• News

• All

Sep 15, 2016 By Christopher Roberts Japandroids

The great Champaign, Il based indie record label Polyvinyl turns 20 this year. To honor that they are putting out a new compilation, Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl, in which its artists cover other artists on the label. And today they have already shared four of the tracks from the compilation, all of which you can stream below. Deerhoof covers Xiu Xiu’s “Hi” in the style of White Reaper, Beach Slang takes on Japandroids’ “Younger Us,” The Dodos do their version of American Football’s “Never Meant,” and Owen covers Rainer Maria’s “Ears Ring.” Below is the full tracklist to the comp, which can be preordered over at Polyvinyl’s website, along with the cover art.

Polyvinyl is definitely one of Under the Radar’s favorite labels. Just in the last month they’ve put out great new albums by of Montreal, Psychic Twin, and Katy Goodman and Greta Morgan. As well as the aforementioned artists they’ve also released fantastic records by Alvvays, Love Is All, Headlights, Casiokids, La Sera, Vivian Girls, Loney Dear, Jacco Gardner, Painted Palms, Dusted, and many others. Polyvinyl co-founder Matt Lunsford issued a lengthy statement/long-form oral history on the label’s first 20 years:

“As a kid who spent every spare moment on a skateboard in the late 80s/early 90s, I fell in love with discovering new music through reading magazines and watching skate videos with friends. I spent those formative years listening to bands like Dinosaur Jr., Firehose, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, and dozens of others. These were not exactly household names in central Illinois. In these pre-internet days, discovering music was something you had to be passionate about and put some effort into.

“I was fortunate enough to meet a handful of friends including Darcie (my label co-founder and now wife) who were equally passionate about music and who were writing fanzines, booking DIY shows, working at record stores, and playing in bands. These people inspired Darcie and me by proving to us that with a little hard work it would be possible to spread our passion for discovering music to the world.

“By the time we’d finished high school, Darcie and I were writing a fanzine and had started helping friends release records. Just a year into college, we decided to drop out and start working on Polyvinyl full-time. For the first year, Darcie took a shitty factory job to make extra money to pay rent and save up to put out more records. It was exciting and terrifying, but it was clearly the only decision. We were being entrusted to help create and share records with the world. It was a responsibility that we couldn’t simply take on part-time. We were committed. Within the first two years, we had released the first music by Braid, Rainer Maria, and American Football, among others.

“We hadn’t set out to start a full-time business, so we learned as we went along—always with the philosophy that we should match the dedication and passion of our artists. We adopted a straightforward and fair 50/50 profit sharing business structure with our artists (which we still hold true to today). It was not long before our reputation for hard work and fairness started to precede us.

“Artists like Mates of State, of Montreal, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and Saturday Looks Good To Me all had various interconnected stories that brought them to the label, and a family tree started to take shape. In a six-degrees-of-separation sort of way, over 20 years, bands new and old from Aloha to Japandroids to Beach Slang and as diverse as Deerhoof, STRFKR, and Alvvays can all be traced back to our proud reputation for artist-friendliness.

“I’ve always approached Polyvinyl with nearly boundless optimism. I’ve now been doing this for 20 years, which is half my lifetime…and my entire adult life! Polyvinyl has worked with over 100 artists and now has a catalog of over 300 releases. We’re still 100% independently owned and operated by a staff of thirteen. We’re still proud, honored, and humbled that artists we love trust us to share their records with the world. I am truly grateful to the hundreds of amazing, inspiring people Polyvinyl has worked with over the years. If the next 20 years are even half as exciting as the first, I’ll be looking forward to Polyvinyl 40.”

Jesse LeDoux designed the compilation’s artwork and Polyvinyl have also teamed up with Girl Skateboards to produce aPolyvinyl x Ledoux x Girl collaborative board featuring the artwork (see album cover and skateboard below).

Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl Tracklist:

1. Generationals - In Green (Volcano, I’m Still Excited!!)
2. Beach Slang - Younger Us (Japandroids)
3. The Dodos - Never Meant (American Football)
4. Aloha - Too Late to Die Young (Beach Slang)
5. Deerhoof - Hi (Xiu Xiu in the style of White Reaper)
6. Fred Thomas - I Heard You Say (Vivian Girls)
7. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Since You Stole My Heart (Saturday Looks Good To Me)
8. Radiation City - The Clod and the Pebble (Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin)
9. of Montreal - Find Yourself (Jacco Gardner)
10. Pillar Point - Heart It Races (Architecture In Helsinki)
11. Shugo Tokumaru - Gronlandic Edit (of Montreal)
12. Psychic Twin - While I’m Alive (STRFKR)
13. Mates of State - So Begins Our Alabee (of Montreal)
14. Wampire - Face to Face (Jacco Gardner)
15. Braid - Next of Kin (Alvvays)
16. Tancred - A Fever (Owen)
17. Owen - Ears Ring (Rainer Maria)
18. Rainer Maria - Big Man (Birthmark)
19. Xiu Xiu - Bubble (Dodos)
20. White Reaper - Exit Only (Deerhoof)