Category Archives: Pop

Polysics @ Musica – Akron, OH – 02/12/2010 – Concert Review

Culture was shocked in Akron last night thanks to Tokyo, Japan’s Polysics making a special appearance at Musica.  The orange jumpsuit wearing foursome traveled half way around the world to perform their Devo inspired music to a packed club on what normally would have been just another regular Friday evening.  Scenesters as well as a couple punk rockers and plenty of proud geeks piled into the quaint club in downtown Akron with perfect knowledge of what would soon progress.

Polysics is best defined as a pop power punk electronica experimental new wave outfit or “technicolor pogo punk” as they dub themselves.  Think heavy synthesizers and guitar matched over insane voice altering vocals as well as a very energetic male lead vocalist Hiroyuki Hayashi (Hiro – and yes, he sounds like Hiro from the TV show Heros) who blasts out English, Japanese, and gibberish lyrics.  Formed in 1997 out of the pure love for Devo as well as The Tubes the band is an underground sensation thanks to their extremely energetic live shows and of course their orange jumpsuits and straight bar-style sunglasses.

Opening the evening was a band called Stiletto hailing from Kent, OH.  The band reminded me of Bedlight For Blue Eyes and Roses Are Red with their slight heavy rock sound.  The lead singer had a good voice and when the band had it together they sounded fine.  They sadly kept having issues starting their songs and it became apparent that they needed some more practice as it became downright annoying to some of the crowd.  Still, they did well and get props from me when the lead signer quoted Tupac but really did not match up to the headliner at all.

Armed with my trusty camera I really thought upon entering Musica that I was going to grab some photos during Polysics’ set but while inside the venue I saw this:

That really was something I did not want to see.  I respected the artist though and did not shoot anything until the very end of the show because who am I kidding…I need at least one shot.

Good thing I did not take photos as there was a dual braided memory card deleting bandit who was part of the Polysics crew.  I understand the premise of his doings but you should have seen this guy.  He stood upon a stool and the moment a flash went off he was bolting over to that non-sign reading schmo and erasing any Polysics related photo from their camera.  Seeing what this guy was all about I really did not want him touching my gear so I parked the camera to my side and just enjoyed the show.

Hands were about the entire evening.  It was a party.
Hands were about the entire evening. It was a party.

You know a crowd is excited to see a band when they cheer insanely as the band is setting up their gear on stage.  Things just got better when the band actually took the stage and just started hammering out songs.  The songs they played ranged from almost industrial heavy pieces to absolute insanity jump-all-over-the-place songs.

Still a novice to this band I just started with amazement throughout their set not having any idea what was going on other than a damn good time. The couple songs I did recognized were “Young OH! OH!”, “Fire Bison”, and just amazing “Shout Aloud!”

As entertaining as Hiro was throughout the night (especially when he screamed “you gruys awre awresoooooome!!!”) I absolutely adored the straight faced Kayo on the synthesizer and vocoder.  I could not help but envision the scene in Revenge Of The Nerds II when the nerds played the concert at Hotel Coral Essex.

According the band’s MySpace page Kayo will be parting ways with the band after the tour so I am pretty psyched I was able to the original line-up.  The whole night was a party with Polysics controlling it.  Fans danced and tossed their hands about to the music.  It was indeed a interesting and fun evening.  If I had to describe the evening I would have to say just imagine Daft Punk, Devo, and the Teen Titans humanized and in orange jumpsuits and you might have some idea what happened.  It was amazing.


Polysics – Young OH! OH!

POLYSICS | MySpace Music Videos


Pretty Good

POLYSICS | MySpace Music Videos


Polysics – Moog Is Love

POLYSICS | MySpace Music Videos

I had to throw this in too…

Bonnaroo 2010 Or Bust

Today was like a musical draft for one of the biggest festivals in the US.  I speak of the 4 day festival Bonnaroo and today’s announcement has been a day long event as the initial line-up was introduced to all who were curious throughout the day via Twitter and MySpace.  This was the first time Bonnaroo has done something like there where they utilize other sites to slowly leak out fetival details.

The way that Bonnaroo chose to dish out the artists was annoying to me.  It was a novel idea but if you are like me you want to know everything at once and not have to wait over 12 hours for a line-up.  I hope next year they just go back to routine and hand everything out at once.

Having already been to Bonnaroo twice (2006 & 2009) I can tell you that the line-ups are generally full of an array of artists for everyone.  This year is without exception and I really am thinking hard about going again.  I had a great time last year and really could go for a road trip with friends again.  This time though I am going to go and enjoy it and not worry about covering it.  I missed out on a few good sets because I made promises of coverage on a site I could barely keep but I still kept to my word and was submitting nightly reviews as the sun was rising the next day.

