Polyrock - Bucket Rider
This blog posting is a plea. I will get to that in a minute, but first the tale of Polyrock, a 5-piece NYC minimalist art rock band whose all-but-forgotten footnote in the new wave era is one I hold close to my heart. Life ain’t fair, or so they say, and IMO nobody’s been more shortchanged than Polyrock. When I was maybe 11 or so, I saw Polyrock perform on a Nickelodeon show called “Livewire”. It was great television if you were 11, because Fred Newman would come out and hold a debate-style forum with teenagers on tough issues — drugs, premarital sex, and abortion among others — and this right in the comfort of afternoon cable television! Mom and dad were none the wiser! After all, this was “Television for Kids”.
Every show, a band would perform, and when the show was in reruns I saw Polyrock perform the bonus selection, “Romantic Me”. It was so stripped down, so raw and…well, cool. It wasn’t punk, it wasn’t pop, it was dissonant and dangerous. Listening back to it today, it reminds me of the music of 90’s band Brainiac. I rushed out (with my dad driving, of course) to Peaches Records only to find it unavailable. I bought a promotional 3-song sampler from a used record store some months later, but longed for more. When I grew up I would discover that Polyrock drew from their contemporaries, like David Byrne, and from their influences, Brian Eno and Philip Glass (yes…THAT Philip Glass, who co-produced the self-titled 1980 album these songs come from). Formed in late 1978 in the glow of the burgeoning lower east side art scene taking place in New York City, the band would put out just two records on RCA and one on PVC/Jem before disbanding in 1982. A final ROIR Cassette was released in 1986 containing outtakes, demos, and live material has circulated the collectors world for years. I’ve never gotten my hands on it, and boy do I want it. BADLY.
It feels like Polyrock never existed to anyone but me. The CD era came along and appears to have completely passed them and this fantastic album by — no reunion, no mention in modern press, nothing — yet art rock and its influences & offshoots are more visible than ever. The MP3’s I have are ripped straight from vinyl, so you can’t buy it on CD, unfortunately. If you’ve come here because you are in the band Polyrock, ever worked with Polyrock, know anyone who was in Polyrock, know who has the masters to this album locked in their vault, you have got to send me an email immediately. Above all else, please….PLEASE let it see the light of day again. I think 24 years of exile for this album and its creators is quite enough. With the current resurgent interest in New Wave, examples like this one are as poignant and important as any of the commerically-successful New Wave artists of the day.
BONUS TRACKS: Go West Romantic Me
Posted in Scenestars
December 9th, 2004 at 11:42 pm
EJ, another great selection. Their 1st LP (less so the 2nd) was high on my playlist back in the day. Thankx for ripping these from the vinyl.
- Drew Miller
omnidrew@gmail.com
December 9th, 2004 at 11:50 pm
Wow. No, really. Wow. This is totally begging for reissue.
December 10th, 2004 at 4:25 am
Great post. How can we get somebody to take notice and reissue this music? I’ll post another track on my blog soon. Maybe the power of blogs can inspire somebody.
December 10th, 2004 at 5:28 am
I think what it comes down to is getting people who are like-minded or who are in-the-know to pay attention. That means picking up the phone or sending an email until it ends up in the right inbox or telephone. I actually realized after posting this that a great contact point may be right in front of me & I am working on that as we speak. But by all means — send people to hear this stuff.
December 10th, 2004 at 11:48 am
very cool. I have a polyrock ep I have been meaning to rip a track from and blog about. I will see what polyrock mp3s I have in your quest for rarities too.
http:/justforaday.blogspot.com/
December 10th, 2004 at 12:52 pm
Ahhh - a wonderful jam to wake up to today. I crave this sorta madness - lay it on my babe - good one!
December 10th, 2004 at 5:22 pm
Ah, I still have my vinyl of this, bought when I was in college, and once in a while I give it a spin. It’s very dated in a way, but it still sounds tremendous. I feel your no-reissue pain.
herself_nyc.livejournal.com
December 10th, 2004 at 10:29 pm
I just want to thank everyone for all the positive feedback on this & if you like this, be sure and tell a friend. I think I’ve listened to it over and over again about a jillion times this week. Still going.
December 11th, 2004 at 10:26 am
The Eno-esque wordless track on this album, “Your Dragging Feet”, sounds very familiar to me. Does anyone know if it was sampled on something well-known or was it used in a commercial or movie?
This first Polyrock album reminds me a lot of early Comateens…
December 11th, 2004 at 1:25 pm
Wow. I need this album.
December 11th, 2004 at 3:07 pm
Not sure about “Your Dragging Feet”, but I did just drop a note to someone I know whose name is listed in the credits on that first record. I will report more as I know it.
December 13th, 2004 at 5:12 pm
Thanks for writing about Polyrock! I have had “Romantic Me” in my head for months, looking for it on vinyl, wondering if I have it on cassette somewhere. Thanks for making it real again! Jon
December 13th, 2004 at 6:36 pm
This is the most talked about track on SS so far…
Good pick!
December 18th, 2004 at 1:25 pm
Frankie says: Do the Polyrock!
December 21st, 2004 at 7:50 am
If you’ve found this searching for Polyrock on the web, be sure and check out this posting of their 1986 ROIR Cassette-only release No Love Lost. Enjoy!
December 28th, 2004 at 10:36 am
i love polyrock it just tickled my heart to here them again. it is so neet that i can here them again. thanks