Although recorded on 8-track at the end of 2002/early 2003, 'Worn Copy' is a more complete and involving record than Ariel Pink's proper 2004 debut release 'The Doldrums'. As personal as Pepys, 'Worn Copy' is comparable to The Magnetic Field's '69 Love Songs' in terms of genre plundering and dogged intimacy making it easy to see why he has been causing so much fuss in our Willy Mason-era. Opening track 'Trepanated Earth' illustrates his style perfectly, beginning with a reedy synth led rock song that sounds like it's been recorded straight off the TV during a 1980's Hasselhoff show. This is then punctured by a flurry of overlapping and hotch-potch vocal samples, through which Pink emerges into some full-on operatic rock that sounds very much how Bobby Conn would were he to cover Queen's 'Flash Gordon' score. But we're not done yet, with Pink falling on a chrome-plated electro-pop close to shimmer us past the 10 minute mark. A bit like allowing your radio to keep searching out the strongest signal whilst on the move, 'Trepanated Earth' displays Pink's ADD syndrome through a patchwork of accomplished genre-bending segments that at no point descends into parody. Elsewhere we get the fantastic jingle-corruption of 'Credit', where Pink borrows a melody from Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' and cross-breeds the results with the Human League and Gary Numan, spitting "Credit, we win you lose, credit - our choices buy you, credit go buy something used..." whilst 'One on One' is a bit Lou Reed and a bit Adam Green, without the contradictions that should resonably imply. Fiercely unique and strangely beguiling.
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Although recorded on 8-track at the end of 2002/early 2003, 'Worn Copy' is a more complete and involving record than Ariel Pink's proper 2004 debut release 'The Doldrums'. As personal as Pepys, 'Worn Copy' is comparable to The Magnetic Field's '69 Love Songs' in terms of genre plundering and dogged intimacy making it easy to see why he has been causing so much fuss in our Willy Mason-era. Opening track 'Trepanated Earth' illustrates his style perfectly, beginning with a reedy synth led rock song that sounds like it's been recorded straight off the TV during a 1980's Hasselhoff show. This is then punctured by a flurry of overlapping and hotch-potch vocal samples, through which Pink emerges into some full-on operatic rock that sounds very much how Bobby Conn would were he to cover Queen's 'Flash Gordon' score. But we're not done yet, with Pink falling on a chrome-plated electro-pop close to shimmer us past the 10 minute mark. A bit like allowing your radio to keep searching out the strongest signal whilst on the move, 'Trepanated Earth' displays Pink's ADD syndrome through a patchwork of accomplished genre-bending segments that at no point descends into parody. Elsewhere we get the fantastic jingle-corruption of 'Credit', where Pink borrows a melody from Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' and cross-breeds the results with the Human League and Gary Numan, spitting "Credit, we win you lose, credit - our choices buy you, credit go buy something used..." whilst 'One on One' is a bit Lou Reed and a bit Adam Green, without the contradictions that should resonably imply. Fiercely unique and strangely beguiling.
Although recorded on 8-track at the end of 2002/early 2003, 'Worn Copy' is a more complete and involving record than Ariel Pink's proper 2004 debut release 'The Doldrums'. As personal as Pepys, 'Worn Copy' is comparable to The Magnetic Field's '69 Love Songs' in terms of genre plundering and dogged intimacy making it easy to see why he has been causing so much fuss in our Willy Mason-era. Opening track 'Trepanated Earth' illustrates his style perfectly, beginning with a reedy synth led rock song that sounds like it's been recorded straight off the TV during a 1980's Hasselhoff show. This is then punctured by a flurry of overlapping and hotch-potch vocal samples, through which Pink emerges into some full-on operatic rock that sounds very much how Bobby Conn would were he to cover Queen's 'Flash Gordon' score. But we're not done yet, with Pink falling on a chrome-plated electro-pop close to shimmer us past the 10 minute mark. A bit like allowing your radio to keep searching out the strongest signal whilst on the move, 'Trepanated Earth' displays Pink's ADD syndrome through a patchwork of accomplished genre-bending segments that at no point descends into parody. Elsewhere we get the fantastic jingle-corruption of 'Credit', where Pink borrows a melody from Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' and cross-breeds the results with the Human League and Gary Numan, spitting "Credit, we win you lose, credit - our choices buy you, credit go buy something used..." whilst 'One on One' is a bit Lou Reed and a bit Adam Green, without the contradictions that should resonably imply. Fiercely unique and strangely beguiling.
Although recorded on 8-track at the end of 2002/early 2003, 'Worn Copy' is a more complete and involving record than Ariel Pink's proper 2004 debut release 'The Doldrums'. As personal as Pepys, 'Worn Copy' is comparable to The Magnetic Field's '69 Love Songs' in terms of genre plundering and dogged intimacy making it easy to see why he has been causing so much fuss in our Willy Mason-era. Opening track 'Trepanated Earth' illustrates his style perfectly, beginning with a reedy synth led rock song that sounds like it's been recorded straight off the TV during a 1980's Hasselhoff show. This is then punctured by a flurry of overlapping and hotch-potch vocal samples, through which Pink emerges into some full-on operatic rock that sounds very much how Bobby Conn would were he to cover Queen's 'Flash Gordon' score. But we're not done yet, with Pink falling on a chrome-plated electro-pop close to shimmer us past the 10 minute mark. A bit like allowing your radio to keep searching out the strongest signal whilst on the move, 'Trepanated Earth' displays Pink's ADD syndrome through a patchwork of accomplished genre-bending segments that at no point descends into parody. Elsewhere we get the fantastic jingle-corruption of 'Credit', where Pink borrows a melody from Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' and cross-breeds the results with the Human League and Gary Numan, spitting "Credit, we win you lose, credit - our choices buy you, credit go buy something used..." whilst 'One on One' is a bit Lou Reed and a bit Adam Green, without the contradictions that should resonably imply. Fiercely unique and strangely beguiling.