Dustin Wong

All Music Guide:

Hawaiian-born Dustin Wong of indie art rock groups Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine took the idea of going solo literally. A performer of instrumental guitar pieces, Wong performed his first show (in August of 2009) by his lonesome, aided only by a pedal board that he used to build a cacophony of textures through delay effects and loop units. His first release, the Seasons LP, followed the same format of unaccompanied guitar, and his second release, the cassette-only Let It Go for WTRCL, found him expanding his horizons with a touch of keyboard and drum machine. In autumn of 2010, Thrill Jockey released Infinite Love. Wong relocated to Japan and connected with Shibuya-kei artist Takako Minekawa after playing some shows in 2011. The pair collaborated on 2013's Toropical Circle, which blended Wong's experimental tendencies with Minekawa's deceptively playful melodies.

Wikipedia:

Dustin Wong is a Chinese/American guitarist formerly active in the art-rock band Ponytail and a former member of the experimental guitar duo, Ecstatic Sunshine (along with Matthew Papich).

Biography[edit]

Wong's style is characterized by influences of surf rock, John Fahey. Wong was born in Hawaii and grew up in Japan (although he is half Chinese, half American). Together with Matt Papich he formed the duo Ecstatic Sunshine and released two albums. Wong left Ecstatic Sunshine in 2007 to fully focus on Ponytail and solo projects. Wong's first solo record is set for a June 2009 release on Wildfire Wildfire and is entitled Seasons. Wong published a second solo-album Infinite Love in October 2010. A 40-minute piece cut into 15 tracks and then re-done on a 2nd CD. This instrumental release appeared on Thrill Jockey. After releasing the record he went on tour in Europe. Although Dustin Wong had announced that Whartscape 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland would be the last Ponytail show, a new album was announced. The band released their third full-length album, titled Do Whatever You Want All The Time, in April 2011. However Ponytail broke up on September 22. 2011. Wong moved to New York and continued as a solo artist and published his third record in February 2012. Dustin contributed to Flamingods' debut album Sun, providing guitar backing for the album's lead single 'Quesso'. A collaboration with Takako Minekawa led to the album Toropical Circle (2013).Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).