By Liz Singer

"Polarity/1, the multi-genre artist best known for bold, honest, hard-hitting songs, is releasing a brand new instrumental record titled Music From the Other Side. Fitting to the title, the album consists of smooth, jazzy tracks much different from louder albums like Yankin’ the Food Chain. Polarity/1's music has been incorporated by dance theaters and documentarists, including Danny Schechter's feature-length film documentary 'In Debt We Trust and Battery Dance Company's 26th Annual Downtown Dance Festival last year.

Music From The Other Side is the soundtrack for a dance performance by Lisbon's Quorum Ballet. The Other Side's principal objective is to fuse the style and art of the dance of Lisbon and New York. The work is the collaboration of choreographers Daniel Cardoso, Jonathan Hollander and Thaddeus Davis, artistic directors of Quorum Ballet, Battery Dance Company and Wideman/Davis Dance, respectively. Dark, moody, erotic and aggressive, it explores the theme of oppression, which has always been an issue for the people on both sides of the Atlantic. The piece examines the roles of the different agents: the instigator, the oppressor, the oppressed and the observer.

The most impressive song is the vocals version of "Fulano de Tal," included on the album as a bonus track. Also noteworthy is the exotic, media-infused sound of "Land O' Debbies." The entire albums feels like the fusion of every type of media coming together to blend spooky, unique melodies that echo through every track. What really drives the record, though, is the steady, trance-like beat that proves impossible to ignore.

The music of Polarity/1 is exactly what the name suggests - "conjoined opposites," including the new (cutting-edge electronica, hip-hop and nu-jazz) and the old (roots music of America, including blues, funk, country and early jazz, Brazil (samba, pagode, etc.) and West African groove science)."

As with all of his albums, on ‘Music From the Other Side’ Polarity/1 proves his ability to keep listeners engaged for every song, as they are never quite sure of what to expect next. Just as his name suggests, Polarity/1’s music certainly is composed of “conjoined opposites”; jumping from instrumentals to upbeat drumming, and from rapping to slow, soulful lyrics, Polarity/1 truly is one of a kind.
 

Polarity/1, the multi-genre artist best known for bold, honest, hard-hitting songs, is re-releasing his hit album, Yankin' the Food Chain, now with re-mastered tracks. Polarity/1's music has been incorporated by dance theaters and documentarists, including Danny Schechter's feature-length film documentary 'In Debt We Trust' and Battery Dance Company's 26th Annual Downtown Dance Festival last year.

Yankin' the Food Chain fuses electronica, acid jazz, alternative and electro-folk to create a set of funky-fresh beats infused with crucial political messages to future generations. The serious issues covered on Yankin' force listeners to reanalyze their own ethics, especially when cornered with their own self-images in "Look at Your Shoeshine": "Can you see yourself in your shoeshine?/ Step back!"

From the excitingly chilly vocals of "Salesman," to the persuasive political raps found in "News Goo," to the astoundingly real lyrics of "Di Hard" ("The good die young/ and the bad get paid"), Yankin' has something to offer every music-lover. Perhaps most notable, though, are the album's funky, upbeat tracks, such as "Boomers Blues," "Jam Inya Jimmies" and "Cincinnati Pink." With lyrics like "She's catchin' the groove and won't let go," it's obvious that once you put on this Polarity/1 record, you won't be letting go of the groove either.

But don't take our word for it; here's what others have to say:

"Polarity/1 is a musical force unleashing some of the hippest beats and timely lyric[s] on the scene" (MediaChannel.org).

"'Di Hard' is a medium tempo groove with rapped and sung vocals, everything done by Polar except for exquisite backing vocals by Scott Parker Allen and Sabina Sciubba. The song is a comment on Princess Di's demise, the role of the media, and the times we live in, serious without becoming sentimentalized or preachy. An interesting exercise in a style that's very hard to pull off" (Recording Magazine).

"Polar succeeds in his mission of forcing you to pay attention and not lull into the sounds you 'expect' to hear" (StarPolish.com).

The music of Polarity/1 is exactly what the name suggests—"conjoined opposites," including the new (cutting-edge electronica, hip-hop and nu-jazz) and the old (roots music of America, including blues, funk, country and early jazz, Brazil (samba, pagode, etc.) and West African groove science).

