The Ponys "Turn The Lights Out"

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I have not seen a thread for The Ponys new record and was wondering what the ILM consensus is on this band, but more specifically on this record. I dug Laced with Romance, parts of Celebration Castle are good, others not so good. So far I've only listened to once Turn The Lights Out once, but I like what I've heard. Also, has anyone seen them live, any good?

― oscar, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

They're really good live - They're a Chicago band, so I'm partial - but always give a fun, energetic show whether they're supporting some luminary passing through town or chugging out their own gig. I used to live in Bloomington IL (oh crap I was an old music fan then too - ugh), and for a while there, the Pony's Jerad (and I think another guy from the Pony's) were in a shit hot, estrus/crypt -like surf/garage unit called 'The Defilers' - I still pull their 45's from this time out every now and then and realize they were heading to better things - I'm picking up this rekkid tomorrow 'cause I loved their others quite a bit.

― BlackIronPrison, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 02:55 (eighteen years ago)

i'm going to see them sunday on a whim. i'm curious to see if they sound as much like recent sonic youth records live as they do on [i]turn the lights out[i].

― fukasaku tollbooth, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:47 (eighteen years ago)

ditto on the live stuff....i dig celebration castle don't have the first one, but they really tore it up live.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:48 (eighteen years ago)

the one dude is super tall too! that suprised the hell out of me. like dude from the queens of the stone age tall.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 21:49 (eighteen years ago)

hm, i started an anticipation thread about this a while back, but i can't find it anymore. anyway yeah this is great, not quite as awesome as celebration castle (which is one of the better rock records of this millennium even though a lot of people seem to think it's too gothy or whatever). more consistent than laced with romance, too, even though the highs aren't quite as high. i miss ian. but shit dudes, "small talk," "double vision," "maybe i'll try" = so class.

i'm gonna be seeing them saturday with the black lips! should be fantastique.

here's a few live-in-studio versions of four of the songs from this record. nothing revelatory, but very good: http://www.daytrotter.com/article/601/free-songs-the-ponys

― pretzel walrus, Thursday, 22 March 2007 14:04 (eighteen years ago)

i liked Celebration Castle more. they've gone with a much denser production which kind of gums everything up, which is a shame because the songs underneath are just as strong. i love the closer 'Pickpocket Song'. they do a good album closer, The Ponys.

― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 22 March 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

was gonna go monday but new york show is sold out now .... i fucked up

― dmr, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:14 (eighteen years ago)

I saw 'em in London a couple weeks back. They were blazing. Well Sonic Youth though, aye! They also did a bit of anxious rocking, just like Kurdt. Awww.

― gnarly sceptre, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:37 (eighteen years ago)

And I do mean 'rocking', as opposed to 'rockin'. Like a mentalist, y'know? All that leanin' forward and then leanin' back upright, feet anchored to the spot. But never leaning back beyond the vertical. That's strictly for rockin'!

― gnarly sceptre, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

i credit the producer w/ making the album more interesting than it deserves to be. none of the subtle, just beneath the surface bits survive in the live setting. so disappointing!

[then again, the black lips completely killed any hope i had to enjoy the show, as they were the worst sub-mooney suzuki band i've seen in quite some time...and the lead guitarist/singer goes the extra mile and catches his own loogies in his mouth.]

― fukasaku tollbooth, Monday, 26 March 2007 12:34 (eighteen years ago)

then again, the black lips completely killed any hope i had to enjoy the show, as they were the worst sub-mooney suzuki band i've seen in quite some time

UH. sometimes english lacks the terminology to express just how wrong someone is.

lips and ponys were both very excellent in dc on saturday, although goddamn it would it have killed em to do at least something from celebration castle (or anything from laced other than "let's kill ourselves"? they DID play "i wanna fuck you" though, (!!!) which almost made up for it.

― pretzel walrus, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:40 (eighteen years ago)

yeah really duder, how can you not like the black lips???

― Mr. Que, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:14 (eighteen years ago)

it seemed pretty easy last night actually. i kept having this vision of little steven descending to shout "these guys will save rock 'n' roll" and assorted other bullshit commonly associated w/ garage rock and its ilk.

[don't get me wrong, people went batshit nuts for this. and then they left before the ponys took the stage.]

― fukasaku tollbooth, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:22 (eighteen years ago)

i dunno, the black lips are about as far from the little steven "yeah, this is real rock 'n' roll" sterile over-reverent museum-garage aesthetic as is possible, but wvs.

i do agree with you that a lot of the ponys' dynamics got buried, which is a weakness of the new sound's density and overreliance on delay.

― pretzel walrus, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

[i was going batshit nuts for this. i went and played pinball during the second half of the pony's set, but that's neither here nor there because this is a ponys thread and i don't want to sound like i'm dissing the ponys. i can only imagine what you would have thought if cole and ian had made out like they do sometimes!]

― Mr. Que, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:29 (eighteen years ago)

yeah they seem too trashy for little steven

― Mr. Que, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:30 (eighteen years ago)

lips and ponys were both very excellent in dc on saturday, although goddamn it would it have killed em to do at least something from celebration castle (or anything from laced other than "let's kill ourselves"? they DID play "i wanna fuck you" though, (!!!) which almost made up for it.

I was at that show and I had to bail halfway through the Ponys set, so I'm kinda relieved to read this (love Laced and Celebration Castle, not digging the new one yet).

Black Lips fucking ruled. I wouldn't lump them in with other garage revivalists because they write great songs and they're loose enough to avoid the "let's exactly xerox the sound of records from 1966" trap.

― Brent, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:39 (eighteen years ago)

ponys were fucking awful in b-more. black lips were pretty good but nowhere near as good as they had been described to me. i like how the drummer looked like squiggy and a white rapper show cast member had a baby.

― strongohulkington, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

Love the Black Lips. Though I missed this tour, I've seen 'em several times over the past couple years, and they've never been less than inspirational (or at least inspirationally annihilated). But the difference between what they're doing and bog-standard garage rock is probably only gonna be visible to people who've spent a few years "appreciating" bog-standard garage rock. It's not like they stand head and shoulders above the genre (like, say, the white Stripes circa De Stijl). They're promising, but I'm not surprised that a lot of folks would see them as just another Mooney Suziki type garage clone act.

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:50 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going tonight after all .... guess they released more tix, I was able to buy em friday

I like both new records (lips + ponys) so I hope they're good

― dmr, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:50 (eighteen years ago)

they have got to be the worst fucking band matador ever signed.

― davie, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

what'd you think of them (ponys) in comparison to that last show they did at the t. head, jess? i think it was w/jason forrest.

― pretzel walrus, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

also i totally miss ian even more live, he really kept it from becoming the jered show. blah the more i think about it the more i wanna downgrade their set from "very excellent" to "good, but i wish..."

― pretzel walrus, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:06 (eighteen years ago)

well at that show they had the misfortune of following jason forrest

― strongohulkington, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

haha fair enough

― pretzel walrus, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:08 (eighteen years ago)

What the heck is Ian up to, anyway?

Sadly, I think he was the ingredient that took them from being a good band to a great one.

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:02 (eighteen years ago)

Ian released his debut album with Submarine Races last year. It's decentish, but lacks The Ponys' fire and spark. I think I need to pull it out for another spin though, didn't give it much time when it first dropped.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:11 (eighteen years ago)

they have got to be the worst fucking band matador ever signed.

remember the prosaics? it is close tho...

― fukasaku tollbooth, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 18:43 (eighteen years ago)

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