Live: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti at Bimbos 365 Club
» LA weird wonder plays it kinda straight - North Beach SF goes wild.
On a foggy Saturday night, armies of devoted Ariel Pink fans gathered at the always exquisite Bimbo’s 365 club to witness the iconic, Pitchfork-branded “chillwave” archduke, riding high off his big-to-do 4AD release Before Today. The classy jazz venue was an upscale improvement from his old haunt across town at Bottom of the Hill, a certain graduation of form much like his newly “refined” sound.
With the Magic Kids and Puro Instinct (formerly Pearl Harbor) opening up the show, Ariel Rosenberg seemed unfazed by his new found big label fame and joyfully contented himself selling and signing merch at the fold out tables in the lobby. At one point some bro introduced Ariel to this other seasoned looking bro. He’s like, “This is Colm from My Bloody Valentine!” And lo behold, that was when the Pink met Colm Ó Cíosóig; the meeting of two titans of respective prestige of two different times. Please place your own connective relevancies between the two musicians here.
Those expecting the old shambolic Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti received the most well-put-together surprise. Other than lurking about the stage, ensuring that Tim Koh was sipping enough Heineken and performing better microphone fellatio than Tina Turner herself, Ariel and the band were all about business. A jumbled order of the album Before Today was performed (although they did work a great jazzed up rendition of “Hot Body Rub” for the opening number, with Ariel seemingly doing a sort of a scattered mic check mid way through), interspersing some old school “lo-fi” gems recreated with a more controlled chaos and cleaner instrumental resonance. Minimal tantrums, one crowd pleasing, crowd surfing venture for our fearless frontman, a few huffed up stage pouts towards the end, but otherwise it was a very tight and together affair. Long past are the days of tape spliced histrionics from Ariel Rosenberg’s Thrash and Burn cassettes from ’98. This is the newer and fuller realization of the ongoing saga of his Haunted Graffiti project.
Posted on July 13, 2010. More on: ariel pinks haunted graffiti, before today, 4ad, san francisco, my bloody valentine, tina turner
