Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffitti live at Captain's Rest, Glasgow

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti are a legendary underground band that I first heard of two weeks ago. Weird that.

Ariel Pink have had great write ups for their latest album in the heavyweight music press. Apparently Ariel Pink (the singer) has been making music for the past 15 years and is a big influence on many of the present generation of American alternative bands. Some Ariel Pink material has been released on the Animal Collective Paw Tracks record label.

It's fairly easy to hear Ariel Pink music if you want to. Several songs are available on youtube and you can hear the new album on Spotify. The stuff has an interesting sound so I decided to check them out.

There were two support bands tonight. The first were called 'we were only afraid of NYC' and sounded a bit like snowplay or coldpatrol.

http://www.myspace.com/wereonlyafraidofnyc

The second band, Paws were much better although they were clearly indebted to Nirvana. They were loud and fairly interesting. I'd happily watch them again or give some of their recordings a listen.

http://www.myspace.com/pawspawspawspaws

By the time Ariel Pink took the stage the basement at The Captains Rest was stuffed. The heat was causing sweat to drip from the ceiling and people were packed in so tightly that I was almost forced into some unintended frottage. The errant band of misfits that make up the Haunted Graffitti band took the stage and after some careful soundchecking they exploded into some psychadelic '80s infused rock.

They were rather good. They played a lot of the newer songs as well as some less familiar material. The harmonies were tight and Ariel Pink has a great voice (even if he looks like he could do with a shower). We probably got about 60 minutes of music and the crowd was left wanting more. I'd watch them again.