#412 Ponytail - Do Whatever You Want All the Time

Loved Ice Cream Spiritual. Moremoremore.

Ponytail is spazzy, angular electronic guitars and frenetic yelping, evoking Deerhoof as the most obvious point of comparison. But where ICS was pure raw 12 year olds on speed energy, DWYWAOTT is actually pretty mellow. Mellow! Ponytail! Not quite mellow maybe, but it's build more on patience and tension and repetition than it is bursting off in every direction at once. Beyondersville burbles with synthy energy, Flabbermouse's guitars soar, and opener Easy Peasy counts off "one...one" ... "one" ... "one...one" in a parody of a rock countdown that actually makes any progress towards anything; "we're running out of time!" Molly Siegel exults, taunting us, just rubbing it in.

There's still plenty of gotta-see-these-guys-live bursting energy here though, like the psychocalypso swoon of AwayWay that explodes into chiming guitars and snare fills and joy just as it seems to be winding back down. There's also more buzzy electronic noise here, especially on the strangely-perfectly-titled Music Tunes. Fun stuff, even if the manic energy level is just a bit much for frequent listens 4/5

You might like this if: you like tense guitars and shameless yelping, and are looking for an album more toe-clenching than toe-tapping, squirming with manic energy.