Ariel Pink

Ariel Pink, born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg in 1978, is a musician based in Los Angeles, United States. He starts recording music on tape in 1996 and builds a cult following around a highly lo-fi home-recorded style. Much of his work is self-made, and many recordings do not circulate widely.

Background

He is raised in Beverly Hills, California, where he attends Beverly Hills High School, and later studies at the School of Art at the California Institute of the Arts. He lives in Los Angeles and becomes associated with the city’s music and media scene.

Recording style and musical identity

Pink produces and plays almost all of his own music. He is known for making drum sounds mainly with his mouth and sometimes with his armpits. His home-recording approach gives the music a rough, lo-fi sound, and new listeners can sometimes mistake it for work from an earlier era.

His music is associated with experimental, hypnagogic pop, indie pop, lo-fi, neo-psychedelia and new wave. He is also sometimes linked with New Weird America and with the idea of “The New Sincerity”.

Commercial breakthrough and releases

His wider commercial career takes off after he passes a CD-R to the New York band Animal Collective. The best-known releases are the albums issued under his Haunted Graffiti name, while many other recordings remain unreleased or little heard.

Collaborations and associated acts

He is connected with several projects and group names, including Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Holy Shit, Ash Ra Tempel Experience, Shits and Giggles and Jorge Elbrose. He also receives support and endorsement from Animal Collective, who are associated with Paw Tracks.

Influences and other work

Pink cites R. Stevie Moore as a major influence, describing him as a friend, mentor and “father of home recording”. Alongside music, he makes semi-abstract, surreal and grotesque drawings, which are sold through his unofficial website.

Personal life

He marries Alisa Daniels in 2002 and they divorce in 2005. He later lives with Geneva Jacuzzi for seven years, ending in early 2011.