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    <title>newyoungponyclub's Journals on Buzznet</title>
    <description><![CDATA[NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB BIOG

Tahita Bulmer and Andy Spence are explaining their band, New Young Pony Club.

Tahita: The thing with us is, we’re not 15-year-old boys singing in a garage with leather jackets and a manifesto. 
Andy: We do have a manifesto.
Tahita: But it’s a lot less bombastic… It’s a subtle manifesto.
Andy: What Ty is trying to say is that most bands…
Tahita: No, what I am saying…
Andy: Well, this is the obviously the other thing with us: antagonistic affection…

Saddle up! A classic Morrissey/Marr axis lies at the warm, beating heart of NYPC – production guru Andy playing Mr Music to frontwoman/ singer Tahita’s all-mouth-and-trousers. It’s a singular chemistry that’s marked NYPC as one of 2007’s most talked-about, must-hear, must-see bands. 

They have already achieved plenty. Based on the not unreasonable belief that music should offer more than sullen boys wearing trilby hats, NYPC singles “Ice Cream” and “The Bomb” have already proved irresistible. Simultaneously targeting heads, hearts and feet, these were glorious tunes that left the safe harbour of easy categorisation for the clear blue seas of ‘anything goes’. “Indie” or “dance”, perhaps – but only in the same way that you might say that about Talking Heads, Blondie or ESG. Anyway, they easily made good on Tahita and Andy’s hopes: to put the fun back, and get people dancing.

Tahita: “We wanted to get everyone dancing. Just joining in. Not being po-faced. Yeah, alright, you may be the A&amp;R guy from the biggest bloody major label – but do you actually have to stand there and look like a twat? No, you don’t. You could be enjoying yourself. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is life. Do you want to think of yourself on your deathbed standing at an amazing gig drinking a pint and trying to look cool?”

Now NYPC have done more than perhaps would be reasonably expected of a great singles band: they’ve made a great album. In fact, with their unconventional backgrounds – Andy a graduate of UOL: The University Of Life, with his peace-activist, CND-mad mum and Tahita raised in transit somewhere between Egypt, a Greek motorway and New York City (“I survived! And didn’t become a brat. Or a teenage mother”) – you might say Fantastic Playroom is the album they’ve been destined to make all their lives. “To do anything,” Andy reasons, “You’ve got to do it your own way.”

Andy: We met along the way, though different bands. Neither of us were really excited by them...
Tahita: We were really mingingly unhappy! I was in a band where I was being made to stand on stage and sing like Sarah Cracknell.  I wanted to do an Iggy Pop thing. I always have.
Andy: That’s how we bonded. We could sniff a new direction. A British equivalent to what James Murphy, The Rapture and others were doing in New York.

They put out “Ice Cream” in early 2005. 500 copies. The response was insane. A “headfuck”. Instantly playlisted on XFM and eventually spangling its ankles onto MTV2 in The States – no mean feat for a channel that has all but given up on music – via a transatlantic telly ad for computer processors, no less. They signed to like-minded label Modular, sometime home to The Avalanches, Cut Copy and Wolfmother. They found fans in David Bowie (Favourite line: “Let your girlfriend do what your boyfriend can’t”, from “Get Lucky”), Lily Allen and Daniel Radcliffe.  Tahita lit up NME’s “Cool List”. Then they wheeled out the big guns, muscling up their live show with Sarah Jones (drums), Igor Volk (bass) and Lou Hayter (keyboards), making the NYPC on-stage experience a complimentary, but very different, one to NYPC on-record.

Tahita: We always imagined it being a live band, rather than Andy standing there going ‘Hi, I’m Dave Stewart. And this is my good friend Annie Lennox.”

As anyone who caught them on the NME Rave Tour earlier this year alongside Klaxons and CSS, or gigging their way from Europe to Australia and back, will tell: they’re a riot. See them this summer – they’re “doing” the festivals.

But first: Fantastic Playroom. Really, it’s everything you hope every album is going to be. Packed with tunes, yes – but literate, funny, sad, just-weird-enough, crazy, sexy and cool to boot. (Sometimes, dance-based music forgets it’s allowed to be all these things.) From an undeniable “Get Lucky”/”Hiding On The Staircase”/“Ice Cream”/“The Bomb” opening salvo to the potential-future-NYPC-direction and quite Grace Jones-y “FAN” via the overtly pop “Grey”, it gets everything right. Most of all, it’s really good fun. Those bungled, off-time handclaps and back-of-class giggles? Left in during recording, because… well, they sum up Fantastic Playroom’s spirit as much as anything else. Oh, and the lyrics are great.

