Robyn Writes

J-Pop Sunday – POLYSICS

TOISU! We all remember our first band, don’t we? You know, that first band we went properly mental over. POLYSICS were mine, there was (and still is) something about a gaggle of boiler suit uniformed, straight-bar sunglass wearing, energetic, synth playing loons that I found bizarrely appealing. Almost heroic! I wanted those glasses – a part of me still does – but you’re not here to read about my mis-spent youth; instead let’s take a look at POLYSICS.

Yano, Hayashi and Fumi – the current POLYSICS line up.

Quick Guide:
Act Name: POLYSICS
Line-up:

  • Hiroyuki Hayashi (A.K.A. POLY-1): Inspired by American band DEVO, Hayashi founded the band in 1997 while in High School. A bundle of energy, he’s POLYSICS’ Lead Guitarist, and Vocalist.
  • Fumi: Joined in 2001 after working with the band for three years. Bass Guitarist, Vocalist & Synth Operator, Fumi replaced former Bass Synth operator and “Toast Thrower” Sako Eisuke (POLY-2).
  • Masashi Yano: Yano joined in 2004, replacing Junichi Sugai as Drummer & Vocalist.
  • Kayo: Until 2010 Kayo provided vocals, keyboard melodies and synth operations for the band. She is yet to be officially replaced; however, someone has to be playing those keyboards…

Years Active: 1997 – Present
Genre: New Wave/Synth Pop/Punk
Kaito’s Choice Tracks: “Electric Surfin’ Go Go” (2006), “Rocket” (2007) & “Everybody Say No” (2012)
Official greeting: Raising your arm and/or punching the air while shouting “Toisu!”

POLYSICS in their infamous orange suits with the members – including Kayo – organised alphabetically.

In an ideal world I would hand you a copy of the band’s entire 18 album back catalogue of “Technicolour Pop Punk” – as they call it – on blank discs, tell you to listen to everything, and claim every single one to be a “Choice Track”. However, someone out there would call that piracy, I would then be arrested, and POLYSICS would lose out on much deserved money. We don’t want that. So instead I just picked three tracks to share for now: My personal favourite, their newest release, and one chosen at random from their official Youtube page. Try to guess which is which!


POLYSICS turn to photography in the video for “Rocket”.

“Rocket” feels like a mash-up of POLYSICS’ two main styles: the verses feature the band’s melodic electronic side – featuring Kayo’s softer vocals – whereas the chorus features the high energy rock persona – where the main voice heard is Hayashi’s. On paper; it’s not a song that should work: The sharp contrasts between the two styles should make the song feel jarred and disjointed, but it’s just not the case with Rocket. Somehow POLYSICS make music that’s shouldn’t mix well work to their advantage.


Even after six years I still haven’t the foggiest about the video for “Electric Surfin’ Go Go”.

“Electric Surfin’ Go Go” was the song that turned me into a POLYSICS fan. It’s so optimistic, so energetic, so spirit lifting. It’s the kind of song that should play on a sunny day at the start of a trip or an adventure, or at the very least, it’s a song that makes you want to jump up and dance. Also, that funky bass solo.


Somebody make a .gif image of Hayashi’s headphone dancing. NOW.

“Everybody Say No” is the latest release from POLYSICS. (Crap! I’ve ruined that game, haven’t I?) It’s a real foot-tapper, proof that even though they’re a man down the band is still rocking on strong, which is good news, as I want to see more from the gang. However, the even better news is that the album “Weeeeeeeeee!!!” from which ”Everybody Say No” is taken will be available in the UK – on Compact Disc! – from the 10th of June. I’ve got my pre-order in. Have YOU?

More POLYSICS:
Official Site (English): http://www.polysics.com/en/
Facebook (Japanese & English): https://www.facebook.com/pages/POLYSICS/260419960659129
Twitter (99.9% Japanese): https://twitter.com/POLYSICS_TOISU
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/polysicsVEVO

Until next time!

Andrew McMahon – The Glee Club Birmingham, 20/5/13

Although it’s safe to say that Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin were two of the projects that held my hand and dragged me up through my adolescence, I had never gotten the opportunity to catch either of those bands live. However, this spring, Andrew McMahon decided to tour under his own name, rather than attach it to one of his bands. When I say that this was a solo tour, that’s exactly what it was – just Andrew and his piano, something that he’d never done before.

