As some of you might have found out already the new Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti record leaked a few days ago. It’s called Before Today and should hit the streets on the 8th of June on the 4AD label. The earlier released free tracks of this record caused quite a stir. This was mainly based on the enormous change in sound quality. No longer did APHG sound like it was recorded through tin cans straight onto recycled tapes out of your mom’s personal collection. The sound we have here is still pretty lo-fi when compared to the big shots of today but in contrast with the earlier records it sounds super clean.

After a few listens I’ve really come to love this new sound, it makes it so much easier for these songs to stick in your head. And they sure do! Dont worry there is still more then enough idiotic sonic abuse on this record to keep everyone satisfied but at the same time this feels like the most melodic record so far from APHG. Queen, yacht rock, 70′s funk, Miami Vice-soundtracks, freaky folk and lo-fi pop are just some of the things that come to mind during the span of Before Today. And everything seems to fit right in, no genre or style can’t be mastered or abstracted by the genuis we call Ariel Pink.

I’ve only spent a few days so far with Before Today but so far we can conclude that it’s another weird, catchy and ofcourse trippy rollercoaster through the demented brain of Ariel Pink. I’m not sure how this will stack up against the demented pop songs from before but this first impression is for sure a good one. With the right promotion and ofcourse the total overkill of blogposts about this it might expose APHG to a much bigger audience then before. Before Today sure deserves it.