Tahita: The lyrics are provocative. Whether sexually provocative or intellectually provocative. Who says you can’t have songs that have a cultural resonance, that have a sing-a-long chorus, that make you go away and think, make you want to fall in love with somebody or dance? And why shouldn’t that exist in the same moment?
Andy: I was listening to the lyrics to ‘The Get Go’ and thinking: ‘What’s that about?’
Tahita: You know what it’s about!
Andy: Everytime I ask you, you kind of avoid the subject. ‘Cos I don’t think you know…
Tahita: Of course I know!  

And they’re off!]]></description>
    <link>http://newyoungponyclub.buzznet.com/user/journal/</link>
    <language>en-us</language>
		    <item>
	      <title><![CDATA[Get the back story on 'Fantastic Playroom']]></title>
	      <link>http://newyoungponyclub.buzznet.com/user/journal/1061221/</link>
	      <description><![CDATA[We the people of the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.buzznet.com/tags/newyoungponyclub">New Young Pony Club</a> </span>want to share with you what it took to make each song on our new album "Fantastic Playroom." Here's what happened: <a href="http://www.wearepony.com"></a><br><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br></span><img src="http://img.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/1/3/5/7/6/1/orig-1135761.jpg" border="0"><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>1. Get Lucky</span></div><div style="margin: 0px;">This is one of our favourite tracks. We listened to it</div><div style="margin: 0px;">obsessively while we wrote it and then after we finished it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span>&nbsp;</span>Andy had a large portion of the track written before he gave it to</div><div style="margin: 0px;">me. It wasn't arranged so once I wrote the lyrics and we recorded them</div><div style="margin: 0px;">we arranged it together and added more bits which took about two</div><div style="margin: 0px;">months. I was working a day job at the time and so we were only</div><div style="margin: 0px;">working weekends on our music. I love the lyrics to this track. They</div><div style="margin: 0px;">are about having a good period in your life and reaching out to</div><div style="margin: 0px;">someone who isnt and bringing them up with you.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; font-weight: bold;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">2. Hiding on the Staircase</div><div style="margin: 0px;">This is an interesting one as Andy gave me a simple back track with</div><div style="margin: 0px;">the basic keyboards and drums over nine months before i had the</div><div style="margin: 0px;">inspiration to write to it. I actually got the muse at a friend's gig</div><div style="margin: 0px;">who I hadn't seen for years and was alternately running into the venue</div><div style="margin: 0px;">to watch them play and then running out again to jot down more lyrics</div><div style="margin: 0px;">in the relative piece and quiet of the local high st. A lot of people</div><div style="margin: 0px;">think this song is about sex (like all of our songs) but its actually</div><div style="margin: 0px;">about the experience of watching your parents having the same</div><div style="margin: 0px;">arguement day in day out and you understanding that they're in a rut</div><div style="margin: 0px;">better than they do.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">3. Ice Cream</div><div style="margin: 0px;">A song I wrote in a dead end job, with virtually no money. Couldn't go</div><div style="margin: 0px;">out much. No discernable boyfriend. I am talking about an idealised</div><div style="margin: 0px;">self living in an idealised world of parties and sexy boys and girls</div><div style="margin: 0px;">saying exactly what needs to be said with no bullshit. When Andy</div><div style="margin: 0px;">worked on the track originally it had a bit more of a ragga/rnb flava</div><div style="margin: 0px;">but he reworked it with more of a Franz/Rapture slant in mind and it</div><div style="margin: 0px;">became the stormer we know today.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">4. The Bomb</div><div style="margin: 0px;">This song has had so many different faces. Its a proper "throw</div><div style="margin: 0px;">everything at the wall and see what sticks" moment. We had so many</div><div style="margin: 0px;">ideas we put them all in.<span>&nbsp; </span>Its pop but sort of detached as well with a</div><div style="margin: 0px;">gentle lullling breakdown that slams into this lush keyboard drenched</div><div style="margin: 0px;">crescendo and rousing outro. I had just read a book about men in</div><div style="margin: 0px;">science and the Einstein chapter had be revealatory as the author</div><div style="margin: 0px;">suggested that perhaps Alberts wife Mileva had been far more to his</div><div style="margin: 0px;">work then just a supportive partner. The lyrics posit the age old</div><div style="margin: 0px;">battle of the sexes within the context of Einstein's work and</div><div style="margin: 0px;">ultimately his need to disassociate himself from it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">5. Jerk Me</div><div style="margin: 0px;">A song about sex and repression. I was thinking about that moment in</div><div style="margin: 0px;">so many films/tv shows of the 70s/ early 80s where the dowdy secretary</div><div style="margin: 0px;">takes off her glasses and shakes out her hair to reveal " yes she's</div><div style="margin: 0px;">the hottest woman on earth...how could we never have noticed????" Jerk</div><div style="margin: 0px;">me up could be read as a plea for release from the sexual repression</div><div style="margin: 0px;">that we all put ourselves through. All this over a track that probably</div><div style="margin: 0px;">nods its head far more to early Madonna then we realised at the time.