Artist Spotlight: February- Polysics

Welcome to my Artist Spotlight, every month on my World Tour show (Wednesday's 3-4pm KCC Live) I select an musician or band and play tracks from their discography, and on this blog I'll be writing about the artist or band in question. This month's Artist Spotlight is Polysics from Japan.

Inspired by the New Wave group DEVO, lead singer and guitarist Hayashi formed the group back in 1997 and released their first album 1st P in 1999. To date they have released 10 albums and several EPs and Mini-Albums, some of which have found their way to the UK including Now Is The Time and We Ate The Machine.

The vocal duties are split between Hayashi and synth player Kayo who is often backed up by bassist Fumi while Yano provides backing vocals while playing the drums. Polysics have a unique look, they're often clad in orange jumpsuits and are wearing sunglasses which look more like visors though they have experimented with other outfits such as sailor outfits. Their musical style is as unique as their uniformed look, utilising vocoders, sharp guitar sounds and a bass that doesn't get hidden in the background.

The music video's of Polysics often have dancers doing either body popping (such as the song I My Me Mine which features Japanese dancer Strong Machine 2) or doing the robot (Domo Arigato Mr Roboto which actually features someone dressed up in a robot suit doing the robot).

All of the Polysics songs that I have listened to have been full of energy even the songs which start off slow such as the song Arigato from We Ate The Machine which starts off mellow, really goes frantic and energetic midway through the song and their version of Frank Sinatra's My Way is a more up-tempo electro version of the classic song.

It's not just Sinatra's music which has been covered by Polysics, they have also covered The Knack's classic My Sharona and Metallica's Enter Sandman. Not only that but Hayashi has also remixed tracks from Kaiser Chief's (Na Na Na Na Naa), Bloc Party (Luno), and Japanese pop group Puffy AmiYumi (Teen Titans Theme Tune) which he does so under the name of POLY-1.

Polysics are currently waiting to perform one last show at the Budokan in Japan on the 12th of March before going on a short hiatus, during that time synth player Kayo will graduate from the group.

Five For Friday 16 (potentially NSFW)

*Right before I delve into the song I have been addicted to this week, I must warn you that at least two of the videos I'm posting on the blog are a little bit on the rude side in terms of the video content.*

Ok with that out of the way heres the music I've been listening to:

5. Vanilla Unity- Tomorrow
It has that anthemic feel good summer track feel to it, I love the split between Korean and English vocals, the pace doesn't get lost in the shift between the two languages.


4. G-Dragon- Breathe
The vocals are more natural in this track than they were in Heartbreaker (which featured in this FFF) but the electronic vocals used on the chorus stand out more than G-Dragon's normal vocals.


3. An Cafe- Ryusei Rocket
A really great use of synths and guitars, especially their own solo's, especially the guitar solo, it sounds really slick.


2. Electric Eel Shock- Metal Man*NSFW*
I like how the bass and drums are really heavy in this track while the guitar takes a bit of a step back.


1. Kirsten Dunst- Turning Japanese*NSFW*
There are moments in this song where it doesn't sound like this is Kirsten Dunst but then there are times where you can hear her accent coming through, the reason I say this is because I thought this was just Dunst miming the song, I think it sounds cool, a bit different but theres nothing wrong with that.
Is there?

Watch Kirsten Dunst "Turning Japanese" in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

World Tour Playlist 24/2/2010

Gackt- Ghost (Japan)
Sugar Donut- Everything (Korean)
Aikawa Nanase- Yume Miru Shoujo Ja Iraenai (Japan)
Epik High- Fan (Korea)
Fact- Stretch My Arms (Japan)
Artist Spotlight: Polysics
Polysics- Pretty Good (Japan)
Kaiser Chiefs-Na Na Na Na Naa [Polysics Remix]
An Cafe- Kakusei Heroism (Japan)
G-Dragon- Breathe (Korea)
DBSK ft BoA & The TRAX- Tri-Angle (Korea)
Aya Kamiki- A Constellation (Japan)
Electric Eel Shock- Metal Man (Japan)
Vanilla Unity-Tomorrow (Korea)
Outsider ft Basick & Carry D- City Hunter (Korea)

