scott schultz

Polysics “Moog Is Love”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

When I was growing during in the ’80s, Devo was one of my favorite bands. When my parents went out, I would put a flower pot on my head—sometimes clean, sometimes not—and I’d destroy my mother’s couch by smacking the pleather with my dog’s leash to “Whip It.”

Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of bands do lousy impressions of Devo—including Devo—but finally somebody’s got it right. Japan’s Polysics, who played at the Roxy last Saturday, have been around for close to a decade, but their recent show at the Roxy was the first time I ever got to see them live, and I’m glad I made it.

First of all, Japanese bands ALWAYS have mega-cute Japanese girls dressed mega-cutely. There were girls in the front row dressed like some sort of animal-pokemon hybrids. Polysics also have a keyboard player named Kayo who speaks through a vocoder that makes her sound like a cute little robot. I’m going to have to put a vocoder in my nightstand—as soon as I get a nightstand.

On a purely musical level, they deliver a hard-and-heavy Devo type sound with matching orange jumpsuits and a WILD lead singer guitarist named Hayashi, who had sweat spraying across half of the full and hyper pit. I actually thought my camera was going to meet it’s inevitable yet tragic fate that night; that pit was damper than a rain forst at high noon. They even managed a cover of “My Sharona” that I didn’t even recognize until the FINAL chorus. It also didn’t hurt that the Roxy has one of the finest—if not the finest—sound system for a Hollywood club.

Openers IO Echo also had an updated neo-wave sound reminiscent of some of the female-led synth bands of the mid-to-late ’80s, but with a much harder sound that somehow retains it’s dancability. Their local radio hit “Addicted” has been stuck in my head all week. Damn those pop hooks! Singer IO is a major presence on stage and I’ll be shooting them again this Thursday at Spaceland.

Overall both bands set a proper example of how to look to the past AND the future at the same time. Now if only more bands would wear matching jumpsuits and cater to cute Japanese girls in pokemon costumes…

For more photos check out: larecord.com/photos

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9wSMuCJCkQ]