Before Today [CD]

Ariel Pink (real name: Ariel Marcus Rosenberg) has always been a bit of an outsider. Since the mid-90's he's recorded over 500 songs using only a primitive 8-track, a guitar, casio keyboards, bass and his strangled voice. Three albums worth of this material has been previously released through The Animal Collective's Paw Tracks record label, but here he is with his first 'proper' release (with his own band in tow, no less) 'Before Today'.

Opener 'Hot Body Rub' really sets the tone. It is pure white funk of the Frank Zappa variety. The use of a saxaphone is prominant and Pink's minimal lyrics speak of his great hot tub ('Hot tub, get into my hot tub') before deflaming the mood somewhat ('Hot tub got a disease, Uh spread it in grease'). This pretty much sums the entire album up. On the one hand it sounds like a lost relic from the 80's mainstream (think Hall & Oats on acid) which would have been comfortable on daytime radio and yet a feeling of deprevity surrounds the whole thing, with Pink flippantly talking of drugs, incest and castration. But don't let that put you off for this is a record full to the brim with potential hits. 'Fright Night' with it's 'konck, knock on the door three times/and you knock knock on the door!!!' refrain is pure adrenilin-fuelled lunacy delivered completely irony-free, lead-off single 'Round And Round' with it's 70's languid jazz leanings and grandose vocal arrangements, the 80's hair metal romp that is 'Butthouse Blondies' and the quite frankly show stopping (future hit?) 'Can't Hear My Eyes'.

'Can't Hear My Eyes' is possible the greatest love song that this young century has yet thrown up. Pink delivers some beautiful lines:

'I gotta get a blindfold and close my eyes,
Before I'll get one look at you,
Because I'll see love in a special way,
And I'll see you'

meanwhile the band play the type of smooth-jazz style that surely The Fast Show could have easily mocked. It is one of the finest tracks of the year and in another age it would have been a massive hit.

Overall this is a mighty fine album and if all my talk of 80's jazz is putting you off, please don't let it. This is a record which is firmly sat in the 21st century, it just invokes memories of an age when music was a much more relaxed market place. Right up there with Beach House, Joanna Newsom, Flying Lotus and LCD Soundsytem in the albums-of-the-year-so-far-lists.

Smooth.

I've long been a fan of Ariel Pink's decaying radio/culture vulture schtick and was worried that this `full band' LP would shave away his ramshackle charms. But, against all odds, `Before Today' is the perfect distillation of his queasy listening spook pop. Unlike earlier albums which display fitful bursts of genius and require the odd bit of skipping and good will, this is all killer, no filler. It's difficult to pick out highlights but a few current favourites are the scuzzy video nasty vibe of `Fright Night' (Nevermore) followed by the perfect pop of single `Round & Round'. Both hark back to the schizophrenic volte faces of the past which is something like flicking between songs but so much more accessible and clever than that sounds.

`Bright Lit Blue Skies' is the perfect downer summer tune with a beautiful harmonic chorus. `L'Estat (Acc. To The Widow's Maid)' is like a prog Kenny Loggins playing with cod reggae. It's the way that these disparate elements gel, fragment, disappear, re-appear that makes Ariel's sound so addictive. The sleazy, treble-heavy slap-bass funk of `Beverley Kills' is another standout. `Can't Hear My Eyes' is the kind of stalker pop you imagine the Tooth Fairy in Manhunter kicking back to. The instrumental `Reminiscences' has an odd burbling synth sound that you'd imagine both Toto and Dam Funk would be proud of. The peerless `Menopause Man' is probably the most sinister song on the LP, a weird meditation on sexuality.

Of all albums I've bought and loved recently, `Before Today' is getting the most spins and is the most multi-faceted and revelatory with repeat listens. I would never have thought I'd have said this a few weeks back but this is by far my favourite Ariel Pink LP.

Ladies and gentleman we have a contender for album of the summer here - if you are looking for something leftfield and creative, impressively varied, yet flows like a well worn mixtape, then this could be the disc for you.

Moments to listen out for include the Tarzan aping intro/outro to 'Little Wig', the orgasm moans that have been filtered into the guitar riffage of 'B*tt-House Blondies', the hilarious 'drop' in 'L'estat' and the adorable 'Fright Night' in its entirety.

Perhaps I am doing 'Before Today' a disservice - this one could have the chops to be one of the albums of the year let alone of the summer. Go get.