After a few years of playing percussion in samba bands at S.O.B.'s and other venues. Polar landed in hip hop which combined his interests in grooves, samples and wordplay into one form. He and rapper D.A.V. became Medicine Crew. In the aftermath of 9/11, Polar was asked to do a remix of Nile Rodgers' We Are Family Project released on a compilation by Tommy Boy Records. His experience of 9/11 which was perpetrated in his neighborhood led to a collaboration with multi-platinum Pakistan rock band Junoon resulting in their hit song 'No More'. John Hollander has choreographed four Polarity/1 compositions for New York's Battery Dance Company's fall season opening in November 2006 and has been touring extensively with the piece. In 2008, he scored "The Other Side" for the Quorum Ballet from Lisbon Portugal. P/1's new collaboration, Koko Dozo, released their first album Illegal Space Aliens in February 2008.

And you can check out Polarity/1 for yourself and learn how to purchase Yankin' the Food Chain by heading to http://amiestreet.com/polarity1
 

Polar Levine, a/k/a Polarity/1, has been making textural music for roughly 20 years, creating an intriguing plate of jazz slapped with interference, loops and found noise. … The splicings are far from random -- Polar knows exactly what he’s doing and why… I love the fact that Polarity/1 uses several live musicians instead of relying exclusively on samples; saxmaster Michael Blake is particularly adept at his craft. Polar succeeds in his mission of forcing you to pay attention and not lull into the sounds you “expect” to hear. However, the result is even more effective if you enjoy without reservations the sounds you hear instead.
 

Polarity/1 is the brainchild of NYC composer/producer/visual artist Polar Levine, who, when not making music, is running his own little spin of web subversion, with PopCultMedia. In it's entirety, Polarity/1's "Speechless" immediately strikes you as a lost soundtrack to some latenight & long forgotten acid trip. An electronic soup of beats, retro, tribal, and fragmented house peppered with bits of incoherent, nanosecond splices of altered speech snipits, off-time breaks, and unrecognizable audio from way back when, in pop cultures’ collective consciousness. As a sample in one of the tracks states, "If you don't like the music, go out and make some of your own," but chances are that you will dig on this funky little electro unit. Highly recommended. Download the track and buy the damn CD already.

MUSIC:
“Di Hard” is a medium tempo groove with rapped and sung vocals, everything done by Polar except for exquisite backing vocals by Scott Parker Allen and Sabina Sciubba. The song is a comment on Princess Di’s demise, the role of the media, and the times we live in, serious without becoming sentimentalized or preachy. An interesting exercise in a style that’s very hard to pull off. We hear stylistic nods to Innervisions, Sugar Hill and Paisley Park, yet it’s an entirely original project, taken from the polarity/1 CD “Yankin’ The Food Chain.”

RECORDING:
This is a very good recording. Beyond just “good” in some respects. Let’s list a few ingredients to give you a better picture. The synth bass speaks with basically one voice, that of a slightly chorused sawtooth filter sweep resulting in “syllables” like “ouwah” and “awou” placed sparingly but effectively almost throughout. Drums and percussion show variety that supports the song. So does the voice.

COMMENTS:
We’d like to hold this track up as an example of several successful techniques: Vocal treatment, drum programming, track building, using eq as a dynamic tool — do we have all day? No, but we’ll do our best.

Polar has many ways of dressing up a voice, depending on the demands of the song. He starts rapping in a slightly ghostly tone, band filtered — no real lows or highs, a bit like a telephone effect. And it suits the ghastly facts he reports about the death of Princess Di. That voice changes when he sings the second verse, in a fuller but still edgy tone. By the time he is joined by the background vocals in a soulful interlude, the tone is full, warm, rich. And this develops in a patient and subtle way over time — Polar doesn’t jump from effect to effect, he knows how to “work the line like a good fisherman works the catch.”

His drums are very sparse and standard at first, but he gradually adds more percussive elements, some of them defying traditional description, that build to a complex pattern, increasing the tension of the song where needed. And when he goes back to the basic kick/snare pattern, it’s no let-down because that pattern alone holds up well. Again, he doesn’t give away what he’s about to do, and when the change occurs, it feels right because the song demands it.

The song has so many segments, from sparse to complex, that it reads like a book. Tension, release, suspense, it’s all there, yet none of the quieter moments feel weak, they are part of an overall plan that simply works.

The volume changes are interesting in that they certainly do occur from segment to segment, yet the last section is not simply the loudest. Opening up the spectrum with eq from band-limited to full sound has the effect of pushing up the volume (of course, it does increase the amplitude), but Polar makes us believe he pushed up the volume faders for dramatic effect when other things are at work. Very effective.

