Various Artists: Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl (Polyvinyl) Review | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Thursday, December 12th, 2024  

Various Artists

Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl

Polyvinyl

Dec 16, 2016 Web Exclusive

Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl celebrates 20 years of label existence by having a number of its artists run free with covers of their labelmates’ songs. The result is a stylistic cornucopia made doubly pleasing by the obvious joy and care involved in musicians taking liberties with their peers’ creations.

Deerhoof goes high-concept, tackling Xiu Xiu’s “Hi” in the style of White Reaper. Where Jamie Stewart’s tremulous vocals led the electro-pop of the original version, Deerhoof launches in full-on rock style like a Corvette in a downhill race and singer Satomi Matsuzaki perched fearlessly on the hood. White Reaper fires back, taking Deerhoof’s “Exit Only” on a dizzying, hyper-drive blast toward the stars.

The easygoing, trippy vibe of Jacco Gardner’s “Find Yourself” dissipates under of Montreal’s fuzzy crunch, not unlike the song being mechanically reimagined. Owen goes for an even more radical rethinking of Rainer Maria’s “Ears Ring,” leaving the original’s edgy, high-tempo rock behind for gentle meditation with a lovely acoustic setting.

Playing it fairly straight with STRFKR’s “While I’m Alive,” Psychic Twin works from a minimal, beefy bounce that fleshes out into an electronic gauze over lush vocals. Beach Slang ditches reinvention for the sheer pleasure of just playing the hell out of Japandroids’ “Younger Us.”

It’s to the credit of all involved that a batch of songs can be made so freshly appealing while keeping it all in the family. (www.polyvinylrecords.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10

Rate this album
Average reader rating: 3/10



Comments

Submit your comment

Name Required

Email Required, will not be published

URL

Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

There are no comments for this entry yet.