Polyrock was an American

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

/ new wave band formed in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1978 and active until the mid-1980s. Strongly influenced by

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

, the group was produced by the composer

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

and Kurt Munkacsi. The band, led by singer/guitarist Billy Robertson (formerly of the group Model Citizens), had a keyboard-heavy, pattern-based sound strongly reminiscent of Glass's work; in fact, Glass performed on their first two albums. Polyrock's lineup also included vocalist Catherine Oblasney, guitarist Tommy Robertson, drummer Joseph Yannece, keyboard player Lenny Aaron, and Curt Cosentino. The group signed with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

by 1980, and delivered their debut album that same year. Another album followed in 1981 (''Changing Hearts''), but Polyrock disbanded in 1983. The band are sometimes said to have released another album in 1981 (''Electro-Romantic''), but, apparently, no such album exists. They were often compared by critics to

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

, another band of the same era, though they never approached that band's fame. In 1990, Billy Robertson and Catherine Oblasney formed the group 9 Ways to Sunday and released a self-titled album. Robertson died in September 2018. A memorial was held September 24, 2018, at the Brooklyn Ice House bar in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, near where Robertson lived.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Polyrock'' (1980) *'' Changing Hearts'' (1981)

Extended play

*''Above the Fruited Plain'' (1982)

Compilation albums

*''RCA Special Radio Series Vol. III'' (1980) (LP of Radio recordings) *''No Love Lost'' (1986) (Cassette compilation of various unreleased tracks) *Blitz (1981) (LP compilation of various artist)

Singles

*"Romantic Me" / "Your Dragging Feet" (1980) (No. 69 lub Play Singles *"Working on My Love" / "Call of the Wild" (1982)

References

External links

* Allmusic.combr>Band overviewWilliam Robertson Facebook PageRed Hook Star Review Billy Robertson Memorial Notice
*https://www.discogs.com/release/1228546-Various-Blitz {{Authority control American new wave musical groups American dance-rock musical groups Musical groups from New York City Musical groups established in 1978 RCA Records artists 1980s disestablishments 1978 establishments in New York City