Inside Nokia Music

Shortly after posting about Polysics in my most anticipated albums of 2009, the band put out a newsletter stating that Keyboard player Kayo would be leaving to “experience life outside the band”. The decision was apparently made a long time ago as it was stated in the newsletter that “Kayo made it a basic policy to not leave the band haphazardly. Even after the decision to graduate was made, she still participated in the recording of two albums as well as many live performances, some which took place abroad”.

Kayo, in my opinion, and that of several other fans I’m sure, is an integral dynamic of the band’s live performances. Standing still for most of the performance, she get’s the biggest response from the audience as the kooky one responsible for all the robotic vocoder gibberish and the sporadic pom-pom shaking outbursts.

Kayo “graduates” from Polysics following the show at the Budokan to take place on March 14, 2010, If you have a chance to catch them before this tragic and emotional day, do not hesitate as the band are understandably going on hiatus and I fear will never be the same again.

I Couldn’t find any crazy pom-pom footage, but here’s a Polysics performance that will give you glimpse into what we’re about to lose.

You’ll be sorely missed, Kayo Polysics.

Polysics are available to download from the Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

Good marketing has become business critical in the world of music today. That’s why tonnes of money is poured into making music videos, but this doesn’t necessarily make them good. In most cases you will find the scantily clad artist in question aggressively gyrating in your face, in a dangerously flashy room, whilst an onlooking horde of baggy-clothed groupies egg them on. You don’t need a million pounds to make an awe-inspiring video, an interesting and original concept will do. OK Go got it right in 2006 with the video for Here It Goes Again, which is a continuous single take of the band performing an elaborate dance routine on treadmills. This video was responsible for the song’s top 40 chart success in both the US & the UK. To date it has received over 49 million views on YouTube and was awarded a Grammy for the Best Short Form Music Video in 2007.

Now OK Go have set the bar, will they attempt to match their own success with another awe-inspiring video? Yes…

Here’s the video for the new single This Too Shall Pass:

I enjoy a good music video when it’s done properly; here are 5 great videos I have recently rediscovered:

Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance

Jape – Floating

Björk – All Is Full of Love

The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist

Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries

Here’s a nice little remix from Bristol based new-comer Julio Bashmore which appears on the latest release from Buraka Som Sistema. Giving the original his mellow (UK) Funky House treatment of skippy beats and big bongo style 808’s on the b-line. The young Julio is getting a bit of attention on the underground blog scene with some nice releases and a few mixes here and there. I expect to see his name crop up alot on remix duties this year. The original’s not too shabby either!

Copy and paste this number into the title field of the Nokia/Ovi Music Store search box at the top of the page and press return to be taken directly to the product: OD2DI6858071-03

So we’ve had 12 months of musical hits and misses and are excited to see what the New Year brings. For the sake of closure, though, here’s a few of the team’s personal picks from 2009.

Johnners

Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Just a great sounding album, nicely produced with great rhythm and a catchy blend of styles. Every track is different. Black & Blue is a seriously great tune and one I religiously listened too for a week or so. Highly recommended.

Jay Chakravorty

Moderat – Moderat
This one’s easy. It was only ever going to be between Moderat’s eponymous record and The Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca. No matter what anyone else says, I think 2009 has been a fairly barren year for good albums. Anyway, the debut from Moderat, a group comprising two of Berlin’s finest electronic acts (Modeselektor and Apparat), won out. Apparat’s lush analogue synth arrangements and Modeselektor’s ridiculously well-produced beats are a perfect match, sparking off each other in unexpected and frankly astonishing ways. You know the bit in Heat where de Niro and Pacino face each other in the diner? Well, it’s like that. You’ll notice something new every time you go back to it. Flitting between ethereal beauty and thundering dance music has never sounded so effortless.

Mike Abolins

Animals In The Dark – William Elliot Whitmore
With a voice that sounds like it’s seen one smoky bar too many, William Elliot Whitmore falls into that category of artists that sound older than their years. One listen to the Americana- and country-flecked acoustic folk that is Animals In The Dark and you could be forgiven for picturing a weathered old soul; in fact, Whitmore was born in 1978. Which makes the world-weary attitude and depth in tracks such as Old Devils and Hell Or High Water all the more remarkable.