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">6. The Get Go</div><div style="margin: 0px;">This song was originally a crazy uptempo punk Disco track, I took the verses</div><div style="margin: 0px;">and recorded the driving bassline and drums around it. Tahita came and</div><div style="margin: 0px;">recorded the Hook and then I finished it off. Simple! It's one of my</div><div style="margin: 0px;">favourite tracks on the album and should be a massive hit by my reckoning?</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">7. Talking Talking</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Another of my favourites, this is the darkest and most introspective songs</div><div style="margin: 0px;">on the album which is really important for any album to balance out the more</div><div style="margin: 0px;">up moments. Again the vocal track was written to some other music but I</div><div style="margin: 0px;">reworked it with a new Prophet 5 keyboard we'd just bought with our advance!</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; font-weight: bold;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">8. Grey</div><div style="margin: 0px;">One of the later tracks to be written it went through many versions before</div><div style="margin: 0px;">finally settling on this. I'll never forget the moment when Tahita came up</div><div style="margin: 0px;">with the hook. It was the only one she did in front of me and I knew it was</div><div style="margin: 0px;">genuis as soon as she sang it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; font-weight: bold;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">9. FAN</div><div style="margin: 0px;">A departure in style for us. Completely intentionally to give the album some</div><div style="margin: 0px;">variation. Started off really raw like an ESG track or something but Tahita</div><div style="margin: 0px;">wrote the chorus hook and it ended up being more R n B. It sounded great but</div><div style="margin: 0px;">needed something else so we I wrote a middle 8 bass line. Tahita did all the</div><div style="margin: 0px;">crazy harmonies all in about 30mins!</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;">10. Tight Fit</div><div style="margin: 0px;">One of the oldest songs that almost didn't make it. We had another song for</div><div style="margin: 0px;">the album that just never sounded right and even in the mix stage we were</div><div style="margin: 0px;">changing it. We'd even stopped playing Tight Fit live then someone suggested</div><div style="margin: 0px;">we rework it so we asked Tom Elmhirst who mixed the album to spruce it up</div><div style="margin: 0px;">and this was the result. A great closer!</div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">To learn more about us and how to snag our album <a href="http://www.wearepony.com/"> visit our Web site.</a></div>]]></description>
		  		  	<category>music</category>
		  		  	<category>newyoungponyclub</category>
		  		  <category>Buzznet</category>
	      <dc:creator>newyoungponyclub</dc:creator>
	      <dc:date>2007-09-27T09:43:00Z</dc:date>
	    </item>
		    <item>
	      <title><![CDATA[FREE MP3 FROM NYPC]]></title>
	      <link>http://newyoungponyclub.buzznet.com/user/journal/984601/</link>
	      <description><![CDATA[Click <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/tags/newyoungponyclub"> HERE</a> and visit the Community page to download the  "Ice Cream (Metal on Metal Remix)" track now!]]></description>
		  		  	<category>indie rock</category>
		  		  	<category>music</category>
		  		  	<category>new young pony club</category>
		  		  	<category>nypc</category>
		  		  <category>Buzznet</category>
	      <dc:creator>newyoungponyclub</dc:creator>
	      <dc:date>2007-09-11T18:19:00Z</dc:date>
	    </item>
		    <item>
	      <title><![CDATA[Debut album Fantastic Playroom out August 28! Pre-order at Insound.com]]></title>
	      <link>http://newyoungponyclub.buzznet.com/user/journal/802561/</link>
	      <description><![CDATA[NYPC's album Fantastic Playroom is getting rave reviews everywhere!<br><br>8.2 - Pitchfork<br><br>"A beat that hits the bloodstream like a sugar rush." - Pitchfork<br><br>"The tarted up little sister the Slits never had, and the naughty girlfriend the Tom Tom Club always wanted." - XLR8R<br><br>&nbsp;“A fantastic collision of synths, cowbells, handclaps and filthy lyrics – what more do you need?” - NME<br><br>&nbsp;“Glorious…an amazing band”&nbsp; - The Sunday Times Culture<br><br>“A seductive slab of New Order-meets-ESG disco punk" - Time Out<br><br>Nominated for the Mercury Prize (UK) for Album of the Year!<br><br><br>You can pre-order the NYPC's debut album at Insound.com!!<br><br>Here is the direct link to buy:&nbsp; http://search.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?p=INS37181<br>]]></description>
		  		  	<category>dance</category>
		  		  	<category>fantastic playroom</category>
		  		  	<category>indie</category>
		  		  	<category>modular</category>
		  		  	<category>new wave</category>
		  		  	<category>nypc</category>
		  		  <category>Buzznet</category>
	      <dc:creator>newyoungponyclub</dc:creator>
	      <dc:date>2007-08-10T12:34:00Z</dc:date>
	    </item>
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