SNOWPONY John Brown (Radioactive)

On paper Snowpony look like a phenomenally good idea. They’re a three-piece consisting of Katharine Gifford (once Stereolab’s keyboard player and the singer in Moonshake - another band I’ve seen supporting Theweddingpresent, strangely enough), Debbie Googe (ex My Bloody Valentine bassist) and one Kevin Bass, who was also in Moonshake. This, their new single, was produced by Chicago post-rock legend, member of Tortoise and Trans Am producer John McEntire and is released by the label Black Grape (or the remains of Black Grape, if rumours are to be believed) are signed to. And at time of typing they’re touring the countryside supporting with Pavement-style lo-fi enthusiasts Grandaddy. In indie terms all this should make Snowpony a supergroup of Cream-like proportions.

On the silver stuff, however...well, they’re not bad at all, actually. Their sound is something of an acquired taste - sort of like a diluted My Bloody Valentine, with a fair acreage of strange production gloop that just has to be the work of Mr McEntire - but once you get into it, it’s, well, pretty groovy, really, certainly as strange as their leftfield credentials would suggest, but oddly elastically funky with it. Stay tuned, as their debut album, featuring Sonic Youth and Nick Cave samples, it says here, is due to land in January.