First up though were Fort Hope (4/5). Having risen from the ashes of My Passion earlier this year, the Glee Club was treated to a stripped down set by Jon Gaskin and Ande D’Mello. In Fort Hope, Gaskin has taken the lead vocal slot rather than just being in the background. The result is astonishing. Gaskin displayed an impressive vocal range (with particular highlights in their cover of the classic Somebody To Love), instilled with a power and confidence that keeps growing and growing, and with D’Mello, transformed Fort Hope’s alt-rock anthems into a beautifully delicate acoustic offering smattered with piano. It was a great set, and I eagerly await seeing the full works.

Arguably, the Glee Club wasn’t necessarily the appropriate venue for Andrew McMahon (5/5). With his easy, conversational style and fairly static positioning on a small stage, we would have been better off in a jazz club, with cosy seats and candles on the table, whiskies (or coffee, for the straight edge contingency) in hand. I can imagine that in the Union Chapel in London, where McMahon played later in the week, the atmosphere would have been incredible. Even so, stood in a crowded room and barely able to see a stage, I closed my eyes and let the music just take hold of me, and it was perfect. Despite his trepidation at playing completely solo, McMahon performed admirably. He’s a talented pianist and a talented singer, quite obviously, but the way in which he transformed such well known songs like Punk Rock Princess which are accented with piano rather than driven by them, was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Mindful of his rich back catalogue, McMahon only played a couple of songs from his new EP, The Pop Underground, and concentrated on playing a ‘best of’ list to a room full of devoted fans. Old favourites like I Woke Up In A Car and Dark Blue popped up as well as more obscure gems like Me And The Moon and the beautiful Konstantin, almost reducing me to tears. I couldn’t have dreamed a better set list. McMahon himself is totally charming and has a rapport with the crowd that many performers can only dream of, cracking jokes and telling stories about the songs that he was playing as if we were more than just an audience – more like we were friends. If you want to feel inspired, like you’re part of something bigger, or if you just want to hear some beautiful music, you might want to check out Andrew McMahon next time he comes to town.

Opium Lord – The Calendrical Cycle (Prologue: The Healer) [EP]

2013. For a while, I despaired. If we weren’t enduring an influx of faux post-hardcore ‘haircuts over content’, we were standing back as kids forgot how to breathe between growls and perfected their sporty-spice-style high kicks. Where was the passion, the conviction, the direction… the brutality? The big names in doom and hardcore continued to do no wrong, but I was longing for something new and hungry to burst onto the scene and blow the dust from my CD shelves. The answer was simple; Leeds-based hardcore-centric TDON records were scooping up some corkers and were ready to drip-feed us some gold. Don’t get me wrong, I love doom, I love sludge, I love anything that sounds like gargling brick dust, but I was long bored of stoner-centric lyricism and imagery. There’s more chance of me fitting a moose up my arse than touching a bong, so as much as I appreciate so many ‘insert ‘bong’ into bandname here’ acts, I often feel a bit of a wall develop as I delve deeper into many bands’ releases. Thankfully, Opium Lord seem to have shunned the ‘let’s put a goblin, planet or decapitated woman in there’ bandwagon and have come up with a brutal, bleak, heavy and gorgeously compelling sound all of their own. There are no cop-outs, no cheap laughs, no novelty imagery and no lull in each song’s aural assault.

The Calendrical Cycle (Prologue: The Healer) is merely a two-track EP, but delivers more in nine and a half minutes than many other bands do in a career. ‘Heroin Swirls’ feels heavier than lead, but rolls along with an unexpected groove, similar to early Sabbath… after an acid bath and a nervous breakdown. Vocally, we’re in a drone-free zone, with vocal lines often spat like poison darts or audibly torn apart. The whole EP is comfortably unnerving; the thick bassline holds you to your seat, while the vocals flay themselves apart. ‘Street Labs’ however, is on another level. With vocals taking a slightly black-metal turn at times, an often simplistic underlying riff quickly turns a slow, dragging break into a pounding, throbbing earth-shaker of a track. ‘Street Labs’ is vicious, powerful and impossible to sit still to. It’s easy to close your eyes and feel as though you’re bathing in the raw edges of a sound much larger than you’ve ever known.

Opium Lord are heavy, honed and as subtle as a brick to the chest. While we wait for the full album to manifest itself, The Calendrical Cycle will certainly do nicely as a stopgap.

4 out of 5 high fives!

