Polyrock was an American
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
/
new wave band formed in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1978 and active until the mid-1980s. Strongly influenced by
minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
, the group was produced by the composer
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
and
Kurt Munkacsi. The band, led by singer/guitarist Billy Robertson (formerly of the group Model Citizens), had a keyboard-heavy, pattern-based sound strongly reminiscent of Glass's work; in fact, Glass performed on their first two albums.
Polyrock's lineup also included vocalist Catherine Oblasney, guitarist Tommy Robertson, drummer Joseph Yannece, keyboard player Lenny Aaron, and Curt Cosentino. The group signed with
RCA by 1980, and delivered their debut album that same year. Another album followed in 1981 (''Changing Hearts''), but Polyrock disbanded in 1983. The band are sometimes said to have released another album in 1981 (''Electro-Romantic''), but, apparently, no such album exists.
They were often compared by critics to
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talkin ...](_blank)
, another band of the same era, though they never approached that band's fame.
In 1990, Billy Robertson and Catherine Oblasney formed the group 9 Ways to Sunday and released a self-titled album.
Robertson died in September 2018. A memorial was held September 24, 2018, at the Brooklyn Ice House bar in the
Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, near where Robertson lived.
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Polyrock'' (1980)
*''
Changing Hearts'' (1981)
Extended play
*''Above the Fruited Plain'' (1982)
Compilation albums
*''RCA Special Radio Series Vol. III'' (1980) (LP of Radio recordings)
*''No Love Lost'' (1986) (Cassette compilation of various unreleased tracks)
*Blitz (1981) (LP compilation of various artist)
Singles
*"Romantic Me" / "Your Dragging Feet" (1980) (No. 69
lub Play Singles
*"Working on My Love" / "Call of the Wild" (1982)
References
External links
*
Allmusic.combr>
Band overviewWilliam Robertson Facebook PageRed Hook Star Review Billy Robertson Memorial Notice
*https://www.discogs.com/release/1228546-Various-Blitz
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American new wave musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Musical groups from New York City
Musical groups established in 1978
RCA Records artists
1980s disestablishments
1978 establishments in New York City