Polock

While the original version of "Fireworks" by Spanish pop quintet Polock (pictured above) reminded us a bit of the restless and carefree hooks crafted by the likes of, say, Phoenix, this remix from Eim Ick sounds a bit more similar to what we'd expect from the band's native land, like, say, Delorean. The Danish producer turned the song into a poignant, tropical-tinged dance jam, albeit one void of vocal hooks, guitars, or any other such indie-pop sounds. Instead, Eim Ick relied on straightforward basslines and simple drum patterns to drive his track, and around that core, the producer lets twinkling audio fragments waft about in the atmosphere—giving "Fireworks" a far more panoramic view than it originally had. - XLR8R

Their 2010 debut album Getting Down From the Trees set our hearts aflutter with its lighter-than-air melodies and intriguing lyrics. Songs like “Fireworks” fairly explode with the feeling of being high on fresh air and the thrilling precariousness of youth.

The reeling, hooky song is itself a bit like those pinwheel firecrackers, in the way that it seems to whirl in a new direction with each verse. Listening to it really feels like “sitting on the edge of the world to see the fireworks,” as frontman Papu Sebastian puts it in the lyrics. (There’s a multi-layered Eim Ick remix of the song that makes it pop even more.)

The free-spirited track was a perfect choice for their first video and the scenes of a woodland concert/intimate pyrotechnics gathering among friends makes a perfect backdrop. Produced by Black Sheep, the video was actually shot in London’s Black Park.

Watch the clip below and let us know how it stacks up against Katy Perry’s “Fireworks.” - MTV Iggy

We might as well get this done and dusted: Polock, fresh out of Valencia, Spain, are the Iberian Phoenix, melodic to the bone and breaking out an ecstatic pop in hock to all those golden sounds of the 70s that would be guilty pleasures if you had anything to feel bad about. Hooks are their trade, and debut album 'Coming Down From The Trees' (finally released in the UK on 11th April) brims with them – rivaling 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' for smooth, glittering appeal.

But this doesn’t make them copycats; rather, they mine similar seams. On first listen, Polock have the greater songwriting depth (if not the absolute immediacy) and, in Papu Sebastián, a singer with more presence than Thomas Mars - but that’s enough Phoenix! We’re here to welcome Polock’s new single, the delirious ‘Fireworks’, which is out this week and loveable beyond all reason. The warmer weather we’d all but given up hope of enjoying is at last upon us, and ‘Fireworks’ is exactly the sort of sunny shiver to be your springtime theme.

Check the video below, but that’s not all. They’ve also given us a download of Swedish bleep-pop crew Lo-Fi-Fnk’s remix of the single, which pulsates like something buried under the floorboards of a 1992 techno club. In a good way. Get a load of Polock.

Read more: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/first-on/polock#ixzz1KoVcJeon
- This Is Fake Diy

Seems like Polock‘s succeeded in extending their sweet glee over an entire album, not just one song burst of sunshine. Stream it yourself and see if it puts you in as charming a mood as it put us in.

Read more: http://www.thefader.com/2011/04/06/stream-polocks-new-album-getting-down-from-the-trees/#ixzz1KoVPICl1
- The FADER

i like bands. i like trees. i like bands in trees, so this band just really makes sense for me: Polock is from Valenica, Spain, and with only one single out now for the world to listen to – they’re holding my interest…

Polock will officially make their debut in May, with their album Getting Down from Trees, but until then there’s the instantly likeable “Fireworks.”

Polock is under Artica Booking and Management, who manages one of forthebeat’s favorite bands Delorean. They also book for another forthebeat favorite, Portugal based X-Wife, who played forthebeat’s CMJ showcase along with Sleigh Bells, Phantogram, We Have Band and Electric Tickle Machine.

Enjoy the one and only (no seriously, the only) single out there from them right now: “Fireworks.” - Forthebeat

Il suffit parfois d’un tube. Sur le MySpace de Polock, une seule chanson, « Fireworks », qui ne changera en rien l’histoire de la pop, mais immédiatement reste en tête, vous fait taper du pied et vous annonce déjà qu’elle risque d’être à vos côtés durant les beaux jours. C’est en tout cas sur la foi de ce seul morceau que nous les avons contactés.

