In 1994, while still in high school, Matt Lunsford and Darcie Knight started the publication, Polyvinyl Press, to cover the burgeoning independent music scene in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. As the magazine grew so did it’s connections to label-less artists. The July 1995 issue of the magazine included a split 7" EP with Back of Dave and Walker. And so a label is born. Their first major releases came following their signing of "emo"/post hardcore rockers Braid in 1998, which with the subsequent national exposure allowed the label to work with a wider repertoire of artists.
Polyvinyl finally achieved mainstream success following the release of Montreal’s The Sunlandic Twins in 2005 . The success of that album,
which produced three successful singles and national television and media exposure
also increased the visibility of all Polyvinyl’ s artists to the point that in 2008 the label opened a San Francisco branch. No longer confining themselves to local bands, the label currently boasts a roster of 21 bands, including international artists like Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki and Norway’s Casiokids.
With rare and exclusive tracks from Aloha, matt pond PA and Pele, 2001’s ReDirection documents the label’s first six years and Lunsford’s and Knight’ efforts to expose “independent artists” to a far wider audience.
ReDirection (2001)
Playing Time: 70:47
1. Sunday’s Best – Saccharine (3:47)
2. The Ivory Coast – Swope (3:34)
3. Aloha – A Hundred Stories (2:54)
4. AM/FM – Come Suck Down A Cloud (3:54)
5. Radio Flyer – (312) (4:03)
6. Rainer Maria – Breakfast Of Champions (3:36)
7. American Football – Never Meant (4:18)
8. matt pond PA – A New Part Of Town (4:05)
9. Pele – The Mind Of Minolta (3:41)
10. Hey Mercedes – Stay Six (4:32)
11. Kerosene 454 – What Was (3:03)
12. Paris, Texas – Le Tigre (2:41)
13. Sunday’s Best – Sons Of The Second String (4:01)
14. AM/FM – A Best Man (Put My Girlfriend On Fire) (2:58)
15. Rainer Maria – Artificial Light (3:38)
16. Braid – Killing A Camera (2:35)
17. matt pond PA – This Is Montreal (1:19)
18. Pele – Gas The Nutsy (6:50)
19. Aloha – Warsaw (5:18)
Buy ReDirection (CD) direct from Polyvinyl Records
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