"BEG WAVES" BY PONYTAIL / I only Have a Page and a Half.

"Primal spaz-rockers Ponytail raid a Queens laundromat in the latest edition of Pitchfork TV's analog-meets-Internet show, A>D>D. Armed with a rudimentary four-track recorder, the quartet scares off the clientele and gives new meaning to the term "spin cycle." Courtesy of Pitchfork.tv

Please Double Click to Read Bio: www.jeremyhyman.com

Historical Side Of Things: I wanted to post Ponytail's bio because I couldn't think of a better way to tell you how they formed. What I can talk about is their contribution to art rock and DIY movements. We live in a Clear Channel/Live Nation monopoly. Some, the product of middle class families who couldn't quite afford to send us away to college and a lot of us battling homogeneity. DIY (Do It Yourself) is working with what you have... doing it on your own, legally or not... risking a police raid for the sake of a low budget rock show in an abandoned warehouse or co-op. Especially in an 'economic climate' that is pretty bleak, the best part about this form of expression is that it's real. At least I think so. There is less commerciality, which is something I think is incredibly important since most main stream music is buried in profit margins. Also, I think this is also very appealing to the audience of this movement of music, especially while living in New York City: a living, breathing advertisement...

Open Viewings: Total Number: More than Several:
-A lot of movement in this piece, rhythm influences dance and vice versa.
-The song grows and expands and then collapses, fitting to the scene in the laundromat... ending like a cycle.


Syntax: Beg Waves = Tongue Trill Between LA Release on Ti/Waa Waa in E Major/ Notice theRe ARe No REal WordDS in this Song.
-Opening Theme: Bass Pounding E Major
-Main Compositional theme is built in the E Major scale scrounging and feeling around the scale.
-Gold Mean: Centered around lead guitar teeter tottering between la and do.

Virtual Feeling: Maybe this whole thing is Virtual Feeling.. or is that Meta Critique?
So this is where we look at the performance aspect of the song? I guess this ties into the my historical analysis aspect of this analysis because their stage is lineoleum in a laundromat in Queens. Their audience scared away and yet they're completely un-phased. Molly Siegel's dance, a bouncing squat, as free as the piece.


My Reaction/Extreme Bias/Meta Critique:There's integrity in art rock... at least for now.

"Beg Waves," as big as color.

I guess my suggestions for a further analysis would include really dissecting the piece (syntactically) and fully analyzing the performance. But I'd probably never get that far because I can't really stop listening/watching it. There are several live videos of Ponytail (un-edited) but it's very difficult to find tapings with good sound quality. I think this critique could and should incorporate other artists of this movement and its effect on audiences. The barrier break down between artist and audience, the stage (the physical kind) removed, leaving more room for dance parties.

Music Video By: Michael Guidetti & David Berezin.



Find the Ponytail myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/jreamteam