Lushlife f/ Ariel Pink: "In Soft Focus"

Chipmunk soul swept the charts because of its unique ability to give rich, soulless rappers instant depth and a time-worn, classic feel. By the same token it was only a matter of time before Ariel Pink, whose fuzzy warbles are some of the saddest to waft up from the sewers of indie, would get the same treatment by some backpacker or another. Enter Lushlife, he with Danger Mouse-ian resume (Kanye/Beach Boys mash-up, so many important indie rock connections); but stepping behind the mic he evokes more of a carefree ’90s vibe—not playing nice, but at the same time not pulling any weird/unnerving Wayne/DOOM verbal punches or trying to be a dense, angry rhymesayer. Just “bitches looking like they got spray-tans” who lie uneasily on top of Pink’s looped “wait, wait, I wait for Kate,” sped up triple from the original and propped up on some foot-moving snare.

So what the hell? Lushlife is nothing more than the basic form of Rapper—misogyny supposedly leavened with social awareness, self-deprecation as potent as braggadocio—enough to disappear completely into the depressing stretches of abandoned homes somewhere between the ghetto and the suburbs. But in choosing the right sample he lays bare what’s made the whole sampling idea so enduring this whole time: the briefly glimpsed emotion that spins the main narrative off its axis makes us focus on the larger absurdities we wouldn’t notice otherwise. By mining the thoughtfully emotional terrain of indie rock and of Pink’s, though already obfuscated, he discovers a new lens, a quiet plane of introspection, even, that makes the typical motions through which he trundles seem both ridiculous and sublime.