House Arrest
Label: Paw Tracks
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: House Arrest
While the Paw Tracks-sponsored parade of Ariel “Pink” Rosenberg reissues is swiftly becoming tiresome, the delirious pop thirst-quench of the prolific, no-fi maniac’s music can’t be heralded enough. House Arrest is all golden, from the radioactive Herman’s-Hermits-gone-Motown glow of “Helen” to the nursery-rhyme sunshine glee of “Hardcore Pops Are Fun.” On the acid-corroded prog ambiguity of “Gettin’ High in the Morning,” Rosenberg toys with the chorus so that it’s unclear whether he’s “so done with getting high” or, conversely, “so down with getting high.” Rosenberg’s standard production chaos suggests the latter. A dying-eight-track patchwork of cheap guitars, cheaper keyboards and mouth-made percussion is endowed here with the come-hither hooks previous release Worn Copy sorely lacked, as he floats his filthiest couplets I want a chick who puts up with my shit and puts out/Like a little girl scout in casually debauched fashion.
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2006.