Finally! A Polmo Polpo thread

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I just noticed the mad scramble over "Kiss Me Again and Again" on the mp3 trading thread, and Polmo Polpo didn't have his own thread yet, so introducing this one seemed U&K.

I first heard "Kiss Me Again and Again" at a gig about two years ago. I was with some friends who hadn't heard of him and had been telling them what to expect ... and then he played THAT. The one (long) song was his whole performance (he's big on 20-minute sets).

It threw me for a loop, particularly because I never heard him do it an any subsequent gig, and it didn't appear on his last album. I figured it was a one-off experiment, until hearing the EP for the first time a few weeks back. Now, I've warmed to it considerably ... the guitar loop that drift in out of nowhere at about the twelve minute mark MAKES the track.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 12 March 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and in case you didn't know, "Like Hearts Swelling" is a classic.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 12 March 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

Well, the description's sorta vague -- can you say more about what his music is like or in the vein of?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 12 March 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

Yes, that wasn't much of an introduction to those who haven't heard him before. He's relentlessly inventive and is probably my favourite artists in the Toronto scene right now. The brief history of Polmo Polpo:

-- emerges around '99-'00 with a couple of minimal techno records very much in the vein of Basic Channel/Chain Reaction/Gas. The live shows combine that swampy minimal sound with slide guitar and shoegaze-y FX. At the time, I was known to exclaim "fuck, why didn't I think of doing that?"

-- releases a couple more epic 12" singles, now very much in the Gas + slide guitar loops style. Some of this early material appears on his debut album, "The Science of Breath".

-- the live shows start taking on a more noise/improvised approach. This culminates with his second album "Like Hearts Swelling", which essentially buries the Gas/techno years, and combines electro-acoustic music, white noise, and geetar in a way that I've never heard before or since.

-- during one show, he gathers a full band and plays the "Like Hearts Swelling" tracks alt-country style.

-- "Kiss Me Again and Again" appears to be a disco-funk one-off.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 13 March 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

I love the two PolmoPolpo albums I have, and don't know any titles of songs. This ep mentioned above makes it seem that "Kiss Me Again and Again" is not on the two said albums.
As for what vein the music is of, without having it on right now to remind me, I'd say a unique mixture of the sensibilities of maybe Seefeel and Windy&Carl. (Highly recommended for those who enjoy either of these)

― peepee (peepee), Sunday, 13 March 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

weird, i just started a thread asking for similar recommendations!

slowdive slowdance

― in sharky water, Sunday, 13 March 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

I have yet to read a truly satisfying review/description of "Like Hearts Swelling" (Nick Sylvester's review on PFM is probably the best). It really must be heard.

Most people copped out and compared it to other bands on the Constellation label (i.e. GYBE, DMST, Sofa, etc.) which is lazy journalistic bullshit IMO, because it doesn't sound anything like those bands, all of whom operate firmly in the realm of rock. You could never mistake "Like Hearts Swelling" for a rock album.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 13 March 2005 00:31 (twenty years ago)

all i have is that split with polmo polpo, but this "hearts swelling" thing sounds interesting. so, slsk away.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

I heard and like "Kiss Me Again and Again.' think it's growing on me.

Where should I go next (songs, not albums)?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)

I would look for "Riva" next. Like "Kiss Me", it plugs away for a few minutes (sounding like a near carbon copy of anything from Gas' "Zauberberg"), then these laid back guitar loops hit (along with with a burbling bassline that sounds as though it was played on a rapidly bowed cello) and it turns into something very different.

The "Science of Breath" tracks work well outside the context of the album, since much of it was released separately on 12" single beforehand.
"Like Hearts Swelling" really needs to be heard as a complete album, but if you must seek out individual tracks, look for "Requiem For a Fox" or "Sky Histoire".

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

it plugs away for a few minutes ... then these laid back guitar loops hit

To clearer, there are guitar loops in the track right from the beginning, but midway through these *other* loops hit and the track transforms into something different.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:02 (twenty years ago)

could you yousendit maybe? or is it vinyl?