Jethro

Let The Dominoes Fall – Rancid
It may have taken 6 years to get here and, as a big Rancid fan, it didn’t disappoint. Tim Armstrong’s gritty rasping vocals mixed with ska and psychobilly-influenced punk show that Rancid are still sticking to their traditional ska punk roots. It doesn’t quite hit the level of …And Out Come The Wolves, which is still my favourite Rancid album, but Let The Dominoes fall comes a close second and is an album that has sat at the top of my playlist for most of the year.

Part 9

Absolute POLYSICS

POLYSICS are a Japanese New-Wave-Punk-Pop-Devo-inspired 4 piece, heavy at times and with a live show to boot! I discovered them back in 2005 with the release of POLYSICS OR DIE!!!!, a compilation album for the Western market comprised of choice-pickings and re-recordings of songs from the bands several previous Japan-only releases. What followed would border on obsession for me as I’d go on to watching them perform 7 times and would come to occupy my time with trying to track down the Japanese releases without having to pay the ridiculously over-priced logistical costs of importing them.

So when a friend popped over to Japan on holiday to coincide with the release of Absolute POLYSICS I was beside myself with joy and seized the opportunity to snag this Japan-only release, and in special edition non the less… and this is why this little obscurity made my 10 most anticipated albums of 2009 list.

So how did it live up to my expectations?

Well to be completely honest, I’ve only given it a spin a couple times so am yet to decide.

Stand out tracks so far:

Cleaning, it’s about the closest thing I’ve heard them do to one of my über-favourites Code4.

Seen them live this year:

If they toured the UK this year you can bet your life I’d have a few more belt notches in my live count!… 1 of the 2 best live bands I’ve ever seen!

Here’s a video for POLYSICS most commercially successful single to date.

Selected POLYSICS albums are available to download in certain countries from the Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

It’s that time again where we reflect upon the year and what we’ve done with it.  For my first post I’d like to introduce you all to the wonderful world of Modernaire, feel special and lucky for you are about to be privy to one of electro’s best kept secrets.  So without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you my gig of the year… *drum roll *

Parisians are apparently not known for their natural bouncing enthusiasm where attending gigs is concerned, however by the end of their first song Modernaire had cast their hypnotic and energizing spell over this audience of largely reluctant movers. Since last experiencing the joy of Modernaire live they have now added live drums and guitar which have given a bit more depth to their sound, but with such great stage presence from the singers, Chesty La Rue and Cruella De Mill (noms de chanteur) , this is just an added bonus.

This electro disco pop trio from Manchester are deliciously dark and dramatic but luckily their music is just so infectious that one can almost forget that most of their songs are lurid tales of murder and revenge. Taking their name from an unsoundtracked song from Purple Rain by Dez Dickerson, which in itself is commendable, Modernaire, somehow, manage to mesh robotic synth backing with an austere 1940s boogie woogie syncopated vocal style.

From the off they kept up enormous energy and the backing, led by music maestro Oscar Wildstyle controlling the synth, was incredibly tight, which was just as well really considering the immense skill of the vocals. Stagecraft is somewhat minimal, with a highly animated Chesty dancing barefoot around the stage occasionally stopping to tell the odd anecdote, while Cruella, somewhat shyly, tilts her vintage floral crowned head away from the audience and towards her bandmate, as though they’re viewing this show as a bit of fun rehearsal time rather than a public concert, but this merely adds to their charm.

At first glance one might wrongly tarnish Modernaire as pretentious with their glacial pop noir and chic motifs but, happily, on further scrutiny there is clearly, most definitely a sense of humour bounding round the stage, as the crowd pleasing number Bloodshed In The Woodshed showed. The girls’ sweet and deceptively innocent harmonies partially mask the tale of a scorned woman taking justice into her own hands. “Gutted, garrotted, noose ready knotted, sharp scythe, rusty knives, bedroom full of beehives,” they trill, complete with the infamous synchronised stabbing dance move. Faites Vos Jeux was another highlight of the evening, which has made it on to a few upcoming indie-electro band compilations, a dark story about murder in Monte Carlo.

Met with rapturous applause and a host of whistling, the band seemed slightly bemused with the many outcries of “encore.” Later singer Ruth, AKA Chesty, professed in a conversation we had over the merchandise table that they had in fact run out of songs. And that is what is so delightfully captivating about Modernaire, they don’t take themselves too seriously and are having a lot of fun with it.

Check them out now!! DO IT!

http://www.myspace.com/modernairetheband