Take 'em on their own terms please
John R. Hodgkinson | 01/19/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"True, everybody in their right mind wishes there were more My Bloody Valentine output. But why blame Snowpony? Also true, they're an acquired taste, but after a few listens to the first album, the clunky samples and the torpid vocals magically transmogrify, respectively, into robust post-rock musical punctuation and drop-dead impersonal sexy (at least for me). The second album is more of the same, thus exposing Snowpony to further critics' agendas. But my prescription for the adventurous is get the first album used, and failing that, take a chance on the second."
9% Stereolab, 3% My Bloody Valentine, 100% Kitsch
Bryan M. MCNEELY | Fort Wayne, Indiana United States | 01/24/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Snowpony's first release was adorned with a cute, little sticker that essentially read that they were a culmination of former members of Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine. Fans of either (or both) bands should have been tickled to find Snowpony's "The Slow Motion World of Snowpony" sitting on the shelves waiting to be bought, heard and enjoyed.
...and in some ways, there certainly was enjoyment to be had! Well, a little, maybe.
Stereolab's trademark lounge-pop intermingling with experimental electro-pop was there, as was My Bloody Valentine's staticky fuzz. ..but together, the final product seemed less like those two bands and more like a band who was merely mimicking the two.
With "Sea Shanties for Spaceships," the formula was repeated. No funny sticker to remind us where they came from, but the sound remained. More goofy pop and fuzz thrown together with fairly monotone female vocals. Not looping and heavenly like MBV or even sophisticated and "Frenchy" like Stereolab, just monotone. No singing, really. Is this Snowpony's legacy? A by-product of two successful bands, but with a generally boring singer instead?
Not fair, but sadly true. "Sea Shanties..." doesn't impress much. Aside from a very few stand-out tracks that haphazardly sound like accidental hits instead of misses, the album is easily forgettable.
The band should spend more time developing their own sound and not try so hard to play the role of chemists and try to combine unrelated styles of music."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1