Stereo sacrilege

Every band has influences; it is the inescapable nature of music evolution. Musicians grow up listening to the bands that inspire them to make music, and that inspiration will always echo in the art that follows. However, there is a serious difference between a subtle homage to one's heroes and utterly ripping off the classically loved sounds of our heroes with a marked inability to innovate from that base. At first listen, (or perhaps a listen by undiscerning ears) The Ponys are a heavy, multi-dimensional, infectious foray into ultra-chic Brit-rock, except they're three dudes and a chick from Chicago who sound so much like the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sonic Youth and Joy Division that I'd swear they directly lifted the vintage throwback riffs (complete with stylish tambourine) from "Vacuum Boots" and "Cabin Fever," sampled the feedback from "Stereo Sanctity," and kidnapped Peter Hook, forcing him to recreate bass lines from the ironically classic, "Closer," under pain of being forced to listen to that bad pseudo-English accent until the rapture.\nTo be fair, The Ponys are undeniably technically proficient in their gritty third album, Turn the Lights Out. Their round, ambient tones coalesce heavy like the Jesus and Mary Chain or the Warlocks and interweave seamlessly into a hypnotic wall of sound. Jared Gummere's charmingly pouty vocals fluctuate between a Television-style emoting and the disturbingly heavy musings of Swans, circa-1995. Their vague lyrics serve more as a means to elicit a certain atmosphere of fashionable angst than to convey a coherent story or message. With non-committal word usage encapsulating a cool sense of having been at some time moderately affected by another's apathy, the lyrics combine with the ambient feedback to build a desirably chic aesthetic. \nTurn the Lights Out is certainly an entertaining listen, but their technical proficiency and fashionably edgy lyrics are not enough to salvage the fact that they should probably be sued for copyright infringement and taken out back to be beaten mercilessly on sheer principle. It is damnable sacrilege to the godparents of indie rock for this group to so audaciously lift the sounds innovated by the classics and not even attempt to put something organic onto the radio waves. However, if abuses to the sanctity of stereo don't bother you so much or if you want the Cliff's Notes version of the roots of indie rock, Turn the Lights Out could be a pleasurable addition to any quirky music collection.