We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
MONDAY
In Destination: Morgue! L.A. Tales, James Ellroy writes, “L.A.’s weird shit is the best weird shit on earth and I grew up where it flourished prosaic.” Hermit home-taper and Animal Collective pal Ariel Pink is a prime example of Ellroy’s L.A. He’s ridiculously prolific, notoriously DIY (all the drum sounds come from his mouth), and vocally androgynous, and he worships at the altar of R. Stevie Moore. Pink’s songs on his debut, The Doldrums, are somehow already familiar: “Among Dreams” could be Beck striving for any track on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever; “The Doldrums” sounds like Bob Pollard sippin’ sizzurp with the late DJ Screw; and “Don’t Think Twice” has all the kitsch of a ’70s bubble-gum commercial. In fact, Pink’s shit is so weird that other hugely prolific weirdos, such as John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, are calling in with their props. On his blog, Last Plane to Jakarta, Darnielle writes, “there’s a quality to the magnificent songs on Ariel Pink’s [CD] that’s distinctly porn-flick-for-eunuchs. And I do mean ‘porn flick,’ too, not ‘video,’ or ‘porn store,’ or ‘stag movie.’” The pornish quality that Darnielle mentions is the altered-state haze that surrounds the record thanks to breathy, overdubbed vocals and one sexy Yamaha MT8X. Completists and obsessive collectors, you’ve found a new point of interest. Ariel Pink plays with Animal Collective at 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, on the Black Cat’s Mainstage, 1811 14th St. NW. $10. (202) 667-7960. (Constantine Caloudas)