World Tour Playlist 17/2/2010

Origa- Rise (Russia)
The Asteroid Galaxy Tour- Around The Bend (Denmark)
Manu Chao- Rainin In Paradize (France)
Yohanna- Is It True (Iceland)
Rammstein- Moskau (Germany)
Artist Spotlight: Polysics
Polysics- My Sharona (Japan)
Akurat- Fantasmigorie (Poland)
Lacuna Coil- Enjoy The Silence (Italy)
Nena- 99 Luftballoons (Germany)
Delorean- Deli (Spain)
Nightwish- Amaranth (Finland)
Movits!- Fel Del Av Gården (Sweden)
Panda- Narcisista Por Excelencia [Live] (Mexico)

Five For Friday 15

5.Polysics- My Sharona


A superb cover of The Knacks classic track, The build up of the intro into the song is amazing starting of with the drums before each different instrument comes in and builds up to the electro vocals.

4. Chihiro Onitsuka- Beautiful Fighter


The guitar has that country twang which is one of the real high points of this song, Chihiro's voice never once has to fight over the guitars.

3. An Cafe- Kakusei Heroism ~THE HERO WITHOUT A "NAME"~

The intro is a real galloping hook into the song, the guitar solo sounds abit lazy, though the instrumental breaks between the verses make up for that.

2. TVXQ (DBSK) featuring BoA and The TRAX- Tri-Angle

This is a really strange track, a real blend of musical genres thrown together from classical strings, RnB beats, Rock and a bit of Nu Metal, it may sound like a schizophrenic track but surprisingly it works really well.

1. The TRAX- Paradox


It reminds me a bit of Hybrid Theory era Linkin Park especially during the instrumental with the heavy guitar mix with the scratching, the drummer's vocals sound really manic compared to the main singer's.

Five For Friday 14

5. T.M. Revolution- Zips


4. Leon Lai- Sugar in the Marmalade


3.Chiddy Bang- Opposite of Adults

Chiddy Bang on MUZU

2.Outsider- Like A Man


1.Aikawa Nanase- Yumemiru Shoujo Ja Irarenai

World Tour Playlist 10/2/2010

Daft Punk- Digital Love (France)
Joyside- Maybe Tonight (China)
t.A.T.u- Show Me Love (Russia)
New Pants- You're My Superstar (China)
Koda Kumi featuring Misono- It's All Love(Japan)
Artist Spotlight: Polysics
Polysics- I My Me Mine (Japan)
The Chinos- Goodbye Victoria (China)
Ayumi Hamasaki- 1 Love (Japan)
Carsick Cars- Zhong Nan Hai (China)
Rain- Sad Tango [English version] (Korea)
Alphabeat- Boyfriend (Denmark)
Miyavi- Jikoai, Jigajisan, Jiishiki, Kajou (Instrumental)/Selfish Love (Japan)
Li Ming- Sugar In The Marmalade (China)

Astro Boy Review

Astro Boy is based on the critically acclaimed manga series by Ozamu Tezuka and starring Freddie Highmore as Toby, the son of scientist Dr Tenma (Nicholas Cage) who after a horrifying accident is reborn as Astro Boy. However when Tenma rejects his robotic son, Astro soon finds himself on the run from the leader of the floating Metro City, President Stone (Donald Sutherland) who is after the blue energy core which powers Astro, forcing him down to the junk filled surface of earth where he meets an array of colourful characters.

I was somewhat sceptical about this film, I had concerns that this would be some diluted Hollywood version of Astro Boy with little of the original story remaining intact (much like Dragonball Evolution). However Astro Boy's journey through the film is quite faithful to the manga series without being a straight adaptation. The concepts that Tezuka had for Astro Boy (someone who would fight for both humans and robots) is still an integral part of the film though it isn't until later on in the film that the human/robot equality themes become an apparent theme for the film.

