Musicians who create in the realm of electronica or whatever one calls
sampled, processed, or electronically generated music, almost always
emphasize the genre's machine-like-qualities of Hans and Frans
Germanic crunching juggernaut rhythms, and bloops and bleeps that
resemble the conversations of robots. The composer, performer and
soundscaper Polarity/1, however, creates music that has one foot
firmly in electronica and the rest of the body in an organic musical
universe that includes pop, folk-rock, various schools of jazz, Latin,
funk and modernist music from the classical tradition. He mixes these
genres into well-blended songs to create a sound that is like the Six
Million Dollar Man: part man, part machine but at heart totally
human.
[Mark Kirby] What the hell do you call this stuff?
[Polar Levine a.k.a. Polarity/1] I call the instrumentals Electronica/
Fusion and the songs Electro-Folk. This genre issue has been dogging
me for years. I've digested so many different genres of music from
different times and places since I was little, and because of that all
genres and styles have equal value to me. If anything characterizes
Polarity/1, it's that I orchestrate with genre as much as with
instruments.
I have a habit of alternating a collection of songs with a collection
of instrumentals -- all falling into some unbridgeable genre divide. I
get bored easily, so I only focus on stuff that's different from what
I've done before. Since I was little, I always got hooked on artists
who constantly change direction, even within the same album; like
Zappa, Miles, Coltrane, the Beatles, Radiohead, Bjork, and Beck.
[Mark Kirby] What is your musical background? How long have you been
playing music? When and how did you start?
[Polar Levine a.k.a. Polarity/1] I've been listening to music actively
since I was around two years old. I started off with my dad's records,
the radio, American Bandstand, Soul Train and the Ed Sullivan Show. My
earliest faves were Cab Calloway (from my dad and Betty Boop
cartoons), salsa (my dad's Tito Rodriguez records and the radio),
Elvis, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Beatles, Led Zeppelin.
When I was in high school I discovered Brazilian music, Appalachian
folk, Eric Dolphy, Japanese Gagaku (court music of the 16th century),
Bob Dylan, Olatunji, Muddy Waters and Mahavishnu Orchestra. My thing
with Dylan got me to buy a guitar so I could express my rage over the
inconveniences of life on earth. Within weeks, I was writing clueless
protest songs about important political issues I never bothered to
read about. Later on when I was at the Studio For Interrelated Media
at Massachusetts College of Art, I was listening to a lot of European
post-serial stuff like John Cage, George Crumb, Morton Feldman,
Stockhausen, Laurie Anderson, and the minimalists Steve Reich, Terry
Reilly and Philip Glass.
So, for a few years I stopped writing songs but concentrated on
abstract soundscapes for multimedia performance pieces. This was in
the eighties before samplers became affordable. I'd make huge tape
loops that stretched the length of my loft. They were made up of tiny
slices of tape cut to specific lengths based on constantly evolving
rhythms that I'd score. This involved lots of all-nighters and lots of
drugs and cookies. Days later, when I'd finished the loops and finally
got to hear them I'd discover mistakes which took another all-nighter
to fix. Thank the god for samplers.
[Mark Kirby] Polarity/1 also cited a massive number of influences and
favorites that covered hip hop (Lupe Fiasco, Nas), Electronica
(Prefuse 73, Jon Hassell), Brazilian (batucada, Maestre Ambrosio),
70's funk, jazz (from Django Reinhardt to Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and
many others), blues, country (Doc Boggs, New Lost City Ramblers,
George Jones), African music, Flamenco, old school gospel (Soul
Stirrers, Staples Singers, Gospel Keynotes), salsa (especially bomba
and the Fania stuff from the '70's), middle and south Asian music,
Indian classical music and hard to categorize artists like Brazilian
Girls, Broken Social Scene, Thomas Dolby, Bjork, Los Lobos and
others.
