Ariel Pink / Half-Handed Cloud - "Unusual Animals Vol. 3" 7-inch - Asthmatic Kitty Records
Half-Handed Cloud – “Earth Outside of Ghost will Only be Quicksand” MP3/download
Ariel Pink – “Can’t Hear My Eyes” MP3/download
The pairing of Ariel Pink and Half-Handed Cloud is so bloody crazy it almost makes sense. Part of Asthmatic Kitty Records’ Unusual Animals series, this 7-inch sees both bands comporting themselves well, though I have to admit Half-Handed Cloud steal the show with their twink-y, music-box take on minimal, lo-fi indie-rock.
The only problems is getting up every 2 minutes to flip over the GOD-damn record.
I’ll live. Let’s start with my boy Ariel. “Before Today” is a lukewarm affair, I’m sorry to say. It’s got all the hallmarks of the haunted, unprecedented Pink we’ve all come to expect — distant a.m.-radio production pre-Kurt Vile, tinny two-string guitars, drums that may or may not be mouth’d, simple-dimple bass — without any of the normally attendant pleasures.
A. Pink sounds flat, bored and uninvested in the song. If you read my previous post on “Among Dreams” and my MP3 update circa “Round and Round” you know I take my Haunted Graffiti seriously, so chalk this one up to … an off-session.
As mentioned, Half-Handed Cloud rise to the occasion, stroking strings, coaxing a hot sound out of kiddie drumming, rockin’ the guitar and drums like a slurred hurricane and singing like he means it. It all sounds like an excuse to do an exaggerated bearded-indie-guy dance, and that’s … cool, somehow.
I hear a lot of things in “Sewing Wind to Fabric,” including:
- The Curtains, a Deerh00f-related project also on Asthmatic Kitty.
- ummmmmmmmmmmmmm … Danielson Famile? …
- Olivia Tremor Control‘s shambolic melodicism (did I just make up a word? Hell yes).
- Sufjan Stevens, I presume?
- Dreamend, Ryan Graveface‘s band.
- christianity …
The last one is usually a deal-breaker (I’m not gonna sugarcoat it), but John Ringhofer makes it work like Pedro The Lion/David Bazan before him. Way to go!
And with that I’m all out of yoke. Check out the fresh-ass Top-10, too, if you wanna know what else Gumshoe has been up to … which is a lot (derp!).
