Kelley Polar: NEW orchestral disco?

[JussiK]

Kelley Polar (+ Daniel Wang) are performing new, orchestral string sound disco in Helsinki. Yes, it' supposed to be real disco, not house. Anyone know about this?

KELLEY POLAR (Environ, USA)

Kelley Polar began his musical studies at the age of three with stack
of LPs, a plastic Fisher-Price turntable and his six-year-old,
disco-loving sister. Lessons in piano, violin and finally viola
followed, the latter becoming his passion and primary musical vehicle.
At 18, Polar was a prizewinner at the William Primrose International
Viola Competition, followed by an infamous tenure at Oberlin
Conservatory. By the midnineties, Polar found himself in New York City
pursuing an advanced degree at the illustrious Juilliard School and
cementing his reputation for general deviance.

Fate introduced a chance meeting in 1998 with Morgan Geist, head of
the Environ record label. Geist and partner Darshan Jesrani were deep
into the production of their first Metro Area record, and aware the
duo were seeking live strings to complete the germination of their
signature sound, Polar gamely assembled a group of Juilliard players
and dubbed the group "Kelley Polar Quartet." KPQ would eventually be
heard on some of Metro Area's biggest tracks — "Miura," "Caught Up"
and "Dance Reaction," to name but a few — and even made the occasional
surprise appearance in the group's live performances.
It wasn't long before Polar determined that his Quartet should strike
out with an original venture, and while some influence of Metro Area's
style was evident, Polar's mix of western classical theory coupled
with ignorance of current dance music trends made his early Environ
records capture listeners' imaginations. The inaugural solo Kelley
Polar Quartet 12" (Audition EP, 2002) was the buzz of taste-making DJs
the world over, and with the subsequent EPs (Recital EP and Rococo EP),
Kelley Polar Quartet became a wellregarded name among discerning
spinners, record buyers and journalists by 2004.

Around this time, Polar was expelled from Juilliard, and despite his
flourishing recording career, he decided he could no longer handle his
self-destructive city lifestyle. He returned to the countryside of his
youth and began playing chamber music under an assumed name in rural
New Hampshire.

It was in this rural setting that Polar found himself as a solo
artist. Dropping the "Quartet" suffix from his name, he began
exploring taut song ideas rooted more in idealistic pop than the
pulsing floors of nightclubs. After a yearlong exile, Polar returned
to New York in summer 2005 to mix his debut album, Love Songs of the
Hanging Gardens, with Morgan Geist. Released the following autumn,
Love Songs… received an incredible response from listeners and critics
alike. Spin magazine praised the album as "romantic, nogravity dance
pop;" The New Yorker called it an "ambitious new age disco record;"
the Chicago Reader voted it "Best Music of 2005" as did Stylus
Magazine's "Best Records of 2005." A live European festival tour in
2006 connected Polar with his fans and further cemented the album's
staying power; indeed, Pitchfork described the album in May 2007 as
"one of 2005's great unsung gems."

Today, Polar is the violist for the Apple Hill Chamber Players, a
group known worldwide for playing primarily in conflict areas such as
the Middle East, Northern Ireland and the Caucauses. He has recently
completed a new album, I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling.
Again mixed by Morgan Geist, the album will be released worldwide in
March 2008, followed with a worldwide tour by Polar with his new live
band. Polar has also recently completed his first remix for the band
Caribou (formerly Manitoba) on Merge/City Slang.

http://www.kelleypolar.com
MySpace.com - Kelley Polar - SULLIVAN, US - Disco House / Electronica / Pop - www.myspace.com/kelleypolar
http://www.environrecords

[Videoskooter]

Daniel Wang is great, catchy and enchanting grooves:

"Nights In Berlin"

I wouldn't call Kelley Polar Nu Disco. He makes very interesting Electro-Dance and Discowave and IMO is more in the genre that's recently boosted by groups like Hercules And Love Affair and others.

But he certainly is an act worth to follow!

Live



"Chrysanthemum"

[discophil]

The Second Coming of Alec Constandinos he is not.

Not really "disco" to me. Not my cup of tea.

[sfbeary]

Kelley Polar is MY cup of tea — i saw him perform a couple of weeks ago at PS1 (the Queens sister museum of Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art) with the very excellent Metro Area on the turntables.

no he's not in the same league as Costandinos — more Arthur Russell, actually, and Hercules and Love Affair is a fair contemporary comparison — but there was a live drummer, bassist, and four violins.

AND they performed an orchestral disco classic that made jaws drop and booties wiggle — one that was probably never attempted live back in 1977.

i won't reveal it now — you should have the same pleasurable shock if you do decide to go.

[discodjinn]

Re new orchestral disco recordings-- has anyone posted yet about Million Dollar Orchestra's CD "Better Days?" Complete with strings, horns, lots of congas, and Sweethearts of Sigma-style backing vocals. Sounds like Salsoul Orch crossed with P&P productions.