The artist line-up is listed below and I am sure a few other acts will sneak in over the upcoming weeks.  Anyone else interested in attending?  I know it will be a good time as always – just look at all the bands and artists!

Artists confirmed for


* Dave Matthews Band
* Kings of Leon
* Stevie Wonder
* Jay-Z
* Tenacious D
* Weezer
* The Dead Weather
* Damian Marley and Nas
* Phoenix
* Norah Jones
* Michael Franti and Spearhead
* John Fogerty
* Regina Spektor
* Jimmy Cliff
* LCD Soundsystem
* The Avett Brothers
* Thievery Corporation
* Rise Against
* Tori Amos
* The National
* Zac Brown Band
* Les Claypool
* John Prine
* The Black Keys
* Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers
* Jeff Beck
* Dropkick Murphys
* She & Him
* Against Me!
* The Disco Biscuits
* Daryl Hall & Chromeo
* Jamey Johnson
* Clutch
* Bassnectar
* Kid Cudi
* Baaba Maal
* Kris Kristofferson
* Medeski Martin & Wood
* The xx
* GWAR
* Dan Deacon Ensemble
* Tinariwen
* Wale
* Deadmau5
* The Melvins
* The Gaslight Anthem
* Miike Snow
* The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
* Dr. Dog
* They Might Be Giants
* Punch Brothers
* Isis
* Blitzen Trapper
* Blues Traveler
* Miranda Lambert
* Calexico
* OK Go
* Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
* Martin Sexton
* Lotus
* Dave Rawlings Machine
* Mayer Hawthorne and the County
* Japandroids
* Jay Electronica
* Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
* Ingrid Michaelson
* The Dodos
* Manchester Orchestra
* The Temper Trap
* Cross Canadian Ragweed
* Big Sam’s Funky Nation
* Carolina Chocolate Drops
* NEEDTOBREATHE
* Tokyo Police Club
* The Entrance Band
* Local Natives
* Brandi Carlile
* Mumford & Sons
* Rebelution
* Diane Birch
* Monte Montgomery
* Julia Nunes
* The Postelles
* Lucero
* Here We Go Magic
* Hot Rize
* Neon Indian
* B.O.B
* More Artists to Be Announced! (Subject To Change As Well)

Rumors earlier in the month pointed to Roger Waters possibly playing the festival but I am sure that is a no go now.  Also word on the streets was that Mastodon was going to make an appearance as well.  One could only hope.

I’ll be posting stuff here and there through out the next few months.  Still have not fully committed but highly considering it…

Tickets are on sale now and at this time are $234.50 but that price will not last forever and they will jump to $249.50.  They also are going to have the payment plan again this year – 5 payments of $50.  Not too shabby!

Music Video: New Found Glory vs. Zombies in “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down”

Just in time for Halloween…

New Found Glory declare that “pop-punk is not dead” in this new video and are currently hitting the road this fall with Dashboard Confessional to prove it.

New Found Glory Headlining Tour Dates:
Oct 18 – Toad’s Place – New Haven, CT
Oct 19 – Chameleon Club – Lancaster, PA
Oct 21 – The Chance – Poughkeepsie, NY
Oct 22 – Northern Lights – Clifton Park, NY
Oct 23 – LeMoyne College – Syracuse, NY
Oct 24 – Eleanor Rigby’s – Jermyn, PA
Oct 25 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT
Oct 27 – Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI
Oct 28 – Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH
Oct 30 – Southgate House – Newport, KY
Oct 31 – The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
Nov 1 – People’s Court – Des Moines, IA
Nov 2 – Slowdown – Omaha, NE
Nov 3 – Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
Nov 5 – New Daisy – Memphis, TN
Nov 6 – Emerson Theater – Indianapolis, IN
Nov 7 – Pop’s – Sauget, IL
Dec 1 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
Dec 3 – Recher Theatre – Towson, MD

New Found Glory / Dashboard Confessional Tour Dates:
Nov 8 – Uptown Theater – Kansas City, MO *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 9 – Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 11 – McKay Center – Salt Lake City, UT *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 13 – San Jose Civic Center – San Jose, CA *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 14 – Bren Events Center – Irvine, CA *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 15 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 17 – Soma – San Diego, CA *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 18 – Marquee Theater – Tempe, AZ *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 20 – Bricktown Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 21 – Sunset Station – San Antonio, TX*with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 22 – Palladium Ballroom – Dallas, TX *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 24 – Warehouse Live – Houston, TX *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 27 – Pompano Beach Amphitheater – Pompano Beach, FL *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 28 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL *with Dashboard Confessional
Nov 29 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 3 – Tsongas Arena – Lowell, MA *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 4 – Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 5 – Ice Garden Arena – Pittsburgh, PA *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 7 – Nokia Theater – New York, NY *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 8 – Nokia Theater – New York, NY *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 9 – Nokia Theater – New York, NY *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 11 – Aragon – Chicago, IL *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 12 – Fillmore – Detroit, MI *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 13 – Kool Haus – Toronto, Ont. *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 14 – Kool Haus – Toronto, Ont. *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 16 – The National – Richmond, VA *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 17 – Fillmore – Charlotte, NC *with Dashboard Confessional
Dec 18 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA *with Dashboard Confessional

