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49-606: The Polyvinyl roster currently consists of 30+ active artists, including Alvvays , Xiu Xiu , Jeff Rosenstock , Kero Kero Bonito , and Julia Jacklin as well as longtime label signees like of Montreal , American Football , STRFKR , and Rainer Maria . Recent additions to the Polyvinyl family include Jeff Rosenstock , Laura Jane Grace , Anamanaguchi , IAN SWEET , Oceanator, Chris Farren , Squirrel Flower , and Yumi Zouma . In 1994, high school students Matt Lunsford and Darcie Knight from Danville, Illinois founded Polyvinyl Press,

98-619: A concert. With the help of O'Hanley, Rankin quietly released a solo extended play titled She in 2010. Alvvays was formed the following year, with Rankin recruiting MacLellan, O'Hanley, drummer Phil MacIsaac and bassist Brian Murphy. Rankin picked the name Alvvays because it had a "shred of sentiment and nostalgia." The spelling of the band name was due to the fact that there was already a band named Always signed to Sony. The band members moved to Toronto and secured jobs that allowed them to tour occasionally. The group toured extensively as supporting acts for bands such as Peter Bjorn and John and

147-547: A fanzine created to celebrate the Midwestern D.I.Y. scene. As part of Polyvinyl Press’ third issue in July 1995, Lunsford and Knight released a split 7” featuring Back of Dave and Walker. With the fifth and final issue of Polyvinyl Press in May 1996, Lunsford and Knight put out an accompanying 20-track compilation, Direction , chronicling the current state of mid-‘90s Midwestern D.I.Y and marking

196-437: A hazy dream, Celebration Rock does exactly what it claims to do—it burns on and on like the best sort of party." Not all reviews were positive, however. NME ' s Alex Denney gave Celebration Rock a mixed review, writing "Japandroids know how to bring the ruckus. But elsewhere the power-chord pummelage gets a bit one-note — and The Gun Club cover only reminds us that journeymen like these have no business dancing with

245-403: A limited edition 7" of the album's first single "The House That Heaven Built" on May 15, 2012. On May 27, 2012, Celebration Rock was streamed in its entirety on NPR Music . The album was released in the band's native Canada on May 29, 2012. On June 8, 2012, the band performed the songs "Fire's Highway" and "The House That Heaven Built" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon . On February 25, 2013,

294-412: A major influence, stating that it was the record they had listened to the most during the writing and recording of Celebration Rock . The song "The Nights of Wine and Roses" is an homage to The Dream Syndicate song " The Days of Wine and Roses ". Lyrically, Celebration Rock has been described as a callback to classic rock conventions for its use of universal, mythic rock & roll language, including

343-452: A minor hit. The single for "Archie, Marry Me" featured the B-side "Underneath Us" which was recorded after the eponymous album. The group toured heavily in support of their debut, including slots at Glastonbury 2015 and Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2016. The debut album was nominated to the shortlist of the 2015 Polaris Music Prize . They performed at that year's gala with

392-461: A new album. After taking the bulk of 2011 off to work on new material, Japandroids revealed that they would tour North America with Bass Drum of Death throughout August and September playing primarily smaller, intimate venues in order to test out their new material prior to the recording of their second album. During these shows, the band debuted several new songs including "Fire's Highway,"", "Adrenaline Nightshift", and "Evil's Sway". Following

441-698: A partnership with Brooklyn-based independent label Double Double Whammy . Double Double Whammy, which started in 2011 as a project to release the founders’ project, LVL UP , has a catalog that includes Mitski , Frankie Cosmos , Yowler , Ó , Hatchie , and Florist , among others. Through this partnership, Polyvinyl provides distribution, accounting, webstore fulfillment, and other shared services, while Double Double Whammy maintains creative autonomy. In May 2023, Polyvinyl announced that they would be purchasing Urbana's American Football house in collaboration with American Football, photographers Chris Strong and Atiba Jefferson , and Chicago's Open House Contemporary, with

