About Ponytail

There are at least two artists by the name Ponytail. 1) Ponytail was a noise rock band which formed in Baltimore, Maryland, United States in 2005. The band consists of Willy Siegel (vocals), Ken Seeno (guitar), Dustin Wong (guitar) and Jeremy Hyman (drums). They have released three albums, "Kamehameha" (2007), "Ice Cream Spiritual" (2008) and "Do Whatever You Want All the Time" (2011). The band disbanded in September 2011. 2) Ponytail (Samuli Tanner) is one of the bright young talents of Helsinki's musical underground and is internationally probably best known as one half of the dubstep production team Clouds. Ponytail's music could be called experimental dubstep or hiphop, but one that's infused with a refined anti-musicianship and roughness that has similarities with the approach of Pekka Airaksinen, the Finnish electronic music maverick of the 60's generation. In Ponytail's case the resistance to commercial slickness originates in punk rock and Finnish agrarian folk music. Samuli spent most of his teens in punk groups, and he says that his music's out-of-tuneness and wayward rhythms have first of all to do with punk spirit, but also the traditional "pelimanni spirit" of Finnish folk music - Tanner's family has spawned folk musicians for several generations. Charles Mingus and other jazz innovators of the past are sources of inspiration as well, and another trait shared with Pekka Airaksinen is the way both musicians borrow elements and sample liberally from an eclectic variety of electronic genres, but without paying dues to the conventions and meanings of the originals, which results in shockingly new and personal music.