POLYSICS -- New Wave Jacket

 

I'll be honest here and say that I can get quite groggy during afternoons. A large lunch and a warm room, especially after completing an assignment, will deck me out like any punch from Mike Tyson. However, smelling salts aren't the thing to get me back up and running...it's actually the Portals scene from "Avengers: Endgame". Yep, there's nothing like watching for the umpteenth time all of the superheroes getting together and getting ready for battle against Thanos before Captain America finally makes the command "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!".

Recently, though, I have encountered a J-Pop equivalent that could liven me up from my mid-digestive stupor. It happens to be the 3rd single by the techno rock POLYSICS. "New Wave Jacket" released in April 2001. Especially when the audio is ramped up, I actually need to pour some chamomile tea down my throat to crawl back from the ceiling. The music video definitely does help as well in waking me up.

POLYSICS member Hiroyuki Hayashi came up with the loopy words and music and according to the J-Wiki article on "New Wave Jacket", he was requested by the recording company to whip up a song that would become a classic for the band...the executive suggested something on the lines of Denki Groove's（電気グルーヴ）"Flashback Disco". Well, "New Wave Jacket" was the result. It's certainly got the DEVO in there which is the famous American rock band that POLYSICS has often been compared to, but at the same time, those crash-and-bang guitars even remind me of some of the more uptempo hits by Australian outfit INXS. As for the music video, I received some warm memories of my time playing the ancient video game of Breakout! 

Speaking of the video, that New Wave jacket reminds me of the garb that Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor wore during his time in "Doctor Who". One wonders whether Russell T. Davies had gotten inspired in terms of fashion when he saw "New Wave Jacket". In any case, the song hit No. 86 on Oricon while its home album "ENO" which actually had been released earlier in June 2001 peaked at No. 61.

Anyways, I'm perfectly awake now.