Polar – Inspire Create Destroy [EP]

Polar‘s forthcoming EP signifies a move from releasing via a traditional label and instead, the band have teamed up with Drop Dead Clothing, well known for their connections to the alternative music scene. While this isn’t Drop Dead’s first time releasing material from a heavier band – they did a bundle with Architects a couple of years ago – the brand has been focusing on showcasing a wider variety of genres in recent times, featuring acts like Draper and Louie Knuxx. This return to something heavier is an excellent move for Drop Dead – not only is it reconnecting with the culture that the brand was borne out of, but it also means that a lot more people are going to rightly fall in love with Polar.

Inspire Create Destroy is just three tracks long, consisting of ‘Inspire’, ‘Create’ and ‘Destroy’. Clever, innit? ‘Inspire’ instantly commands your attention, opening with some heavy distortion and some powerful riffs. Woody’s vocals consistently have the perfect tone for this kind of music; at times, it even sounds like he’s screaming two notes at once, creating a deeply textured and ferocious effect. This especially comes into play with the central lyric, ‘lose faith in everything – trust no one’, and holds a great deal of power. If ‘Inspire’ is the vanguard of this EP, then ‘Create’ is the ensuing battlecry as the rest of the units rush in to decimate the other side. A thrilling and perfectly crafted song, Polar give it all they’ve got. They know when to pull out the melody, they know when to throw down. The level of musicianship on show here (and really, throughout the whole record) is nothing short of phenomenal. In the dead centre of the EP, Polar break into a gang cry of ‘Inspire! Create! Destroy’. This mantra sums up Polar’s intent in the UK alternative scene perfectly; in time, Polar will no doubt come to inspire a great deal of young musicians, they create some of the most daring and powerful music, and they’ll destroy anything that’ll stand in their way. ‘Destroy’ is slower paced than the previous tracks, but if anything, this amplifies its message and allows for those beautiful guitar lines to come through loud and clear. It’s impossible to listen to this without throwing up a Judd Nelson style fist pump at the end.

To put it simply, Inspire Create Destroy is a masterclass in melodic hardcore. Bands like Bring Me The Horizon are dominating the airwaves at the moment and with this EP, Polar have the potential to come out swinging at the forefront of the UK alternative scene. Polar inject a sense of grandeur into their music that transcends further than the pit, and combined with their explosive live show, this EP should make them huge. And deservedly so.

5 out of 5 high fives!

Belgrade – s/t

Formed from the ashes of several Philadelphia post-hardcore acts, Belgrade are five guys to whom aggression is evidently no longer a valid outlet to express their emotions. The quintet it seems, has finally succumbed to maturity and the band sounds all the better for it as they manage to maintain a commendable distance from the potential horrors of blandness and Coldplay-like attributes. Their self-titled record is a relatively mellow affair and for the most part the band’s tracks are up-tempo outings although any grand emotional outpourings of happiness remain measured and free from hysterical gestures. There’s nothing on the record that immediately reaches out, grabs you by the scruff of the neck and deplores you with wild eyes and a shower of spittle that “this record deserves your attention right now!” Instead, Belgrade have presented us with a fully formed record that makes plain that the band have already discovered and honed in on their “sound”, despite it being perhaps a little derivative.

The talents of the band members are immediately tangible – they may not be virtuosos, but the guys certainly know how to craft tracks with depth as well as substance. What’s more, Belgrade never allow themselves to explore too far into the musical wilderness; reeling in those meandering guitars before they reach abstract territory whilst still prodding and teasing at the groups musical boundaries. Everything saunters along pleasantly, although it takes several listens before the record stops sounding like forty minutes of inoffensive indie and individual songs can be distinguished amongst the lethargic strumming and severely reverbed lead guitar that carve out pretty little melodies over breezy vocals.

Belgrade stick resolutely to standard verse/chorus/verse song structures, perhaps limiting themselves in that respect and inviting the possibility of accusations of an over-familiarity between the tracks which due to their mellow nature seems a perfectly reasonable criticism. Even so, Belgrade is a record of sumptuous fluidity – effortlessly making the transition from each track to the next in the most carefree of manners. They’re not exactly versatile, but when you sound so assured as Belgrade it becomes a moot point. Belgrade are a band to soundtrack your carefree summer days whilst providing enough sonic texture to demand to be heard through headphones in order to fully experience the bands mesmerizing prowess.

4 out of 5 high fives!