Artist description polarity/1 is about groove, texture and evidence of human interference. Made of equal parts hipHop, pan-African groove science, funk and downtown New York jazz, each song makes its own distinct statement with the combination of electronica and live feel. The band’s first cd, “Yankin’ The Food Chain,” featured vocals while the upcoming, “Speechless,” is all instrumentals. Grooves are based on homemade loops (and a few found ones), percussive noise and odd tonal events. Parts normally played with standard instrumentation are replaced by voices sliced and diced, and scraps of noise lost and found. polarity/1 was honored recently by being asked (among others) to provide a remix for Nile Rodgers’ WE ARE FAMILY PROJECT for a Tommy Boy Records release.

Music Style Sample-based electronic with hipHop, funk, jazz & Afro-Brazilian groove science

Musical Influences everything, any time, anywhere

Similar Artists Tortoise, Massive Attack, St. Germaine

Artist History Polar Levine worked the first half of the 80’s in Boston as a performance artist, composer/musician, actor, poet and collage artist. Much of his music was abstract soundscapes constructed from samples and tape loops as well as analog synths, percussion and garbage. When he moved to New York in 1984 he left the art music scene and got groove. After a few years of studying African derived percussion and dance and playing percussion in samba bands around the city, Polar landed in hipHop which combines his interests in grooves, samples and wordplay into one form. He and rapper D.A..V. became MEDICINE CREW. Nature intervened and after four years of putting music on the shelf in favor of kid noiz graphic design, Polar is now fully back in the studio.

Group Members Polar Levine is the composer, producer and main player of polarity/1, whose first cd, YANKIN’ THE FOOD CHAIN, is a collection of topical songs and raps. The upcoming cd, SPEECHLESS, is instrumental music intended for dancing, drug ingesting and multi-layered conversation. Polar is joined on many songs by Knitting Factory jazz regulars, Michael Blake, Gregg Bendian and Pete McCann. Also on hand are rapper, D.A.V. and ex-Prince bass player, Scott Parker Allen.

Albums Yankin' The Food Chain, Speechless

Press Reviews REVIEW OF "Di Hard" in "Recording Magazine" July 2000 for full text: -- www.polarity1.com/fcwd10a.html -------------- REVIEW: June 18, 2002: TheRecordingIndustry.com names polarity/1 Featured Artist "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 (but that is a tale for another time.) In its 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. The featured track, Senhor Softee, is an example of one of the more chilled-out moments on this forthcoming release. As a sample in one of the tracks states, "If you don't the music, go out and make some of your own.", but, chances our that you will dig on this funky little electro unit. Highly recommended. Download the track and buy the damn CD already. - - - - - - - - - - - - On June 1 2002,“Senhor Softee,” a track to appear on SPEECHLESS, was recognized at broadjam.com as #1 Songs Top 10 in the Electronic category and New York Top 10. "Softee" continues to bounce around the Electronic Top 10. "The Eagle Has Descended" made broadjam.com's New York Top 10, putting two tracks from SPEECHLESS on the charts! - - - - - - - - - - - - - REVIEW: MediaChannel.org polarity/1: Yankin’ The Food Chain (subTekst Records) He's an artist with attitude, a musician with mishigas, and a creator with a consciousness. Polarity 1 (Polar Levine) is a musical force unleashing some of the hippest beats and timely lyric on the scene. Never heard of him? No surprise. Some of our best musicians have to struggle to be heard especially when the ideas they are struggling with matter. 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."(You can hear this one on media channel.org, the global eye on media site--in the media reader representing 480 affiliates). But Polarity doesn't stop with safe subjects....His "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. He'll be yankin' your chain if you let him. And you will be better for it!

Location New York, NY - USA

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