Et bien sûr, lorsque nous arrivons sur une terrasse de Barceloneta, les jeunes membres de Polock nous annoncent qu’ils vont jouer 3 morceaux, mais qu’ils ne peuvent pas faire « Fireworks ». Ils ont pourtant tout bien préparé. On avait senti une lourde influence de Phoenix dans leur musique, on ne croyait pas si bien dire. Alberto avait regardé plusieurs fois notre Concert à emporter avec les Français, et avait décidé d’acheter le même petit ampli pour brancher sur son synthé. - Blogoteque

Il suffit parfois d’un tube. Sur le MySpace de Polock, une seule chanson, « Fireworks », qui ne changera en rien l’histoire de la pop, mais immédiatement reste en tête, vous fait taper du pied et vous annonce déjà qu’elle risque d’être à vos côtés durant les beaux jours. C’est en tout cas sur la foi de ce seul morceau que nous les avons contactés.

Et bien sûr, lorsque nous arrivons sur une terrasse de Barceloneta, les jeunes membres de Polock nous annoncent qu’ils vont jouer 3 morceaux, mais qu’ils ne peuvent pas faire « Fireworks ». Ils ont pourtant tout bien préparé. On avait senti une lourde influence de Phoenix dans leur musique, on ne croyait pas si bien dire. Alberto avait regardé plusieurs fois notre Concert à emporter avec les Français, et avait décidé d’acheter le même petit ampli pour brancher sur son synthé. - Blogoteque

Retro synthetic rock is the new genre for any rolling-skate purpose; Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus finally sewed up the scars left by Blink 182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, allowing for the much more comforting pop sound to blossom. Not to say Phoenix is the new hip band for skaters, they’re just putting the soundtrack to today’s rolling canvas. Comparing a new band to a consolidated one is the oldest cliché in music journalism, but it’s almost inevitable not to do it sometimes, the relationship (direct or indirect) between Phoenix and Spain’s Polock is extraordinary, mostly because you can tell the similarities and differences right away, big props to Polock for accomplishing that on their very first album. I could go on in detail about the whole European global-pop-strike, but Polock’s album deserves better, it’s pretty good.

Getting Down From The Trees is the kind of album that sticks to the plan; it relies on lyrical and instrumental skill, striking to become something bigger than it is, but accomplishing a better than average product with enough catchy moments to consider it a victorious debut. A chromatic record, you’ll be seeing all colors in virtually every song. Album opener “High on Life” upfronts the band’s premise of a synthesized version of ‘rock your life’ as a form of escapism. Polock’s attempt to coordinate adventures to a soundtrack is interesting; they seem to realize they’re seeking for larger-than-life highs and in fact, their music floats around with ease, yet the themes stick down in the ground. “Fireworks” celebrates a generation rushing through life, “this life’s new great movement”, the song is an invitation to step back a little and enjoy some fireworks, “take it easy now, ‘cause my rules have come… take it easy now, we could change our lives.”

Like Delorean or Furland, Polock has the guts to shoot for the stars, but unlike the other bands, they don’t search for stability, they jump and come back to surface with tremendous aptitude. “Nightshot” is the coolest call-for-peace song of the year; it doesn’t spit in your face at any moment and spells out its message through some great catchy synths and drums. The catchiest track in the album “Tangerines & Unicorns” flows like a great Todd Haynes movie (a trip to volatility), except less weird; “Well sometimes there is no time to climb to the stars.” Some of the tracks are quite hard to understand and some suffer from an excess of showmanship, yet Getting Down From The Trees is an impressive debut, heck, way better than Phoenix’s first two records combined. - ClubFonograma

While listening to Polock’s debut album, Getting Down From the Trees, I instantly wondered how many people were going to listen to this album and believe Polock is an American band playing American music. This Spanish group proves that even now, cultural barriers exist in the music world: When listening to something done in the English language, audiences simply assume it’s U.S-bred. Many seem to forget our most memorable and infectious doses of indie pop in the last few years have hailed from Europe. And so, lo and behold, Polock serves us classic indie pop on a silver platter, and it’s my (quite obvious) prediction that people everywhere will fall in love with what they’ve created.

