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Music

Hot & Cold Have No Borders

Just a couple of pajama-wearing losers.

Though they’re currently based on this side of the pond, brothers Josh and Simon Frank (a.k.a. Hot & Cold) have earned more than their fair share of passport stamps. During time spent in Beijing, the globe-spanning synth-creeper duo earned a spot alongside the Rose Mansion Analog crew, joining the ranks of the Offset:Spectacles and Soviet Pop. Hot & Cold’s insta-rare debut cassette was re-issued by Night People last year, and this month, they landed their first release on wax with the Border Area LP thanks to Chicago’s Moniker Records. Grip!

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Rather than a typical interview (borrrinnnggg), I decided to pit the Frank bros head to head and test their knowledge of each other in a round of the Canadian game show Kidstreet. Think The Newlywed Game with siblings instead of married couples, plus miniature racecars and Nintendos as prizes. In the end, the results confirmed what I already knew: Hot & Cold have traveled a lot, they have great taste in music, and exotic tastes in food.

NOISEY: Josh, can you start off by telling me a little bit about Simon?
Josh: Simon is my brother. He’s 21 years old, and Hot & Cold is a logical extension of our brotherhood. I’d like to think that Hot & Cold formed in 1991, the year he was born, and the first implement of our sound-making that is not a natural part of our bodies was acquired in 1995. That was the Yamaha keyboard that Simon continues to use. It’s since become an extension of his body, and also something that he attacks with his body.

Simon, can you tell me a little bit about Josh?
Simon: Josh is 23 years old. He is my brother. He lives in New York right now, but would probably tell people that he’s from Beijing or Montreal. He is a filmmaker, which sounds pretty funny to say. He is also the musical half of Hot & Cold, and he plays bass and keyboard on occasional recordings. Though Hot & Cold formed in 1991, the band as we know it now started when he got a bass for his 16th birthday. He played sax before that, which would be pretty cool to bring back for Hot & Cold if he could get his hands on one.
Josh: I gave up on sax because I wasn’t able to play screaming sounds. Our dad could, though.
Simon: Our dad couldn’t really play sax, but he would sort of improvise. Before we were born, our mom was a singer of an early music group, but also did some experimental stuff. One time they were doing something with Peter Kowald, who was a German free-jazz bassist, and played on Machine Gun with Peter Brotzmann. I may be getting the story wrong, but apparently he told our dad, “For someone who can’t play, you sure make a hell of a lot of noise.”

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Amazing! OK, let’s jump into some game show questions. Write down whatever comes to mind, and then you’ll have to guess what the other person would say. Favorite color—go!
Josh: Jesus. OK.

Josh, what do you think Simon’s answer is?
Josh: I feel like I’m going to get this wrong, but I’m going to say beige.
Simon: I wrote orange. That was my favorite color when I was younger, so I wrote it down instinctively. I was jokingly going to write grey, but I do like beige or khaki clothes.

What do you think Josh’s answer is?
Simon: Blue just came to mind.
Josh: Yeah, I’m predictable. I haven’t changed since…I dunno.
Simon: I feel like, for some things, I might know Josh’s answer better than my own.

Favorite food—go!
Simon: I was thinking about this one today. Can I guess for Josh? Lu Rou Fan.
Josh: Fuck you! I feel like I should be sabotaging myself.

What is Lu Rou Fan?
Simon: It’s this Taiwanese snack food that’s really fatty stewed pork on top of rice. Usually, you get it in really small portions, but the pork just melts in your mouth and the fat flavor seeps into the rice. It’s sometimes served with a boiled egg soaked in tea, and some pickles.

That sounds delicious. OK Josh, what do you think Simon wrote down?
Josh: I feel like he might have put ramen.
Simon: That’s close. It’s Japanese.
Josh: Is it Katsu Curry?
Simon: Yeah. I don’t know if that’s my favorite, but it feels right for me.

Hot & Cold “My Sister Told Me” (live at D-22 in Beijing)

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Favorite place in the world—go!
Josh: Oh god. No.

OK, let’s narrow it down to your favorite city. Josh, what do you think Simon said?
Josh: I don’t think it’s his favorite city, but he might have said Yogyakarta.
Simon: Yup, I said Yogyakarta.

What do you like about it?
Simon: It’s a medium-sized city in Indonesia that’s fairly traditional. There aren’t really any tall buildings and it’s a center of traditional culture like gamelan music. But there’s also a lot of interesting modern things happening, because Indonesia’s top art schools are there, so they have punk and contemporary music as well. Plus, the food is really good.

