gradually caught the attention of media sources around the United States as well as internationally. As most of his albums are self-made, many of them have never been heard by fans. Almost all of Pink's albums which have been commercially released come from his yet-unfinished "Haunted Graffiti" series and are thus the best known.
Pink's tours have generally been met with much negativity, primarily because his music was never intended to be performed live for commercial audiences. As he explained to LA Weekly:
“People boo me everywhere...They don't even hide their contempt. I'm used to it now...Hey, I'm giving audiences the real thing...For better or worse, I'm out there, and those are the circumstances. People don't like it when it seems like you don't know what's happening, or I'm getting bummed out with certain aspects and I can't hide it. I think people feel that pain and just think it's bad.”
Initially playing shows alone with pre-recorded music, Pink has since employed the efforts of keyboardist Kenny Gilmore, bassist Tim Koh (White Magic), drummer Jimi Hey, and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill (Ethnik Klensr) as Haunted Graffiti. However, even with a backing band unfamiliar audiences are generally hostile towards the unrehearsed nature of the live compositions.
In July, the band embarked on Pink's "Thanks Mom, I'm Dead" tour.
One genre that may interestingly define Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is one known as Hauntology.
Victor
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I stay on, I stay on
Where do I get off?
On to greener pastures
originaly
*indecipherable*
hello uh, this, uh, this is victor
hey, hey, come one, come on, come by sometime
'cuz um I could go up to the clinic with my medical card
and get some cough drops with some antibiotics
so, if you could come over, we could go over and get some cough drops
i could even wait for you in the car If you want
so, if you could-
The lyrics from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's song Victor seem to be a combination of two different sources. The first set of lyrics seems to be a reference to the Minor Threat song Salad Days. The line "But I stay on, I stay on, where do I get off?" is a direct quote from that song. The next line "On to greener pastures" seems to be a variation of the same phrase used in the Minor Threat song. In Salad Days, the lyrics are "But I'm hanging on, I'm hanging on, to what I know is true. On to greener pastures, I don't want to hang around with you."
The second set of lyrics seems to be a voicemail message left by someone named Victor. He invites someone to come over and get cough drops and antibiotics with him. The offer to wait in the car suggests that Victor may not be feeling well, or he may not be able to drive. The tone of the voicemail is friendly and somewhat desperate, as if Victor really wants someone to come keep him company while he runs errands.
Line by Line Meaning
hello uh, this, uh, this is victor
Victor introduces himself
hey, hey, come one, come on, come by sometime
Victor invites someone to visit him
'cuz um I could go up to the clinic with my medical card
Victor mentions that he has a medical card which he can use to get medicine
and get some cough drops with some antibiotics
Victor plans to get cough drops and antibiotics
so, if you could come over, we could go over and get some cough drops
Victor reiterates his invitation and suggests they can go together to get medicine
i could even wait for you in the car If you want
Victor offers to wait in the car for the person if they want
so, if you could-
Victor's invitation is incomplete or interrupted
Contributed by Parker P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@ViewbobTrue
+Dreamforfreedom it's Minor threat, the song is salad days
@dreamforfreedom
Whats the name of the punk band??
@saymyname5241
I Love Minor Threat