490-522: Is split into ‘G’ and ‘R’ sides: the former 'Gun' side dealing with violence and debauchery (‘ Welcome To The Jungle ’, ‘ Paradise City ’), while the latter 'Roses' side focused on love and sex (‘ Sweet Child o' Mine ’, ‘ Rocket Queen ’). As King further explained, "We had this idea of the album having two sides, where [like Appetite For Destruction ] ‘Side A’ is super-intense and ‘Side B’ is softer and poppier." The music on Celebration Rock has been described as "one part classic rock, one part punk", due to

539-631: The 66th Annual Grammy Awards . Molly Rankin, the group's singer-songwriter, is the daughter of John Morris Rankin, a fiddler with the Celtic folk family collective The Rankin Family , who enjoyed international success in the 1990s. Molly would write and sing the song "Sunset" on the 2007 Rankin Family album Reunion . Rankin grew up in Mabou, Nova Scotia , writing music with her neighbour, keyboardist Kerri MacLellan. She later met guitarist and partner Alec O'Hanley at

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588-637: The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year . On June 14, 2012, the album was named as a long-listed nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize . On July 17, Celebration Rock was named as a shortlisted nominee, making it one of ten possible candidates to win $ 30,000 and the recognition as the best Canadian album of the year as voted by jury of Canadian journalists and broadcasters. The album lost to Feist 's 2011 album Metals . Celebration Rock appeared on many critics year-end best-of lists: Metacritic lists

637-664: The Toronto Symphony Orchestra . At the Juno Awards of 2015 , the band was nominated as Breakthrough Group of the Year, and Alvvays was nominated for Alternative Album of the Year. Alvvays began recording and writing their second studio album in 2015. Several new original songs had been performed throughout 2014 and 2015, including "Your Type" (often the opening song of the show), "New Haircut" (later retitled "Saved By A Waif") and "Hey". In 2016 they added "Not My Baby" and "Dreams" to their performance repertoire. Following

686-494: The 2010s, describing it as "the most beautiful, life-affirming rock record of the decade". Japandroids toured extensively in support of their first album, performing over 200 shows in more than 20 countries between June 2009 and October 2010. Following two New Year's shows December 31 and January 1 at Schubas Tavern in Chicago, the band decided to discontinue touring in support of Post-Nothing , and return to Vancouver to begin work on

735-561: The Decemberists . Their self-titled debut studio album, Alvvays , was recorded in Calgary with Chad VanGaalen in March 2013; Graham Walsh helped track the album while John Agnello helped mix it. Alvvays were signed to Polyvinyl Records (US) on the strength of their performances at South by Southwest and online response to the demo of their single "Adult Diversion". The album Alvvays

784-508: The January release of Rainer Maria ’s Long Knives Drawn . Rainer Maria and Mates of State went out on the road with fellow labelmates Owen and Saturday Looks Good to Me . Later that year, Polyvinyl released the video of Rainer Maria’s Winter Tour set at Chapel Hill’s Cat’s Cradle and Mates of State’s third record, Team Boo . In 2004, Polyvinyl began to be distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance and added Athens’ of Montreal to

833-553: The US college charts. Their second studio album, Antisocialites , was released on September 8, 2017. Their third studio album, Blue Rev , was released on October 7, 2022. Antisocialites and Blue Rev each won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year . All three of their albums were shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize . The song " Belinda Says " from Blue Rev was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance at

882-700: The United States, Primavera Sound , Optimus Alive! , Paredes de Coura , Pitchfork (Paris) , OFF , Latitude and Longitude festivals in Europe, Vive Latino in Mexico, Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, and Laneway Festival in Australia. Celebration Rock was released to critical acclaim. On Metacritic , the album has a score of 83 out of 100, based on 33 collected reviews. The A.V. Club ' s Kyle Ryan wrote, "Maybe it's because

