Ariel Pink: Pom Pom (2LP) [4AD]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set spreads seventeen songs over four sides, pressed in the Czech Republic. Pom Pom was the first album credited to Ariel Pink alone, and several songs were co-written with the late Kim Fowley.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Ariel Pink has always made records that sound like a radio picking up three stations at once, and Pom Pom is the most generous of them. It was his tenth studio album and his first under his name alone, and he played and sang most of it himself, as well as producing and designing the artwork.

He named the Mothers of Invention, the Cure and Todd Rundgren as direct influences, and the record swings from bubblegum to psych to new wave without pausing for breath. "Put Your Number in My Phone" is a sweet, woozy single, "Picture Me Gone" is a quiet heartbreaker, and "Dayzed Inn Daydreams" closes on a dreamy note. Kim Fowley co-wrote "Plastic Raincoats in the Pig Parade," "Jell-O," "Sexual Athletics," "Exile on Frog Street" and "Nude Beach a Go-Go" from his hospital bed; he died the following January. French singer Soko adds vocals, and Azealia Banks cut her own version of "Nude Beach a Go-Go" on her debut album.

Grant Singer directed the videos for "Picture Me Gone" and "Dayzed Inn Daydreams." There is also a song called "Dinosaur Carebears," and that is all the explanation you're getting from us.

Also at Kops: more Ariel Pink on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On 4AD (cat# CAD3440), a reissue of the 2014 album.