Let's start with the faults. I refer to my previously mentioned prediction as “quite obvious” because, however lovable an album, Polock is basically Phoenix with a different nationality. That may be unfair of me to say, because there has always been and will always be a sort of tug-of-war of creative influence between musicians and artists, a cyclical pattern of style throughout time, and is therefore, practically impossible to make anything even close to original. There will always be discussion as to who came first, as to who did it better, or who was pure crap. Polock is typical indie, that which you’ve heard in the work of, yes, Phoenix, the Shout Out Louds, and even a bit of Mumford & Sons if you listen to the right riffs.

That being said and all cynicism aside, I know the success to come from Polock’s work will be nothing short of well-deserved. While not entirely satisfied with the musical aspect of their songs, it was thrilling to listen to Polock’s beautifully-told stories. I smiled, feeling almost like a stranger eavesdropping on hushed tales told by parents about their foolish youth.

Getting Down From the Trees speaks of simple things. Of the inevitable lust that’s born from friendship in “Nice To Meet You.” Of the almost obscure humor in the way people fall in love in the opening line of “Faster Love”: “I first saw you/puking in the streets/you were on your own/I fell in love.” They’re poems of ordinary moments charged with spark and chemistry, of “Fireworks” and complicated women and the reluctancy to rely on word-of-mouth.

For me, the clever simplicity in Polock’s songs is what made this album worth my while. In such a reverberated genre, they’ve managed to create a collection that can be deemed as special in its cartoonish approach to musical writing—it’s almost childish, definitely comical, and especially endearing. With lines such as “That white dress doesn’t suit you that well/party lights don’t make you shine” (from “High On Life”) and “I don’t believe in anyone/except for my mom/I don’t believe in George/tangerines or unicorns,” (from “Tangerines and Unicorns”) how do you expect me to a resist a group of Spanish boy-musicians? I tend to fall in love with storytellers, they manipulate so well.... - Austin Vida

I don’t want to encourage people to assault me on Twitter, but I have to thank Monique for suggesting that I check out this song by Spain’s Polock. What a good friend!

MP3: Polock – Fireworks
If you, like me, thought Phoenix’s last record was pretty great, definitely do yourself a favor and check out Polock. I swear if “Fireworks” was mislabeled as Phoenix and slapped on the internet, it’d be a smash hit. I don’t really do a ranking system here on YANP, but if I did, this would garner one of the higher marks I’ve given out this year. Don’t miss it! - You Ain't No Picasso

Words and interview by Jhoni Jackson

Does the sophomore slump jinx — the specter of the second album not living up to the first — even exist anymore? Lately, so many indie acts absolutely defy it, releasing stellar follow-ups to beloved debuts. Madrid outfit Polock is one such example. Perhaps, it’s because the recording process for their second album Rising Up, out now via Nacional Records, left nothing to chance. All five members shacked up together for about six months in a rented house just outside their home base of Madrid.

While a band moving into a studio for a certain period isn’t totally uncommon, it’s typically out of necessity — because they are recording in a different city, or even country. Polock, on the other hand, made these plans to induce intense focus.

“We thought that it was almost necessary to [have] everyone working all together in the same direction, or in the same frequency,” explains bassist Sebas Benavente. “Once you are in the process of recording, you are 24 hours thinking about things, the things you are recording. You are, like, obsessed with it during that time. And not only about your part, but the whole stuff. You need to be near to your mates to share these ideas constantly. The best way is to be living together during the process.”

That close-knit creativity was likely instrumental in Rising Up‘s dance rock perfection. Polock took a risk in straying from the guitar-driven sound, decidedly shifting into a place where melodies are driven by keys, and frontman Papu Sebastián’s vocals often work in seamless unison. Compared to the band’s 2011 debut, Getting Down from the Trees, which percolated with punchy guitar riffs, this album is like a sunnier slice of New Wave pop.

“The previous album had many synthesizers, but they came after the guitar. On this album, the keyboards were almost leading the composition and arranging of the songs,” Benavente notes.

Numbers like “Tangles” and “Freak City” brood a bit, but the eventual burst of shimmery synth comes as an explosive, gorgeous relief. There’s a few surprisingly borderline sleazy tracks, like “Internet Porn” and “Take Your Panties.” Most of the album consists of lush-but-fun jams that strut and sashay nonchalantly like “Bronze” and the elated closer, “Hockney.”