SUMMARY
It’s obvious that Polar draws on years of creative experiences as a performance artist, instrumentalist, builder of songs with samples and found sounds, choir member, etc. These experiences have come together to allow him to construct this song that works like a well conceived play where each actor has his/her moves precisely outlined.
 

By Liz Singer, MusicDish e-Journal
‍
     Polarity/1, the multi-genre artist best known for honest, hard-hitting songs, succeeds in being both persuasive and entertaining on his album 'Yankin' the Food Chain.' As Polarity/1 continues on his ambitious, outspoken journey through the music industry, the delightfully bold album only adds to his list of accomplishments; Polarity/1's music has been incorporated by dance theaters and documentarists, including Danny Schechter's feature-length film documentary 'In Debt We Trust' and Battery Dance Company's 26th Annual Downtown Dance Festival last year.
     Proving musicians' dual role as messengers, 'Yankin' the Food Chain' fuses electronica, acid jazz, alternative and electro-folk to create a set of funky-fresh beats infused with political themes. The serious issues covered on 'Yankin'' force listeners to reanalyze their own ethics, especially when cornered with their own self-images in "Look at Your Shoeshine": "Can you see yourself in your shoeshine?/ Step back!"
     From the excitingly chilly vocals of "Salesman," to the persuasive political raps found in "News Goo," to the astoundingly real lyrics of "Di Hard" ("The good die young/ and the bad get paid"), 'Yankin'' has something to offer every music-lover. "News Goo" includes an interesting battle between what we know versus what is really happening, and also the conflict between what we need versus what the government tells us we need. On the slower, almost-reggae "Bag of Bones," Polar takes the tempo down a few notches, relaxing listeners with smooth-jazzy, sarcastic lines like: "Jesus died for you to have fun."
     Not one of the album's tracks fails to be overwhelmingly interesting and unique. Perhaps most notable, though, are the funky, upbeat tracks, such as "Boomers Blues" and "Jam Inya Jammies." Reminiscent of the solar-system-y beats of Prince, "Cincinnati Park" also dazzles listeners with its fresh melody about a soul-filled lady. With lyrics like "She's catchin' the groove and won't let go," it's obvious that once you start playing 'Yankin' the Food Chain,' you won't be letting go of the groove, either.
 

Polarity/1: Yankin’ The Food Chain (subTekst Records) It’s a group with attitude, musicians with mishigas and consciousness. Polarity/1 is a musical force unleashing some of the hippest beats and timely lyric on the scene. Who else takes on the testy relationship between blacks and jews with such honesty, affirming the common bonds that are often frayed in a song called "Howl." In "News Goo" Polarity/1 fires off a hip hop attack on media mergers and censorship of what matters. Sample line: "So where's the news of a people left out?/ Put  a camera in my face to hear me shout/But they don't want to hear what I shout about." But Polarity/1 doesn't stop with safe subjects

"Di Hard" looks at the Death of our late lamented Princess skewering both her media whore obsession and the disgusting attention paid to her by the paparazzi (and the men who hire them).I lean to the more timely newsy songs but no one is left out--the music is strong and the subjects varied. They'll be yankin' your chain if you let them.  And you will be better for it!

     Multi-Talented, Political-Themed Artist Re-Releases ‘Yankin’ The Food Chain’. Polarity/1, the multi-genre artist best known for bold, honest, hard-hitting songs, is re-releasing his hit album, Yankin’ the Food Chain, now with re-mastered tracks. Polarity/1’s music has been incorporated by dance theaters and documentarists, including Danny Schechter’s feature-length film documentary ‘In Debt We Trust’ and Battery Dance Company’s 26th Annual Downtown Dance Festival last year.
    Yankin’ the Food Chain fuses electronica, acid jazz, alternative and electro-folk to create a set of funky-fresh beats infused with crucial political messages to future generations. The serious issues covered on Yankin’ force listeners to reanalyze their own ethics, especially when cornered with their own self-images in “Look at Your Shoeshine”: “Can you see yourself in your shoeshine?/ Step back!”
     From the excitingly chilly vocals of “Salesman,” to the persuasive political raps found in “News Goo,” to the astoundingly real lyrics of “Di Hard” (”The good die young/ and the bad get paid”), Yankin’ has something to offer every music-lover. Perhaps most notable, though, are the album’s funky, upbeat tracks, such as “Boomers Blues,” “Jam Inya Jimmies” and “Cincinnati Pink.” With lyrics like “She’s catchin’ the groove and won’t let go,” it’s obvious that once you put on this Polarity/1 record, you won’t be letting go of the groove either.