Ponytail have been playing together for about four years now and it shows. While the join where the energetic stop-starts have been edited into place is just about noticeable, the skill and confidence that have gone into this well-produced demo CD shine through nonetheless. The two songs on display here flawlessly capture the propulsive, melodic, headlong tear through the streets that is one of the most impressive aspects of their live performance. It also brilliantly showcases the rich interplay between the two guitars, one going "Ting!", the other going "Wah!" and both dropping in and out of the song with casual ease and metronomic precision.

On the evidence of this, Ponytail are more interested in creating a sound than in writing songs and the tunes here are buried so deeply under the weight of the multi-layered bass and guitars that you feel like the tracks might as well be instrumental. Still, very impressive instrumentals they are at that and if you catch them live there are plenty more gems in their set waiting to be uncovered.

Both tracks are listed as available from http://sound.jp/ponytail/ but when I tested the link I got no response. You can buy it with a case and sleeve for 100yen at their gig. -Ian Martin, Apr.03.04

Distract Memory/Koedo Satellites (Demo)