Photo courtesy of the artist

Despite the newfound emphasis on synth and forays into R-rated content, the collection is completely cohesive. Polock doesn’t sound like they’re experimenting but, rather, incorporated fresh influences into their tried and true sound. Benavente confirms this.

“We were more involved in listening to things from outside rock ‘n’ roll. That was not so much in the previous album; we were more every time listening to rock or pop. That was the music that we were listening to from the beginning. This time I found that Papu was looking towards different influences, [like] Philip Glass. I think things like that have to do with the arranging being based on so many layers and sounds. I don’t know really the style that Papu and [keyboardist] Alberto [Rodilla] were thinking about — sometimes they put some very strange music on,” he says, laughing.

Their shared dwelling during the recording process also afforded Polock the opportunity to borrow equipment from nearby friends, much of it necessary to emulate those off-kilter inspirations.

“We could get some stuff, very special stuff, like analog synthesizers and vintage material (from friends). Because when we’re near from home we could get these materials from some friends,” Benavente says. “Some of them are collectors or have shops, and they gave us the materials for the period of the recording.”

Their first album was recorded in Berlin, and while they did share a place there, in the studio they were frequently separated — which denied them the chance to flesh out tracks together in an organic, stripped-down acoustic format. Benavente points to the plentiful sit-downs in their rental as crucial to their songwriting this time around.

“During the year [of recording Getting Down from the Trees], we were going every day to the rehearsal studio and going back home. We were immersed in that way of working, that dynamic, of everybody around the computer recording by turns and giving opinions. But we almost never were playing the songs all together; it was all the time like playing in sessions together, but we didn’t play as it should be, the natural way. But in that house we could settle down and play all together those things that we were putting piece by piece before,” he says.

As much as Polock ventured into unfamiliar territory with Rising Up, keeping a number of elements they’re already accustomed to intact was nearly as important in guaranteeing its success. Firstly, they didn’t altogether eliminate the use of a proper studio.

“It was like a combined strategy. This house was a home studio, working in connection with the studio, the professional studio,” Benavente says. “We were recording some things that then, in the professional studio, they would put in its place. The house was like a satellite studio — working in connection with the professional studio. It was something like 15 minutes in our van from the house.”

Secondly, the support of their in-house artist and friend, Carla Fuentes, remains. She’s the one who handled all the designs for their first release, and has returned to craft a slew of idiosyncratic characters for the Rising Up album booklet.

“Her artistic name is Little is Drawing,” Benavente says. “She is a friend of ours, and I consider her almost like the sixth Polock, because she was there from the very beginning and was a big factor in our career. Everyone was talking about the music and the design in interviews — both things together, so I consider her like the sixth Polock.”

The guys have no doubt remodeled their aesthetic, yet, probably by keeping a few things the same, they’re actually sounding most like what they initially intended. If it wasn’t obvious already, the group derived their name from iconic abstract painter Jackson Pollock. Benavente says that Sebastián and guitarist Pablo Silva, who are cousins, both have grandfathers who are artists.

“The story is that Papu, in that period that he was thinking about names, he was with his father and watched the Pollock movie by Ed Harris. And when he saw the name on the screen he thought, What a name, that sounds good. And then he started to realize that the way Pollock composed his paintings with many layers was, in a way, similar to what he wanted to do with the band. It became the perfect name except for one reason: In Spanish, it could lead people to a wrong pronunciation because of the double L, it’s like an I. Sometimes it’s pronounced like an I. So to avoid that problem Papu decided to take away one L,” he laughs.

Maybe the sophomore slump jinx hasn’t been completely obliterated by Rising Up, but it’s inarguable that Polock found a way to rise above it themselves. Bands in the throes of shaping their second albums should take note. - MTV Iggy

It’s June, ladies and gentlemen, and that means summer indie pop releases. Returning after their debut album, Getting Down From Trees, is Polock, the quintet from Valencia, Spain. We hope for maturity on a second album, and we definitely get it from Rising Up. The concern with a band that sounds so much like Phoenix that they could be related is that influences are excusable on a debut, but not so much down the road. Rising Up does not vary from their original sound one bit, and oddly, in this case, it works. The single, “Everlasting,” is an excellent song and much better than the material other bands in this genre have put out lately. This album plays well in its entirety, and I can just see the beach couples snuggling to its jams. Good job, boys. –Benjamin Tilton - Slug Magazine