Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Song of the Day #104 - Ariel Pink - Dayzed Inn Daydreams

I USED TO DREAM!!


Ariel Pink is blah blah bedroom recording lofi massive archives whatever. Actually, I couldn't find the Pom Pom version of this song, so the linked video is one from one of his dozens (hundreds?) of demo collections. It seems his recent success in the p4k-type spheres is largely him just reigning in and organizing the genius that was already overflowing.

(speaking of which, did you see p4k's top 50 list? Some weird stuff there... rtj2 winning the aotybowl is surprising, 'cause I think like what I liked about it and they liked about it are completely different collections of things. But I don't really disagree with it either. But putting some beer-commercial rock above Benji seems really bizarre, much more easily explained with "politics"... hmm... i gotta work on my own list, but only after I'm really sure that Jenny Death or the new Kanye or Kendrick won't pop out unexpectedly)

Anyways it seems like Ariel will get some vision of a sound in his head, some riff, or line, or whatever, and structure the song in anticipation of that. This time it's the absolute god-tier hook "I USED TO DREAM/DREAM AWAKE/HIDE IN THE DARK/FADE TO GREY", and he sorta just toys with you using it. The verses have a gentle melancholy that seems like... the chemical formula for something explosive. Not apparently connected, but in retrospect inevitable.

And the way he brings the chorus back in repetition in the end, showing how the whole meaning and significance can change just from the feeling of insistence, almost pleading... Holy god wow. Ariel Pink is one of those artists where I'm constantly impressed, but rarely like, super-compelled. Like, I think part of me is reluctant to dive in completely 'cause I feel some weird guilt at having known about him for years and years but always somewhat neglected him. But eventually a release will come along that forces me to join the cult, that gives me no other choice. That's what happened with Swans this year... but idk we'll talk about that more on my own list.

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