Wednesday, December 24, 2008

REVIEW: Snowpony - The Slowmotion World Of Snowpony

5.75 out of 10

I bought a Snowpony album for the same reason everyone else did. Because super groups always make you imagine a super spawn of the bands before it. "What if members from My bloody valentine, Stereolab, and Quickspace got together and made a record?" Well they did. They made three, and this is their first one. The CD came with a huge sticker on the front explaining this, and you can't get it off without ripping up the whole case. This is a great metaphor for the major problem with the album. If i didn't know who your members were, I would like this album a whole lot more. I can't help but compare them to their former bands. Snowpony, I know you are your own band. I know you should be able to stand on your own. It's the sticker that sold the albums, but its the sticker that held you back.

Anyway that aside, it is a fairly decent album. The music kicks ass for the most part. Weird noises and samples ( They sample everyone from Sonic youth, to The Sonics, to Blixa Bargeld) bubble underneath a nineties rock album. Katherine Gifford(the Stereolab/Moonshake portion) composed and sings on all the songs. Her vocals aren't dynamic and don't really work most of the time. She speak/sings over most of the songs, and it's terribly frustrating. Maybe she was trying to get her poetic lyrics across, but it's like they're standing still in the middle of a great party. Damn it mix them down and bring out more of the awesome noise.

Bottom Line: Awesome noises and samples, but rigid vocals drown the album. Ignore the fact that it's a super group. They don't sound anything like MVB, and mostly remind me of Moonshake.

Standout tracks: Pylon, John Brown(triumph march), St. Lucys Gate, A Way To Survive

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