There is a great sense of awe when Astro Boy discovers that he has the ability to fly, it's a moment of joy and confusion for him, mainly joy and those scenes are quite upbeat. The tone becomes more humorous when he discovers that he has weapons including an extremely strange place to place machine guns.

There are some clever homage's in this film, from Frankenstein to even Lassie the final battle between Astro and President Stone's Peacemaker felt similar to the final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger in the Iron Man film. The Pinocchio vibe this film could have had (Astro trying to be a real boy for Dr Tenma) was surprisingly played down , instead it was more of a case of hiding who he was from his earth friends which included inventor/repairer Haemegg (Nathan Lane) and Cora (Kristen Bell).

Beautifully rendered to look almost like Ozamu Tezuka's style, Astro Boy is a fun film for everyone. There are some moments which may gloss over young cinema-goers but with characters that are fun and varied there isn't a moment in the film where you feel lost or that the film is too childish.

Discovering Invincible

Every time I get money from the holiday season I like to experiment with a comic series I've been interested in checking out but not particularly brave enough to invest in it, this year I was looking for something that wasn't Marvel or DC, I needed a little break from them. So I went to one of the comic shops to find something new, I came across the first Invincible hardcover from Image Comics unwrapped, a rarity for hardcover graphic novels. I've seen the trades displayed on the shelves in the past but I've never really felt like grabbing them from the shelf like I did with the hardcover, and soon found myself flipping through the book half reading it but mostly looking at the pictures and from what I saw it was something that could provide that break from Marvel and DC I desperately needed.

Long story short, I was back less than a week later getting the other three hardcovers.


Debuting in 2003 by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker (and later Ryan Ottley) Invincible is about Mark Grayson, a teenager who has inherited his father's alien powers which include flight, super strength, super speed and invulnerability (hence his name) the book shows him developing his powers and encountering other teen heroes (such as Atom Eve, Rex Splode and Dupli-Kate) and even teaming up with his father (Omni-Man) as well as discovering some home truths about the alien race (Viltrumite) he gets his powers from.

Unlike Marvel, DC and the vast majority of Image Comics offerings, Invincible is fairly light hearted, not to say it doesn't have its dark and gory moments, it's funny without being too goofy while at times it can be fairly serious. At times Invincible reads like a homage to the Silver Age of comics i.e. the stories are fairly self contained, done in one but at the same time is part of whatever the ongoing story arc is, which in an age where comics are often written for trade is a bit of fresh air infact you could just read the first 13 issues and get a fairly complete story.


What I liked about Invincible is the fact that it's a teen hero book that sounds like the hero is a teen both in his civilian life and when he's Invincible, the dialogue reads as something very natural and doesn't get too overbearing like Ultimate Spider-Man does at times and unlike Ultimate Spider-Man which has a tendency to overload the reader with too much of the civilian identity plots and subplots, Invincible balances the civilian stuff with the superhero action, there is more action than 'talking heads' which is what I want from a superhero book. Invincible's support cast is nicely featured without becoming too overbearing some of whom have their own sub plots which don't detract from the main plot in the story.

Each issue is well paced and there is never a sense that the story has been decompressed or that it features filler subplots thrown in to make up the page count (Kirkman even performs a bit of a fourth wall moment by illustrating how modern writers and artists reuse the same panels to pad out a page when Mark meets one of his favourite comic book writers)and because Invincible is so well paced I found myself being completely engrossed in it and reading the four hardcovers in less than two weeks compared to most trades or hardcovers where I'll only read an issue a day.. There's also a quick turn around for subplots becoming major plot points and being resolved all of which feels natural.

