Albums
< Ponytail
Ice Scream Spiritual
words by Stuart Stubbs
‘Ice Scream Spiritual’ has gobbled down one to many pre-PC blue Smarties and chased it with a cheap bag of whiz. It’s older sibling, Ponytail’s debut, ‘Kamehameha’, obviously led a bad example; equally hyperactive and recorded in just 10 hours.Now, this Balitmore four can be found “atop Mountain Joy” at their new home, HQ of boundary-less label We Are Free (home to Yeasayer and Indian Jewelry). It’s the only home for their experimental “spastic bliss” (their label’s words, not ours); a place where their racket can ping about like Flubber riding a malfunctioning rocket pack.
If you’ve come for an easy listen, you’ve taken a wrong turn. Sprawling out all over the place, tracks like ‘Late For School’ prove that Ponytail can be a chore even when their reverbing guitar noodles and jibber jabber vocals momentarily cease. But there’s also proof there that this band have an infectious, playfulness about them; a little bi-polar, but playful nevertheless.
‘Sky Drool’ tricks us into thinking that a sassy little disco number has crept onto ‘Ice Scream Spiritual’, but it hasn’t. Forty five seconds in the band revert to playing their instruments as fast as they can, in order to leave the others behind. It’s a manic bundle to the finish but everyone keeps up, as is the case within every cat and mouse sprint on this record.
As bonkers as Deerhoof and to probably be as treasured as Animal Collective. Once you’re heartbeat returns to its normal state that is.
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