P O L A R B E A R D I S C O G R A P H Y

item: "polar bear" demo tape (1- with vocals)
released: 1995, the talent house
tracks: leader, daytime, water, zulu
notes: This was sold by their old management company. Now out of print.

item: "polar bear (soundtracks)" demo tape (2- instrumentals)
released: 1995, the talent house
tracks: leader, water, nu flesh, shafty
notes: This was sold by their old management company. Now out of print.

item: "WHORE: various artists play wire" compilation CD
released: march 5, 1996, WMO [Wire Mail Order label] (WMO 2CD)
tracks: being sucked in (again)
notes: The band's first official offering: they cover a song on a tribute album to the band Wire. Now out of print. Side note: the beginning of polar bear's cover seems to be a sample from the end of another Wire song, "A Touching Display."

item: "polar bear" man's ruin limited edition 12" ice blue vinyl
released: november 1996, man's ruin records (054)
tracks: zulu, shafty, nu flesh, gimmee, leader, water
notes: The band's first major release: instrumental remixes of 6 of their songs, vinyl only. It was mainly meant to be for DJs to spin in clubs. "A great album to put on when you have friends over and are just chilling out," as one fan put it. A limited edition of 2000 copies, it is now out of print (plus Man's Ruin Records has gone out of business), but there's a chance you still might find it at a good record store or on eBay.

item: "polar bear" CD5
released: may 1997, dry hump recordings (DH021)
tracks: monkey, water, face, gimmee, leader
notes: The official debut (also known as the "chewing gum" e.p.). Seems to be out of print. You may be able to find it (or order it) at big music stores, such as Amazon.
[reviews]

item: "POLARBEAR" demo tape '98
released: september 1998
tracks: friday, zulu, shafty, bodybag, flyer
notes: This was a recording PB made "for our own writing purposes, for intersted fans and for prospective labels." These songs (virtually same versions) were later released on the why something instead of nothing? CD.

item: "scoopy/wednesday" CD-R
released: october 17, 1998 (PBRCD01)
tracks: scoopy, wednesday
notes: They only pressed about 20 of these; Eric just kind of tossed em out into the crowd at the 10/17/98 Whiskey show. These songs both ended up on the why something instead of nothing? CD. Scoopy was slightly re-worked and renamed "hula", and wednesday was renamed "lick."

item: "why something instead of nothing?" CD (original)
released: february 19, 1999 (PBRCD02)
tracks: lick, friday, hula, sharkeye, shafty, flyer, bodybag, farm, belly, zulu
notes: Most fans of the band agree this CD represents polarbear's greatest work. They self-released it.. a limited pressing of about 2000. The band sold it at their shows, and it was briefly available at a few local independent music stores, but more widely available through the IUMA website.. which has since gone through rough times, and stopped selling CDs. Then, after a year or so of unavailablity, it was available again, this time at CD Baby (in conjunction with IUMA), another online CD store. But it didn't take long for them to sell out of their copies. Eric then gave me a box of them to distribute in Summer '02. They went quick, but the CD was eventually re-released (see below).
[reviews]

item: "why something instead of nothing" CD (reissue)
released: february 10, 2004
tracks: lick, friday, hula, sharkeye, shafty, flyer, bodybag, farm, belly, zulu
notes:  Re-release on Long Live Crime Records, distributed by Koch Entertainment. The artwork is all new, but the music is the same as the original pressing. Went out of print in late 2006, but may still be available from some CD stores. Try Amazon.

unofficial releases...

item: Blue Saloon 2/1/96 bootleg
tracks: leader (soundcheck), things to do when i'm dead, water, daytime, shafty, leader, zulu, gimmee
notes: PB's second show ever. I believe this tape was the prize from a Jane's Xine contest sometime in '96. Since then, the winners have traded copies, so there are a few tapes of it floating around. Average quality, not great. Obviously this was before the band earned much of a fan base.. you can hear people shooting pool in the background.

item: Spaceland 9/26/97 bootleg
tracks: gimmee, face, zulu, gone, nubong, monkey, fryday, leader, shafty
notes: This show was recorded with a MiniDisc recorder. The guy who recorded it kindly put it up on the net for a while. And there are copies of this show floating around the trading community. The first minute or two of 'gimmee' is missing, and there's a bit too much crowd noise, but not a bad recording.

item: The Gig 9/5/98 bootleg
tracks: gimmee, face, shafty, zulu, scoopy, wednesday, monkey, bodybag
notes: This is a live tape of polarbear's set opening for Banyan in Hollywood. Not the best quality recording, but a good show.

item: mystery bear/jig demo
tracks: "mystery bear", jig
notes: A couple unreleased songs from early '99 that the band let slip out. They've since made the rounds via mp3 and cd-r. "Mystery bear" is a smooth instrumental without a formal title. Kind of a Twin Peaks/David Lynch movie groove, as one fan called it. Seems to be an incomplete recording. "Jig" is a somewhat Deconstruction-ish track that contains a lot of samples and jumps around a lot.

item: "demos 1997-1999"
tracks: the 3 demo tapes + jig, mystery bear (15 tracks)
notes: "demos 1997-1999" is a CD-R that a Jane's Addiciton website distributed for next to nothing (blanks and postage) in March 2002.

item: "Jig"
tracks: various tracks from the audio section of this site (15 tracks)
notes: Some enterprising jerk burned a cdr of mp3s from the audio section then started selling copies for about $20 under the title "Jig".

ipem: Spaceland 4/10/99 bootleg
tracks: lick, face, zulu, shafty, shark eye, hula, monkey, farm, gimmee, bodybag
notes: Decent recording I made of one of their last shows. Some mic trouble at the beginning of the show, and they need to re-start 'monkey', but aside from that, excellent show.