― in sharky water, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:04 (twenty years ago)

My copy is on vinyl, but the track was also on "Science of Breath" so it should be easily slskable. If not, then a rip can be arranged.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

all i have is that split with polmo polpo,

or that split with cog. i need sleep.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 13 March 2005 07:30 (twenty years ago)

yeah, he's great. what a voice!!

― scout (scout), Sunday, 13 March 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

Strangely, I was just thinking last night that I haven't listened to The Science of Breath in far too long. That's the only Polmo Polpo I have and I love it. Seeking out those other releases now.

― sleep (sleep), Sunday, 13 March 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

I don't even know who these guys are, and I never really understood what kind of music it was supposed to be, but I should point out that I have liked *The Science of Breath* ever since 2002 or whenever it was that it came out. Plus, that is a very cool octopus on the cover! Cephalopods rule! (And they have eight testicles, you know.)

― olde english d, Sunday, 13 March 2005 23:27 (twenty years ago)

"Rottura" from 'Science of Breath' is an amazing track- and I'll second the recommendation of 'Requiem for a Fox' and 'Sky Histoire'. 'Requiem..' especially is fantastic.

― Kevin H (Kevin H), Sunday, 13 March 2005 23:59 (twenty years ago)

seven months pass...

I love Polmo Polpo.

― fizzcaraldo (Justin M), Sunday, 23 October 2005 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

I might have thought that someone on this thread would point out that "Kiss Me Again & Again" is a cover version of Dinosaur L's "Kiss Me Again", written by Arthur Russell.

it is excellent.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Sunday, 23 October 2005 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

if by excellent you mean it is excellent at sucking out the exquisiteness and tingly fun of "Kiss Me Again" and leaving only tedium in its place, then yes.

― Beta (abeta), Monday, 24 October 2005 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

No way! The fizzy discotic outer layer is gone, but any exquisiteness is kept alive in those rolling grooves and slow fades. It's the relentless drained emotional whirl after the desperate hormonal histrionics of the originals.

― LRJP! (LRJP!), Monday, 24 October 2005 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

i agree it's awesome...totally hypnotic...

i need to id a track by him with tons of clarinets or saxaphones that all seem to be shifting in and out of tune and become sorta synthesized...i know this descriptions stinks...but somebody must know what i'm talking about

― pofan, Monday, 24 October 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

You're thinking of "Like Hearts Swelling", the final track on the album of the same name.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 24 October 2005 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

thumbs down here for Again & Again, I agree something ineffable is lost when it gets pulled into a twenty minute taffy.

still, great idea! more artists should do stuff like this.

― gold buck teef (mookie wilson), Monday, 21 November 2005 01:25 (nineteen years ago)

I have to join hands with the "it's great" crowd. Sure it never completely takes off like the originial (and the first few times I listened I really wanted it to), but it becomes so hynotic and settles in and I never want it to leave. I think this is a great compliment to the original and something Arthur Russell himself would love based on his non-disco work. I wish I could hear him play his more cello over this version.

― matt2 (matt2), Monday, 21 November 2005 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

Uh, don't know how that "more" got in there. It should be "play his cello."

― matt2 (matt2), Monday, 21 November 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Um, I only have Sandro Perri Plays Polmo Polpo, a 5 song EP. I guess he's going by his own name now. Oh yeah, and it's fantastic. I had no idea he did any singing on his songs, and then a few minutes into song number two, out pops this great voice. "Circles" is particularly good.

― Z S, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:08 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

So. . . I'm just trying to decide if Kiss Me Again and Again is is in fact the best thing ever.

― mehlt, Thursday, 7 June 2007 19:56 (eighteen years ago)

four years pass...

Sandro Perri finally has a new album - it's called 'Impossible Spaces', is on Constellation Records & is wonderful.

― just call me brian (krakow), Friday, 16 September 2011 20:58 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

what a strange album - always makes me check whether I haven't left a browser tab open, playing some experimental noodlings, while I enjoy some smooth Arto Lindsay jams

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 8 March 2014 19:48 (eleven years ago)

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