Links:
www.Epitaph.com
www.myspace.com/newfoundglory

Contest: “Tweet” New Found Glory

Punk pop rockers New Found Glory (NFG) are asking fans for help in finding local opening acts for their small club headline shows the are playing in the upcoming months.  They will be touring in support of their new album they released this past Spring called Not Without A Fight.

So how can you help you ask?  Excellent question.

All you have to do is send a “Tweet”  to @xchadballx and @steveisdareason on the popular mini-blog site Twitter the local band you think should open for them. They will pick the bands based upon the number of local requests they get.

What a novel idea…   The dates for their headlining tour (they will also be touring with Dashboard Confessional this Fall too but this contest does not apply to those shows) are listed below.  If you know of a local band you think should open for NFG then I suggest you tweet them a little message.

I have a couple local favorites in mind I will be tweeting them about…  I suggest you do the same.  Hell, even if you are in a band it could not hurt to tell them from perhaps a friend’s Twitter account how awesome your band is.  You never know, they may ask you to open for them!

The above was reshaped and manipulated from a message from Chad Gilbert of NFG. Here’s his take on the whole idea as well as some other words:

Support Your Local Scene!

Before NFG head out on tour with Dashboard Confessional this fall we will be doing a limited amount of smaller intimate club shows. For the past few years NFG have not been able to hook up local bands due to a full traveling line up. We know how important it is to support local bands and local music scenes. That is how NFG got our start. We use to open locally in South Florida for bands like MxPx, the Get Up Kids, Unwritten Law,Bane etc. Playing those shows helped build our band and build our local scene. This tour will give us an opportunity to finally help out a little.

We ask you to “Tweet” @xchadballx and @steveisdareason some suggestions for local bands to open up the NFG show in their town. Please check http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory for all the tour dates. Make sure you request bands only for our own headline shows, Not the shows we will be playing with Dashboard Confessional.

We do not want to piss any one off or discourage any bands so NFG will not be picking the specific band. We are just compiling a list of bands that we get the most requests for and submitting it to the local promoter to pick.

Also on all of these shows will be a fellow Floridian band called Fallen From The Sky and Pennsylvania’s TITLE FIGHT!

thanks so much and we hope to see you all this fall!

DONT LET HER PULL YOU DOWN the movie coming soon!

your friend always
@XchadballX

Tour Dates (for their headlining shows only)
Oct 18 2009 – Toads Place (Headline Show) – New Haven, Connecticut
Oct 19 2009 – Chameleon Club (Headline Show) – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Oct 21 2009 – The Chance (Headline Show) – Poughkeepsie, New York
Oct 22 2009 – Northern Lights (Headline Show) – Clifton Park, New York
Oct 24 2009 – Eleanor Rigby’s (Headline Show) – Jermyn, Pennsylvania
Oct 25 2009 – Higher Ground (Headline Show) – Burlington, Vermont
Oct 27 2009 – The Intersection (Headline Show) – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Oct 28 2009 – Peabody’s Downunder (Headline Show) – Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 30 2009 – Southgate House (Headline Show) – Newport, Kentucky
Oct 31 2009 – The Rave (Headline Show) – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nov 1 2009 – People’s Court (Headline Show) – Des Moines, Iowa
Nov 2 2009 – Slowdown (Headline Show) – Omaha, Nebraska
Nov 3 2009 – Station 4 (Headline Show) – Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nov 5 2009 – New Daisy (Headline Show) – Memphis, Tennessee
Nov 6 2009 – Emerson Theater (Headline Show) – Indianapolis, Indiana
Nov 7 2009 – Pop’s (Headline Show) – Sauget, Illinois
Nov 23 2009 – Cine El Ray (Headline Show) – Mcallen, Texas
Dec 1 2009 – Cat’s Cradle (Headline Show) – Carrboro, North Carolina
Dec 2 2009 – Recher Theatre (Headline show) – Towson, Maryland

My Hero: The Indie/Undie Performer Har Mar Superstar

If you have never heard of Har Mar Superstar and claim to have a sense of humor as well as hold an appreciation towards those who work hard at the music they create, you are missing out.

I will say though, Har Mar is not for everyone.

