Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Before Today

Ariel Pink rose to indie prominence with a wry, murky take on '70s AM radio pop—like a beach party imagined by someone who had never left the house. Fleshed out by a full band and more conventional production, Before Today was the moment Pink peeked out from the underground—a cleaner but no less fascinating version of the perverted pop he’d been making on his own for years. At the album’s heart is “Round and Round”, whose melancholic, “Billie Jean”-style strut breaks through the clouds and into an after-school sing-along.