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EP T IPP I N G P O I N T emember the carefree, coke-quaffing era of Ronald Reagan and Family Ties? What about the way it simply delayed the inevitable—a downward spiral of economic despair? Regardless of if you do, we’re there again, on the precipice between prosperity and end-of-days rhetoric about inconvenient truths and economic bailouts that may or may not be able to stop the bleeding. In other words, it’s high time for a cold-wave revival, dredging up the dread and icy synth lines of French acts such as KaS Product, Mathematiques Modernes and The (Hypothetical) Prophets. Ask the members of Poni Hoax about their potential role in such a welcome movement—as championed by such recent comps as So Young But So Cold and BIPPP— and they’ll bounce the following answers off one another: “I was born in 1970,” says vocalist Nicolas Ker. “By the end of that decade, I was only listening to the Ramones and Black Sabbath.” “Well, I was born in 1975,” adds keyboardist/composer Laurent Bardainne. “I didn’t know [cold-wave] bands until two years ago. They’re close to us, though, maybe because there’s no real blues/rock-’n’-roll background in France.” Oddly enough, the only band Poni Hoax's five members can agree on is the Doors. In fact, Bardainne describes Ker as “the neighborhood’s local Jim Morrison. Not only for his voice, if you know what I mean.” Oh, we know what you mean about his voice. Caught somewhere between a standardized croon and a subterranean bellow, it feels like the Lizard King dressed in skinny black jeans, a sleek button-up and swatches of mascara. All 34 R without a trace of irony, as if Ker the interviewee—a sarcastic bastard in the best way, if you must know—was heavily medicated and struck with a perpetual case of melancholy. “I don’t give a damn,” says Ker when we suggest that Poni Hoax is a pleasant break from Paris’s leading export: Ed Banger-esque electro. “I only listen to the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Primal Scream nowadays.” Something tells us he’s not kidding. As close as “You’re Gonna Miss My Love” comes to a frenzied take on Franz Ferdinand, most of Poni Hoax’s second full-length, Images of Sigrid (Tigersushi), splices timeless cold-wave touches with traces of vintage soundtrack music. Rather than sounding like a pastiche of the past, it resembles a lost ’79 LP, reissued and remastered for Carlos D. types. “Our influences come more from songs than bands,” explains Bardainne. “You like the bridge of this Prince song, the drum beat of that Daft Punk song and a Robert Palmer melody, and you try to mix it all. “[Ennio] Morricone, John Barry, John Carpenter and all the music of ‘La Nouvelle Vague’ [period] in cinema had a fresh and funny futurist approach to synth [compositions], with a big sense of melody and drama.” Poni Hoax has already started applying this approach to yet another album tentatively titled Darkness/Happiness, which Ker says is about “the gorgeous side of war.” Or not. As Bardainne puts it, “French people always try to be serious and dark when they do music, even when it’s ridiculous.” ANDREW PARKS / PHOTO BY SARAH MAXWELL http://www.myspace.com/ponihoax http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2008/09/06/peep-show-poni-hoax-pretty-tall-girls-live/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldwave_(France http://www.french-new-wave.com/ http://www.szajner.net/ http://www.discogs.com/artist/Math�matiques+Modernes http://www.discogs.com/artist/Math�matiques+Modernes http://www.discogs.com/release/1319202 http://www.tigersushi.com/site/TSI/index.htm http://www.myspace.com/bippppsybsc/sybsc.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_New_Wave Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of self-titled - no. 2self-titled - no. 2ContentsMarnie SternSpinto BandMichnaLindstromFlaming LipsThe Faint on Aphex TwinHarvey MilkOf MontrealGrowingTricky - The self-titled InterviewContents (continued)A Place to Bury StrangersJay ReatardThe Melvinsself-titled - no. 2self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 1)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 2)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 3)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 4)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 5)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 6)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 7)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 8)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 9)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 10)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 11)self-titled - no. 2 - self-titled - no. 2 (Page 12)self-titled - no. 2 - Contents (Page 13)self-titled - no. 2 - Marnie Stern (Page 14)self-titled - no. 2 - Spinto Band (Page 15)self-titled - no. 2 - Michna (Page 16)self-titled - no. 2 - Michna (Page 17)self-titled - no. 2 - Michna (Page 18)self-titled - no. 2 - Lindstrom (Page 19)self-titled - no. 2 - Flaming Lips (Page 20)self-titled - no. 2 - Flaming Lips (Page 21)self-titled - no. 2 - The Faint on Aphex Twin (Page 22)self-titled - no. 2 - The Faint on Aphex Twin (Page 23)self-titled - no. 2 - Harvey Milk (Page 24)self-titled - no. 2 - Harvey Milk (Page 25)self-titled - no. 2 - Of Montreal (Page 26)self-titled - no. 2 - Growing (Page 27)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 28)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 29)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 30)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 31)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 32)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 33)self-titled - no. 2 - Tricky - The self-titled Interview (Page 34)self-titled - no. 2 - Contents (continued) (Page 35)self-titled - no. 2 - A Place to Bury Strangers (Page 36)self-titled - no. 2 - A Place to Bury Strangers (Page 37)self-titled - no. 2 - A Place to Bury Strangers (Page 38)self-titled - no. 2 - A Place to Bury Strangers (Page 39)self-titled - no. 2 - A Place to Bury Strangers (Page 40)self-titled - no. 2 - A Place to Bury Strangers (Page 41)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 42)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 43)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 44)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 45)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 46)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 47)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 48)self-titled - no. 2 - Jay Reatard (Page 49)self-titled - no. 2 - The Melvins (Page 50)self-titled - no. 2 - The Melvins (Page 51)self-titled - no. 2 - The Melvins (Page 52)self-titled - no. 2 - The Melvins (Page 53)http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/popmartmedia/self-titled_no5http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/popmartmedia/self-titled_no4http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/popmartmedia/self-titled_no3http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/popmartmedia/self-titled_no2http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/popmartmedia/self-titled_no1http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com

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