Born Sean Tillman, Har Mar Superstar can be defined as a singer/songwriter with major indie(undie)-pop / R&B / dance qualities.  He is a performer like none other and has made a huge name for himself in the UK in past years.  In 2004 he released The Handler and in October he will be dropping an all new album titled Dark Touches.  Not only does he write his own music, but he also writes for others making this guy one of the harder working artists out there.

On Dark Touches, Har Mar will take his dance club pop style to a whole new level thanks to his dedicated work to his moniker and will feature a huge roster of special guests including P.O.S., The Faint‘s sick beat creators Clark Baechle and Jacob Thirle, and even is joined by John Fields who has produced many acts including Andrew WK and Rooney.

To make things even more interesting Dark Touches will include a track that Har Mar co-wrote that was originally intended for pop superstar Britney Spears.  Rejected by Britany Spears’ management for unknown reasons, Har Mar decided he keep the track “Tall Boy” and include it on his upcoming album with unchanged lyrics and his added style making for an interesting listen.

DOWNLOAD THIS!Har Mar Superstar – “Tall Boy”

I can still remember the first time I had the pleasure of checking out Har Mar Superstar.  It was 2001 and the then unknown artist was the opening act for Tenacious D.  Har Mar came to the stage all by himself and performed to the crowd his material while slowly stripping throughout to his tighty whities.

The crowd was speechless.

I was cheering as loudly as I could. All the silent folk around me turned their heads from the stage and looked at me with the same puzzled look.  Others in the theater were cheering too but I am pretty sure that not all of the applause was sincere.  Mine was.

I cheered for a couple of reasons.

One being for his performance.  It was good.  He sang pop like songs sometimes heavy on the R&B over pre-recorded material.  He danced about the stage in his own style and proved to have better moves that many people who frequent over priced dance clubs.

I also cheered because this guy had the balls to take the stage and do his thing without hesitation.  There was a lot of heckling and plenty of booing during the show but Har Mar just blew it off like it was nothing.  He believed in himself and even if his performance included scrapping his attire, I appreciated his performance.

Since the night I made sure to check out all that he has released and I not once was disappointed.  “DUI”, a track from The Handler is a track that still remains in heavy rotation in my musical listening choices.

It’s been five years since I last heard from Har Mar and it’s true, I am excited to hear what is to come from this insanely talented performer.  Look for the new album to drop in the states on October 13th.

Here is the video for “DUI”:

Press info found on Har Mar Superstar’s website:

After a five-year proper-album break since 2004’s The Handler, Har Mar Superstar, sexy as ever, is ready to unleash Dark Touches on the masses. On Dark Touches, Sean Tillmann – the singer, songwriter, and producer behind the Har Mar moniker – delivers his most club-friendly collection of jams yet. Tillmann’s silky smooth croon and tongue-in-cheek lyrics lead a nonstop dance party that blends everything from synth-pop to R&B, with ample hooks around every corner.

Dark Touches builds a bridge between the worlds of indie and Top 40 dance music, thanks in part to an eclectic group of collaborators. The album’s many guests include John Fields (Andrew WK, The Jonas Brothers, Rooney), The Faint’s beatmakers Clark Baechle and Jacob Thiele, singer-songwriter Adam Green, P.O.S. of the Rhymesayers collective, Neon Neon’s Boom Bip, Flowers of Doom, and Samaire Armstrong. The Bird and The Bee’s Greg Kurstin, who has also produced tracks for Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, and Lily Allen, co-wrote and lent his studio wizardry to “Tall Boy.” The track was originally intended for Spears and, with the unchanged lyrics, takes on a vibrant new life in the hands of Har Mar.

Of course no Har Mar song is complete without Tillmann’s signature lyrics, which are both outrageously absurd and witty. “I Got Next,” which features The Bird and The Bee’s Inara George, details Tillmann’s practice of asking women to sign contracts that put him next in line to date if they ever leave their current boyfriend. He has also penned an anthem for the ladies with “Girls Night,” a track that was once intended for The Cheetah Girls, and like “Tall Boy,” maintains the original lyrics, written from a female perspective.

Tillmann is also getting ready to dip his toes into the world of Hollywood with the release of Whip It, a film directed by Drew Barrymore. As if he isn’t wearing enough hats already, Tillmann is actively developing his own movie scripts and sitcom pilots. Along with his golden pipes, the ability to juggle multiple creative outlets is sure to win him entry into both the hearts and undergarments of women and men everywhere.

Get ready, everyone. Dark Touches is coming!

As always, if you are on Facebook, please stop by the page, become a fan, and say hi:
HAR MAR SUPERSTAR FACEBOOK PAGE.

You can also follow Har Mar on TWITTER & listen to his music at MYSPACE.