Scared Famous/FF>>

Description

Scared Famous/FF is a key part of the Ariel Archives series, the reissue project documenting the original album series by Ariel Pink under the name Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. The album is often fans’ favorite record, the kind of definitive artistic statement that rewards repeated listens while continuing to surprise. Twenty years later, as the album returns in an expanded and carefully remastered form (its first release in true stereo), it still feels as fresh, unsettling, and energizing as ever. After The Doldrums, Ariel Pink’s double album that followed in August 2001, Scared Famous/FF>> ushered in a mature style, a radical compression of heterogeneous pop into a singular and poignant sound. It features emblematic tracks such as "Beverly Kills", "22 Eyes" (if Kurt Cobain replaced Danzig in the Misfits reunion), and the magnificently saturated "May the Music Never Die". The album strongly embraces prog rock influences. Early YouTube users may remember discovering raw Ariel Pink video clips in the mid-2000s for songs from Scared Famous/FF>> such as "Are You Gonna Look After My Boys?" and "Politely Declined". Like many of his generation, Ariel Pink grew up with MTV, and the music video was an obvious way to indulge in the fantasy of pop stardom. At that time, Animal Collective began releasing Ariel Pink’s self-produced recordings on their Paw Tracks label, introducing him to a wider audience. He also toured with the band in 2004-05, trying to recreate the dense layers of his recordings on stage, with more or less success, but Ariel Pink’s strange music had already begun to spread.