Polysics are the pinnacle of new-wave synth-punk, the result of years of work put in by Yellow Magic Orchestra, P-Model, The Plastics and, most importantly, Devo. Polysics itself has been around since 1997, slowly working their way up the charts and oversea into clubs around the world. Signed both to Sony and MySpace records, they are in a unique situation to be able to easily promote themselves all over the globe. They have launched several successful mini-tours of America and the U.K. to larger and larger groups of rabid fans, and have played to massive crowds in Japan. While the band's sound has shifted subtly over the years from an all out wall of synth-punk noise to a much more restrained pop mentality, do not be fooled. There is still much your ears have to fear from Polysics.
For instance, there are the Nord-generated lo-fi glitches and soaring electric melody from Kayo, Fumi's furious bass-lines, Yano's relentlessly pummeling drums and Hiro's spazz guitar and spazzier vocal work. I say "vocal work" because quite often he's screaming, chanting, or just spouting gibberish. Polysics is a great band for anyone afraid of bands singing in a foreign language, because just about everything will be foreign to someone. Poly-lyrics are a mish-mash of English, Japanese and what Hiro calls "space language" that is sent down from above into his brain. There's something there for everyone to be confused by.
While these elements have always been present in their music, it has gradually been cleaned up over the years. Their punk spirit is still there, but their desire for mainstream pop acceptance is showing more than ever. Not that this is entirely bad. Songs like "Electric Surfin' Go Go," You-You-You" and "Moog is Love" are pop masterpieces with a spine, something that is woefully missing from 99.9% of the candy-coated fluff that usually fills the charts. And let's not forget "Baby BIAS," possibly the best pop song ever written, that appeared on Now is the Time!. Now there is a song that could have sold a million copies outside of Japan if handled correctly.
While Polysics have been busy trying to break into the pop world, some of what made Polysics Polysics in the beginning, namely their experimental spirit and abrasiveness, has been downplayed. There are still plenty of head-scratching time signatures, dissonance and totally brutal tempos, but the elements that would have been pushed to the front in the early days are now set far back in the mix as sonic filler for the more obvious hooks.
Much of this change in sound can be attributed to one thing: playing live. Most recently, Polysics has said that they work out new songs in a much more live way, and their live shows are only getting bigger and bigger. The songs are often stripped down to their bare essentials, showcasing the members' incredible proficiency as players over the usual layers of synth noise and sound effects that sometimes obscure the more technical details in their early work.
Polysics are many things, but lazy is not one of them. What never changes is the high quality, originality and genuine sense of fun in all that they do, be it in the studio or on stage. Their albums often feel more like a simple collection of current songs than individual bold statements. More like "here's what we have right now" than "here's what we have to say." People looking for profound introspection into the human condition would do better looking elsewhere. They've also managed to keep their own unique identity despite the high pressure to conform to more traditional sounds. Sure, they've matured, but they are still pushing the limits of new wave rock. They are gradually working their way into the mainstream, subverting it from the inside. For a true new-wave, new-pop, new-rock thunder, you can do no better.
Young Oh! Oh!
Official Site
MySpace
Members:
Hiroyuki Hayashi - Vocals, Guitars, Programming
Kayo - Synthesizers, Vocals
Fumi - Bass, Vocals, Synthesizers
Masashi Yano - Drums, Vocals
Albums:
1st P - 1999
A.D.S.R.M! - 1999
Neu - 2000
Eno - 2001
Lo-Bits - 2002
For Young Electric Pop - 2002
Kaja Kaja Goo - 2003
National P - 2003
Polysics or Die!!!! - 2004
Now Is The Time! - 2005
Karate House - 2007
We Ate the Machine - 2008
Shout Aloud!
Moog is Love
Rocket
Black Out Fall Out
New Wave Jacket
Each Life Each End
2 comments:
ah, look at that, an update on polysics :D
and a good one, too.
yes, they definately have matured.
but it's just that...hmm..all of their newer stuff needs quite some time to grow on me.
pretty good for example, i was like "ugh..more like barely good" at the beginning but now it's one kickass song.
i mean they're still darn awesome, it's just not like that 'first listen and you're blown away' kinda thing anymore.
btw, have you gotten hold of that 1st P/ADSRM re-release?
the actual playlist of the two albums are the original songs, they only added one plus chicker remix and new versions of 'social fools' and 'secret agent man' as a bonus, the latter kinda sucks imho :/ (and this opinion probably won't change over time, ha)
they didn't even add a booklet...it's one single piece of paper, lame.
still the lovely old (1999ish) tour photographs on the inside kinda make that up.
Yeah, I think the problem with their new music is that the songs are all starting to sound too similar. They're still really good, but they seem to have less individual personality. It'll be interesting to see how the new album pans out. So far everything it super intense and a little hard to really get into.
As for the 1st P/ADSRM re-release, yeah, I saw there there wasn't really much in the way of new stuff, so I passed it up. I already have ADSRM, and the collector in me would rather just get the original version of 1st P.
Post a Comment