Let me catch you up on the last five years of Polysics by plucking out the very best of this new and (for Western audiences) obscure era.
10. "Smile To Me" (Oh! No! It's Heavy Polysick!!!) : At their best, Polysics has a dangerous and abrasive sound. After so many records of that, sometimes a straightforward tune can seem like the most refreshing thing. "Smile To Me" has no tricks up its sleeve. It's just a fun rock song with a bouncy bass line. A great song to test out on "normies". If this freaks your friends out, next serve them up "Kaja Kaja Goo" from behind protected glass.
9. "発見動物探検隊" (Action!!!) : Most Polysics songs are fireworks shows with little breathing room. What "発見動物探検隊" does to stand out is play with pacing and buildup. A fragile delivery opens each verse, building to a faster beat, followed up with a few spaced apart blasts, and then "ACTION".
8. "Steam Pack" (Weeeeeeeeee!!!) : No one really knew what Polysics was going to sound like as a trio. I remember briefly entertaining the concept of almost entirely dropping synthesizers. At the time, Man or Astro-Man? had reformed, and We Are The Physics were killing it (two similar bands with a ton of energy and stage presence that stick mainly to guitars and drums.) "Steam Pack" is a song reinforces that concept. Without any electronic presence, "Steam Pack" still manages to sound undeniably Polysics.
7. "Everybody Say No" (Weeeeeeeeee!!!) : Given the right push, I honestly believe "Everybody Say No" would have been the Polysics song that reached the most widespread audience. In most cases, the songs chosen for singles have an awkward English catchphrase. "Everybody Say No" is both strange enough to turn a head, but not so much as to make someone cynically roll their eyes. Aside from being a downright catchy song, "Everybody Say No" is unique for being their only fully vocoded single. I'm a big fan of the vocoder, especially since Hayashi's voice has become unnaturally higher over the years.
6. "Cough Cough" (Oh! No! It's Heavy Polysick!!!) : Think, and you'll miss it. In this short instrumental, Polysics overclocks their sequencers and performs in lock step with them. It seems more like a proof of concept than an actual song, but one hell of ride, nonetheless.
5. "Post Post" (Action!!!) : Another great example of the band's talent and comfort in performing alongside pinballing sequencers. An entirely unpredictable song on first listen. With repeated listens, its charming pop moments are highlighted. "Post Post" isn't just that perfect mix of guitars and synthesizers Polysics stands for; but also a perfect balance of positive energized pop, bleeding with manic punk rock acid.
4. "How are you?" (eee-P!!!) : "How are you?" was how Polysics resurfaced as a trio in 2010. It was a sigh of relief. Fumi's fire-charged vocals gave confidence that she had no intentions of attempting to impersonate the flowery delivery of her departed bandmate. Between the impossibly fast spitting of lyrics in the pre-chorus, and Hayashi's haphazard shredding, "How are you?" let fans know everything was going to be just fine.
3. "Sparky" (Action!!!) : The biggest setback to this era of Polysics has been how shallow the range of the synthesizers have been. With more of an electronic presence than ever, sometimes the tone of the sequencers can become dull by the end of an album, or the tricks can become predictable. 2014's Action!!! fixed a lot of this, with a much wider range of electronic sounds; my favorite of which being the buzzsaw of death that rips through "Sparky". As stated earlier, Polysics is best when dangerous and abrasive; and you can feel those synths tearing "Sparky" apart. It makes an already explosive song even better.
2. "Why" (Weeeeeeeeee!!!) : The pounding march of "Why" is hypnotizing. There is a certain feel to it that sets it apart from most Polysics songs. While not lacking in energetic force whatsoever, it has a slightly darker edge than most of their songs. Especially after the chorus, when it just spins into oblivion. For the last ten years, Polysics has almost exclusively been a "come have fun and be crazy with us" sort of band, but not since National P (2003) has there been something as unfriendly and alien as this.
1. "Turbo Five" (Action!!!) : I feel like this is the song Hayashi has been trying to make (and probably will continue to keep trying at) his entire career. It's blazing fast non-stop action, with guitar solos exploding out from around every corner. Fun from top to bottom without resorting to any corny sing along catch phrases. "Turbo Five" is his fireworks powered waterslide into a trampoline ball-pit. It has become the Polysics song I sample to newcomers. I don't even bother explaining to people in words what kind of band they are anymore. I've found their description carries to many "dealbreaker" words that manage to conflict each other ("punk" "synthesizer" "Japanese" "technopop"). I just throw "Turbo Five" at them and let them figure it out.
So what's next for a band that has seemingly finally created the song that perfectly encapsulates them? I don't know. It's a wonderful thing that a band like this is still around after going through such a major lineup and songwriting change. It's sort of like these years are bonus DLC. Heck, when they released We Ate The Machine back in 2008, my takeaway was "Yup, this is everything I ever asked for in a discography. For now on, it's just icing."
Polysics releases Hen 愛 Let's Go! on March 25. An EP apparently about food. The treats keep on coming.
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