[Polar Levine a.k.a. Polarity/1] I know it sounds like I'm dropping a
lot of impressive cool-factor names but from the time I was tiny, I
was constantly exposed to strange new music. That's because of my
dad's early influence and an older weirdo cousin, plus growing up in
New York with a huge variety of sounds on the radio. I'm drawn to the
unfamiliar. This has advantages and disadvantages. I can play a little
bit of a lot of different instruments but I never got very good at any
one instrument. I can effectively work in any genre.
[Mark Kirby] This spirit of eclectic playfulness and experimentation
is evident on his two solo CDs, "Speechless" and "Prettier Than You,"
and on "Heavy Meadow," by Audioplasm; his collaboration with Latin/
electronica/bizarre artist Rubio.
"Speechless" is, naturally, Polarity/1's instrumental record and a
repository for his wild and wide musical palate. While it is
definitely an electronica CD that he composed, performed and recorded
himself, he also added some live wire human elements as well.
[Polar Levine a.k.a. Polarity/1] All the tracks were around 85% done
when I brought in some living organisms to add a touch of reality and
liveness. ["Bring on the Sudz" blends a post-Disco dance beat with a
'50's mambo sound and texture. It features ex-Lounge Lizard
saxophonist Michael Blake.] I wanted a sax player who played like the
nasty honkers from the sixties like Archie Shepp and Pharoah
Sanders." [Blake also wails out on the title cut, adding some '60's
free jazz black fire to a dense groove that is part Afro beat, part Bo
Diddly beat played on cowbells.]
[Mark Kirby] "The Eagle Has Descended" is the funky theme song of an
imaginary blaxploitation sci-fi movie, with a psychedelic break off
jazz drums and disembodied voice.
[Polar Levine a.k.a. Polarity/1] I layered into the groove the voice
of a friend taken off my answering machine. 'Brother dearest, the
eagle has descended and has left a little clump in your honor.' He
owed me some money and he called to let me know that he stumbled upon
some income and was ready to pay me.
[Mark Kirby] The song "Nilestones" is, by contrast, sparser and more
deceptive in its structure. Over a musical core of chopped and
disembodied vocals, drummer Gregg Bendian, recording mate of jazz
guitarist Pat Metheney, guitarist Pete McCann, synthesizer player
David Gilden and Blake gradually build upward with dense, jazz rock
style music, creating a swirling effect, at once anchored and
freewheeling.
"The Sumo Glide," an easy-going funk tune, and the hip hop inspired
"Blues for Chucky" feature former Prince bassist Scott Parker Allen.
The most incendiary cut on the CD is "Munton's Revenge" which is built
around a fractured jazz funk beat in 7/4 time. It features an
apocalyptic dual between drummer Gregg Bendian and guitarist Pete
McCann that goes from air tight unison lines to blazing leads and
back.
"Speechless" mixes many of Polar's above-mentioned musical influences,
particularly the jazz and experimental modes. But what of his interest
in and influence by rock, folk music and Bob Dylan? The CD "Prettier
Than You" is an album of songs with clearly sung vocals -- as opposed
to the processed and manipulated vocals-as-sounds approach on
"Speechless" -- and leans more toward rock.
The songs on "Prettier Than You" fly in the face of current
conventions, which ignore politics, critical thought, or even everyday
life; and instead focus on sex fantasies, crass individualism, and our
national religion of money, power and respect. The subject matter on
this CD ranges from attacks on consumerism ("Free Money" and "Charge
It") to the music industry ("There's Music" and "Ka-Ching") to the
political corruption and ineptitude in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina ("Duck"). The title cut "Prettier Than You" lampoons the
modern obsession with spokespersons and celebrities selling products
and news.
The first song "Love Is Hard" starts out with an early '90's Miles
Davis groove with trumpet riding over a sparse funk beat. The vocals
come in a clear naturalistic manner. The words are poetic and
allegorical like those of Bob Dylan (but not as obscure). Like he does
with his instrumental music, Polarity/1 uses a playful formalism in
creating Prettier Than You.
Read the complete interview with Polarity/1
http://polarity1.livejournal.com/1593.html
And visit http://www.polarity1.com
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