{"id":468,"date":"2005-03-22T02:04:27","date_gmt":"2005-03-22T07:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/?p=468"},"modified":"2013-12-22T01:01:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T01:01:55","slug":"polysics-polysics-or-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/music\/2005\/03\/polysics-polysics-or-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Polysics: Polysics or Die!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Polysics<\/a><\/p>\n

Polysics: Polysics or Die!
\nLabel: Tofu Records
\nRelease Date: 2004
\nReview Date: 3\/22\/05<\/p>\n

Polysics? WTF? Couldn\u2019t find it in the dictionary, closest thing was polysomics, which has something to do with an extra chromosome. Biology? Genetics? Can you say De-evolution? Polysics is Japan\u2019s answer, or rather compulsive obsession with Devo. They\u2019ve got jumpsuits, matching glasses, etc. Polysics even takes the stage to their own corporate anthem. While they may have a crush on Devo, (who doesn\u2019t? ) Polysics doesn\u2019t sound like Devo except if you could imagine some of Hardcore Devo if it was polished up and recorded really well. Lyrically, well at least those that are translated in to English, there isn\u2019t much there, and a lot of it seems to be of the garden variety of picking cool sounding American words that don\u2019t particularly mean anything. There\u2019s a name for that, a little help please? Take Let\u2019s Start a New Wave Jacket,\u2019s lyrics “D.I.Y. Dead or Alive, Let\u2019s start a new wave jacket” or For Young Electric Pop\u2019s “Let\u2019s format! Dead zone let\u2019s Go!” Sometime they are pretty funny such as in XCT\u2019s ” when I came back, my suitcase was gone. I meant it to be a practical Joke. Beginner\u2019s English isn\u2019t all that easy. We must work to live!” Now that\u2019s something I can work with.<\/p>\n

Of course not all Devo lyrics may seem that deep either, but there is always an underlying Devo-ness, so you know it\u2019s all related, like some mongoloid Isaac Asimov series of books set to music. Polysics, on the other hand, seems to have only a superficial obsession with Devo that they solve with costume props and the occasional term lyric with the right word, like “blockhead.” Musically, they sound more like an anime soundtrack or a Japanese TV commercial. If you can imagine one of those wacky video arcade dancing games with a new wavy influence, then you\u2019re on the right track. The vocals are a mix of Japanese and English, but even the English can be hard to understand because of the heavy affectations of Hayashi\u2019s voice and the over use of the vocoder. Whereas you could enjoy early Shonen Knife\u2019s less than perfect English, or the Blue Hearts\u2019 Japanese, It\u2019s hard ofeten hard to tell just which language that Polysics is singing in. That\u2019s not to say that Polysics or Die! isn\u2019t worth listening to. It\u2019s very infectious when it\u2019s on. Their cover of My Sharona is a crowd pleaser in the vein of Devo\u2019s appropriation of Satisfaction. Often times they are reminiscent of the Rezillos as well.<\/p>\n

Polysics or Die! Is sort of a compilation of sorts, featuring songs from previous releases, some of which are new recordings of slightly different versions, again the sheer frenetic energy of the songs makes them hard to analyze to closely. They are different, but not so much so that you would instantly recognize it unless playing one song after another for comparison. Polysics are a fun band to watch, but like a lot of Japanese pop culture, it’s mostly style over substance. Warning: Take in limited doses to avoid a headache. Good for those suffering from ADD. May cause epileptic seizures.<\/p>\n

Online Action: polysics.com <\/a>
\nOnline Action: tofurecords.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Polysics: Polysics or Die! Label: Tofu Records Release Date: 2004 Review Date: 3\/22\/05 Polysics? WTF? Couldn\u2019t find it in the dictionary, closest thing was polysomics, which has something to do with an extra chromosome. Biology? Genetics? Can you say De-evolution? Polysics is Japan\u2019s answer, or rather compulsive obsession with Devo. They\u2019ve got jumpsuits, matching glasses, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[206459,206460],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-polysics","tag-tofu-records"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2005\/03\/polysics-or-die.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}