New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom & The Optimist (2007/2010)

London dance-rock group New Young Pony Club initially featured Tahita Bulmer (vocals), Andy Spence (guitar), Igor Volk (bass), Lou Hayter (keyboards), and Sarah Jones (drums). Inspired by LCD Soundsystem, the Stranglers, and Gang of Four, the band arrived with the release of the Ice Cream 7" in February 2005. The limited-edition pressing of 1,000 copies sold out in just three days, fueling New Young Pony Club's growing popularity among the U.K. music press and chic blogs. A deal with Modular Recordings, home to Wolfmother, the Avalanches, and Van She, and a second single, "The Get Go," followed before the year's end, but New Young Pony Club were still aiming to break overseas. They got it when their biggest U.K. hit, "Ice Cream," was featured in the Intel Core 2 Duo television commercial in fall 2006. U.K. tour dates supporting Lily Allen followed in November. Fantastic Playroom, the group's first album, finally surfaced in 2007, after which bassist Volk departed the band the following year. Even considering the band's extensive touring, the wait for its second long-player, The Optimist, was a lengthy one; the album was issued in 2010. Hayter and Jones subsequently decided to leave the group and, now comprising the duo of Bulmer and Spence, New Young Pony Club changed their name to NYPC. The eponymous album NYPC arrived in 2013.