New Young Pony Club | ||
| Allmusic Biography : London dance-rock group New Young Pony Club initially featured Tahita Bulmer (vocals), Andy Spence (guitar), Igor Volk (bass), Lou Hayter (keyboards), and Sarah Jones (drums). Inspired by LCD Soundsystem, the Stranglers, and Gang of Four, the band arrived with the release of the Ice Cream 7" in February 2005. The limited-edition pressing of 1,000 copies sold out in just three days, fueling New Young Pony Clubs growing popularity among the U.K. music press and chic blogs. A deal with Modular Recordings, home to Wolfmother, the Avalanches, and Van She, and a second single, "The Get Go," followed before the years end, but New Young Pony Club were still aiming to break overseas. They got it when their biggest U.K. hit, "Ice Cream," was featured in the Intel Core 2 Duo television commercial in fall 2006. U.K. tour dates supporting Lily Allen followed in November. Fantastic Playroom, the groups first album, finally surfaced in 2007, after which bassist Volk departed the band the following year. Even considering the bands extensive touring, the wait for its second long-player, The Optimist, was a lengthy one; the album was issued in 2010. Hayter and Jones subsequently decided to leave the group and, now comprising the duo of Bulmer and Spence, New Young Pony Club changed their name to NYPC. The eponymous album NYPC arrived in 2013. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 4 Title: New Young Pony Club EP Released: 2006-11-18 Tracks: 6 Duration: 31:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Ice Cream (03:09) 2 Get Dancey (05:25) 3 Descend (06:05) 4 Ice Cream (Comets remix) (06:29) 5 Ice Cream (Van She remix) (06:07) 6 Ice Cream (DJ Mehdi remix) (04:18) |
 | Album: 2 of 4 Title: Fantastic Playroom Released: 2007-07-09 Tracks: 14 Duration: 59:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Get Lucky (03:43) 2 Hiding on the Staircase (03:31) 3 Ice Cream (03:09) 4 The Bomb (04:19) 5 Jerk Me (04:07) 6 The Get Go (04:29) 7 Talking, Talking (04:03) 8 Grey (04:13) 9 F.A.N. (03:35) 10 Tight Fit (03:55) 11 Descend (06:05) 12 The Bomb (Phones Collateral Damage mix) (06:45) 13 Fade in That Blank (03:29) 14 Take Me Im Yours (03:38) |
| Fantastic Playroom : Allmusic album Review : A slow release schedule is something New Young Pony Club do not have in common with most new wave bands. Roughly three years passed between the release of NYPCs first single and this debut album, a span of time in which many an 80s band fit a spate of singles, two or three albums, a bad major-label deal, and an ugly breakup. But, hey, why rush things? At this point it is apparent that neo-new wave bands will be around as long as the garage rock revivalists, so its not as if the band should feel pressed to be prolific before the world leaves it and its peers behind. The one thing that is disappointing about Fantastic Playroom, beyond its lateness, is that its a glorified singles compilation -- albeit one involving some alternate mixes -- with only a handful of previously unreleased songs, especially since a full-length had been such a long time coming. By any other standard, it is a fetching 40-minute album, with each song supplying its own set of penetrating hooks, ear-ticklingly sharp guitars, moody synthesizer gauze, and mobile rhythms. No, theres nothing incredibly unique or out of the ordinary going on. The band seems willing to admit as much; at one point, the "Sounds Like" section on its MySpace page was filled out with something blasé, like "the usual," along with an affirming short list of bands. (When David Bowie gushed about "Get Lucky," he drew a basic ballpark Blondie-plus-Gang of Four comparison.) You dont get the sense that they are very self-conscious or cred hungry about what they do, like they were happy to get their ESG fix through the Soul Jazz CD compilation, rather than sniped mint copies of the first EP from online sources, and maybe theyre copping the glammed-out poses on the albums cover from Duran Duran instead of Roxy Music. Most importantly, they seem preoccupied with making songs that are both immediately enjoyable and lasting, as well as smart and funny in all the right ways. Knowing lead singer Tahita Bulmer, or at least the characters she embodies in these songs, must involve the occasional slug in the shoulder and not being able to discern the difference between her plain talk and sarcasm. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 4 Title: The Optimist Released: 2010-03-08 Tracks: 10 Duration: 45:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Lost a Girl (04:22) 2 Chaos (03:38) 3 The Optimist (05:33) 4 Stone (04:10) 5 We Want To (04:42) 6 Dolls (03:16) 7 Before the Light (05:27) 8 Oh Cherie (05:03) 9 Rapture (04:23) 10 Architect of Love (04:45) |
| The Optimist : Allmusic album Review : By the time New Young Pony Club’s second album, The Optimist, finally hit retailers in 2010, some pretty drastic changes had occurred. The band was no longer with Modular Records, it was basically down to a duo of vocalist Tahita Bulmer and multi-instrumentalist Andy Spence (though drummer Sarah Jones and keyboardist Lou Hayter do make cameo appearances), and most importantly, the adolescent swagger and goofiness of early songs like "Ice Cream" and "Jerk Me" had been replaced with a more subdued and adult feel. There is still plenty of spunk and snarl in Bulmer’s vocals, lots of angular funk in the rhythms, and more than enough hooks to go around, only this time there is a slick, studio-generated sheen on top of everything. Instead of the ESG influence that permeated Fantastic Playroom, perhaps a better reference this time would be Altered Images. And while they still channel Gang of Four at times, it’s more like late-period Gang of Four. This kind of retrenchment quite often spells doom for a band, with a tragically blanding out of its sound, removing the vital heart and inspiration that made it worth listening to in the first place. While a few NYPC fans who really loved "Ice Cream" might find The Optimist too smooth and a little studied at times, most people who hear the record will be won over by the high quality of the songs, Bulmer’s still captivating persona, and the tracks that have some of Fantastic Playroom’s dancefloor drive (like “We Want To” and “Chaos”) and sass (“Lost a Girl”). NYPCs surprisingly light touch on the couple of ballads (“Stone,” “Architect of Love”) they drop in the mix is also a strong selling point, and shows a level of depth that was missing in the past. It might have been nice if some of the wobbly giddiness of their previous work had transferred over to The Optimist, but it’s clear that the band is a different entity now, with a slightly darker outlook on life. They could have totally botched the transition from happy party kids to grownups; instead, they managed the switch quite masterfully. The Optimist won’t make anyone forget Fantastic Playroom, but it does work as a nice complement and shows that the group may have some staying power. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 4 Title: NYPC Released: 2013-10-07 Tracks: 10 Duration: 45:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Hard Knocks (04:27) 2 Sure as the Sun (04:21) 3 Things You Like (04:30) 4 Now Im Your Gun (04:13) 5 I Came Through for You (04:41) 6 You Used to Be a Man (03:31) 7 Overtime (04:01) 8 Play Hard (04:28) 9 Everything Is (05:38) 10 L.O.V.E. (05:28) |