The great thing about Invincible creation wise is that he's 7 years old so there isn't the issue of being tied down to say 70 years of back story like you are with Superman or almost 50 years like Spider-Man making it completely new reader accessible. While it is an Image Comic character, Invincible is still Robert Kirkman's to 'play with' which means unlike a character from the two big companies, Kirkman has more freedom to alter his characters since he is the creator while other writers on mainstream titles are merely caretakers. This makes Invincible a bit of an unpredictable title, anything can happen to the characters and despite his name, Invincible has already been bashed about quite a bit. Invincible is like other Image titles as it is fairly self-contained in it's own little universe so there isn't a need to know what's happening in other Image titles such as Spawn, Savage Dragon or Youngblood. I'm excited to find out what happens next and judging from the last two images I've posted on this blog it looks like Invincible is in for a costume change, other than that, well I'm just going to have to keep reading.

Image Comics have the first issue online as well, if your interested in seeing what the hell I'm talking about.

World Tour Playlist 3/2/2010 *Japanese Special*

Nami Tamaki- Believe
Aya Kamiki with TAKUYA- W-B-X ~W Boiled Extreme~
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Rosier
Gackt- Returner
T.M. Revolution- Hot Limit (UNDER:COVER version)
Bump Of Chicken- R.I.P
Artist Spotlight- Polysics
Polysics- Electric Surfin Go Go
Versailles- PRINCE
Misono- VS
Asian Kung Fu Generation- Rewrite
X Japan- Rusty Nail (Live)
Tucker- Swan Lake

Artist Spotlight: Jaunary- Rain

Welcome to my Artist Spotlight, every month on my World Tour show (Wednesday's 3-4pm KCC Live) I select an musician or band and play tracks from their discography, and on this blog I'll be writing about the artist or musician in question. This month's Artist Spotlight is Rain from South Korea.

Described by a Guardian article as a Korean Justin Timberlake, Rain (real name Jeong Ji-Hoon) has been on the South Korean music scene since 2002 and to date has released 6 albums, 5 of these albums (Bad Guy, How To Avoid The Sun, It's Raining, Rain's World and Rainism) were Korean albums he also released a Japanese language album entitled Eternal Rain.

It was from this article by the Guardian that I got into Rain's music after listening to the track the article featured (I'm Coming featuring Tablo from the South Korean Hip Hop/RnB group Epik High) with it's catchy chorus and strong beat the video was also really interesting to watch with it's almost militaristic dance interlude.

Rain's style is RnB and Pop and his live performances has Rain both singing and dancing, in one interview he stated that he like to incorporate martial arts into his dance moves. For most of his singles, Rain sung behind a pop or RnB beat, however the first single from his third album It's Raining had a hip hop beat to it the song, the first time he had used such influences in his music, the single It's Raining proved to be very popular reaching number one in several countries including his native South Korea. Rain has also experimented with Latino influences in the song Sad Tango from his Japanese album which also includes an English version of the song.

It's not just Korea and Japan where Rain 'reigns', his albums have had success in other Asian countries such as China, Indonesia and Taiwan it is also in these countries where audiences were introduced to Rain as an actor in the TV Series Full House which he won a Best Actor Award for his role as Lee Young-Jae.

His acting isn't just limited to television work, in 2006 he starred in the Korean film I'm A Cyborg winning the Best New Actor Award at the Baek Sang Art Awards, it was also around that time where he became noticed in the West, making the Time 100, People Who Shaped Our World list and even made number one of a reader poll for the 100 most influential people from the same magazine in 2007 and placing second in the 2008 poll prompting the 'third' most influential person on the list that year Stephen Colbert to invite his 'rival' Rain onto his show for a Dance-Off which surprise surprise Rain won.

Not only has Rain performed concerts in the United States but he has also starred in two American films, first he played Taejo Togokahn in Speed Racer and most recently starred in Ninja Assassin (which I reviewed here) both films showing off the martial arts skills that he had incorporated into his dancing.

It's difficult to say what Rain will do next, his last album Rainism caused some controversy due to the title track having a line which was inappropriate for anyone under the age of 19 because of it's implied sexual content a clean version of the album with a warning label was issued. But with his exposure to western audiences he may even go the way of fellow Korean RnB artist BoA and release an English album but who knows? He does have a clothing line (Six to Five) to run, an entertainment company (J Tune Entertainment) to help run as well as his acting career to keep him busy.