Ducktails (music)

Origins and early recordings

Mondanile started Ducktails in a tool shed in Northampton, Massachusetts the summer before his last year at Hampshire College.^[10][11][12] The band name is a play on the title of the animated television series, DuckTales, from the late 1980s and early 1990s.^[13] He recorded his first release, 1992 Demo, on a 4-track with cheap multi effects pedals and a guitar. After leaving college he moved back to his parents' home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where he recorded in the basement.^[12] Between 2007 and 2012 he recorded several albums, singles, cassettes, and split releases, mostly recorded on cassette tape.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Ducktails' self-titled debut album proper was released in 2009 on the Not Not Fun label, followed later that year with Landscapes. Third studio album Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics was released in 2011 on the Woodsist label, and saw a move away from improvised experiments towards pop.^[18][19] Ducktails releases have received significant critical acclaim, most notably from Pitchfork Media who have favourably reviewed the albums,^[20] and produced two video features on the band.^[21] The band were associated with the mid-2000s hypnagogic pop scene by critics.^[1][2]

The Flower Lane–Jersey Devil

In 2012 Mondanile signed to Domino Records and released The Flower Lane. In contrast to his earlier work, it was recorded in a studio and mixed over the summer of 2012 with Al Carlson (Peaking Lights) and co-written by New Jersey band Big Troubles, who had backed Mondanile in live shows for some time.^[16][22] The ten-track album was released January 28, 2013, preceded by the single "Letter of Intent", which featured vocals from Jessa Farkas of Future Shuttle and bass from Joel Ford of Ford & Lopatin.^{[23][24][25][26]} On January 23, 2013, Pitchfork TV broadcast a live stream of the band's album release show at Manhattan's (Le) Poisson Rouge with guest appearances from Big Troubles, Joel Ford, Jessa Farkas, and Real Estate's Martin Courtney.^[27]

Ducktails have played many international festivals including Primavera Sound^[28] and Field Day. As Ducktails, Mondanile has toured the world solo as well as with a band performing extensively in Australia, Japan, Europe, United States and Canada.^[24][29] Mondanile has also collaborated with Panda Bear of Animal Collective as well as Madeline Follin of Cults and Dan Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never.

On July 25, 2013 Ducktails performed in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art as part of PopRally's MoMa Nights series.^{[24][30][31][32]}

Their music has been positively reviewed by the BBC^[33] and is regularly played on BBC 6Music by the likes of Gideon Coe, Marc Riley and Don Letts.^[34][35][36]

Mondanile runs the New Images record label,^[32] through which he released the 2017 Ducktails album Jersey Devil after Domino - who had released the previous two Ducktails albums - "didn't want to put it out."^[37]

On October 14, 2017, it was reported that Mondanile's departure from Real Estate was due to allegations made against Mondanile regarding his "unacceptable treatment of women."^[38] Prior to the band's statement, Mondanile had denied the allegations.^[39] As a result of the allegations, Ducktails tour dates in Asia and the U.S. were cancelled by the promoters,^[40] publicist Daniel Gill and former label Woodsist ceased working with Ducktails,^[41], and Ducktails was dropped by the Japanese label, Plancha.^[42] Most of Ducktails' albums were also removed from streaming services.^[43] They have since been restored on Spotify.