Punk and gamelan, together at last. What do you think Josh said?
Simon: Probably Beijing.
Josh: No, I said Taipei. Maybe it’s because I was just in Beijing and I didn’t feel like immediately returning to that haze.

OK, this one’s kind of open. What would you say is the most influential artist on Hot & Cold?
Simon: I don’t know what to pick myself, because it could be a question of what’s inspiring us right now or what first inspired us to start making music.

Let’s do both.
Josh: For the origins of Hot & Cold, I think Simon might say DNA.
Simon: I said Sonic Youth.
Josh: Oh yeah, that’s my bad. In terms of more long-term influences, I wrote Spacemen 3, but I think that’s also not true.
Simon: I wrote down Les Rallizes Denudes, but Spacemen 3 might be true. I have no idea what Josh would say. Probably the same things we already said, but maybe throw in Bo Diddley?
Josh: I’d be comfortable with that being written down as our impressions of what influenced us.

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OK, let’s go on to some questions that were actually asked on Kidstreet. How do you like your eggs prepared?
Josh: This is a pretty easy one.
Simon: Yeah, I’m pretty egg-specific.
Josh: Simon demands that his eggs be very dry. Some people call an egg that you scramble and then fold over an omelette, but I don’t think that counts. It does for Simon though, and he would call that a plain omelette.
Simon: [Laughs] That’s exactly what I wrote down. Josh likes an unscrambled fried egg. I can’t remember if it would be over-easy or sunny side up, but if you’re in a sketchy situation it’s better to go with over-easy.
Josh: Yeah, that’s correct.

OK, next question. How many people wear pajamas in your family?
Josh: This has actually changed over the years. You should have asked Simon after…actually, never mind.
Simon: [Laughs] I don’t know if I really feel comfortable talking about this.

Some nude sleeping happening?
Simon: Maybe. I can give a number, but I won’t say who.
Josh: Does a nightgown count as pajamas?

I would say yes. Pajama realm.
Josh: OK, three to four then.

How many people in your family?
Simon: Four.
Josh: That just makes us seem like a bunch of pajama-wearers.
Simon: Is that a bad thing?
Josh: It’s kind of depressing.
Simon: You can streamline in the summer.
Josh: Sometimes you get cold though.
Simon: We’re a bunch of pajama-wearing losers.
Josh: Next question.

If you were about to leave for the moon and could only bring one thing, what would it be?
Josh: Dirty Beaches' Horror LP.
Simon: That’s what you would bring?
Josh: Oh yeah, shit. I don’t think Simon’s pick would adhere to any kind of pattern, but it’ll probably be something cool. I’m going to say cool sunglasses.
Simon: I said a sturdy pair of boots. I’m going to guess that Josh said food, but that’s actually the more mundane answer that I wish I had said.
Josh: Surprisingly not. I said a camera, but I would have rather said food.

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You can’t eat a camera. OK, would you rather, play a sport, be a sportscaster, or own a team?
Simon: I think Josh is going to say play a sport.
Josh: Yeah, I think Simon is going to say the same. Then you’re actually good at something.
Simon: Since it’s purely hypothetical, you don’t have to worry about being good. But I feel like being a sportscaster are fantasies that come into play when you want to play a sport but aren’t very good.
Josh: I think it’s appealing to have a very specific skill, and that you know how your body works in that situation. That sounds kind of gross.
Simon: We used to rock climb together. Josh was far better than me.

Secret skills: saxophone and rock climbing.
Josh: I was probably better at climbing than playing sax.

OK, final question. What’s your favorite thing to eat at the carnival?
Josh: Do we imagine our hypothetical imaginary carnival, or is this, like, eat at the Toronto Ex in 1989?
Simon: How do you know about the Toronto Ex?
Josh: What about your favorite thing to eat at the Kumbh Mela?

This can be any carnival you want.
Simon: Not the Kumbh Mela, but any mela. It’s 2004 and it’s a Saturday. Since we’ll probably say the same thing, I’ll just say mine to guess yours. Mediocre chicken tikka?
Josh: I was thinking of chicken tikka roomali roti.
Simon: Maybe I should change mine to a Kati roll.

All these food questions prove is that you guys have eaten some incredible things over the years.
Josh: Yeah. The music stuff is way harder.

@wipeoutbeat