931-469: The addition of new songs such as "Plimsoll Punks" as part of live shows in spring 2017, Alvvays released a teaser clip of a song called "In Undertow" from their second album, Antisocialites . Along with songs performed at previous shows, new songs for this record included "Already Gone", "Forget About Life", "In Undertow", "Lollipop (Ode to Jim)" and "Saved by a Waif". The album was released on September 8, 2017. A North American and European tour in support of

980-437: The album as #5 on its 2012 Music Critic's List , which collects and tallies the individual year-end Top Ten lists published by major music critics and publications. In Canada, The Globe and Mail (Canada's newspaper of record ) named Celebration Rock the best Canadian album of 2012, while CBC declared it the best rock album of the year, later ranking it #91 on its list of The 100 Greatest Canadian Albums Ever . The album

1029-514: The album to capture the spirit and energy of their live shows, thus foregoing standard studio techniques such as double tracking and overdubbing , while consciously taking into account the perceived reaction of their audience to hearing the songs live in concert. On recording the album, guitarist Brian King said "Technically speaking, the process for recording Celebration Rock was almost identical to that of our previous records: same studio, same engineer, same equipment, same techniques, etc. To me,

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1078-540: The album was announced for autumn 2017. In 2016, Phil MacIsaac left the music industry for a career in graphic design; he was replaced by Sheridan Riley. A second UK tour in spring 2018 was announced in September 2017. On September 16, 2017, at a show in Antwerp , a male audience member jumped on stage and attempted to kiss singer Molly Rankin. Ken Veerman, the director at Trix, the show’s venue, apologized on Facebook. In 2018

1127-431: The band aspired to capture the spirit and energy of their live shows, thus forgoing standard studio techniques such as double tracking and overdubbing, while consciously taking into account the perceived reaction of their audience to hearing the songs live in concert. The album was released to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its blending of classic rock and punk rock influences. The Globe and Mail named it

1176-473: The band does not have an overt Celtic music sound, Rankin acknowledges that she was immersed in the genre from childhood, and it has a discernible influence on the way she sings and writes melodies. Celebration Rock Celebration Rock is the second studio album by Canadian rock duo Japandroids , released on June 5, 2012, by Polyvinyl . Recorded in Vancouver with Post-Nothing engineer Jesse Gander,

1225-435: The band had disbanded. Bassist and founding member Brian Murphy left the band in 2021. Alvvays released " Pharmacist ", the first single from their third album Blue Rev , on July 6, 2022. Blue Rev was released on October 7, 2022. "Belinda Says", the third single from Blue Rev , was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards . Alvvays' music has been described as jangle pop by

1274-502: The band performed the song "The Nights of Wine & Roses" on Conan . On February 27, 2013, it was announced that "The House That Heaven Built" had temporarily been named the entrance theme for the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team. On June 20, 2013, the band performed the song "Adrenaline Nightshift" on Late Show with David Letterman . A video for " The House That Heaven Built ", Japandroids' first music video,

1323-521: The band received a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination for the song "Dreams Tonite", and Antisocialites was shortlisted for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize . At the Juno Awards of 2018 , Alvvays was nominated as Group of the Year and Antisocialites won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year . Between 2019 and 2022, members of Alvvays largely stayed out of the public eye, rarely posting on social media. The radio silence led to memes and rumors

1372-423: The best Canadian album of 2012, while CBC declared it the best rock album of the year, later ranking it #91 on its list of The 100 Greatest Canadian Albums Ever . The album was also well received internationally, with Rolling Stone calling it one of The 10 Coolest Summer Albums of All Time , and Spin naming the duo Band of the Year . Pitchfork later recognized Celebration Rock as one of best albums of

1421-445: The best-selling album in Polyvinyl history. Polyvinyl closed out the decade in 2009 with the release of Japandroids ’ debut full-length, Post-Nothing . Polyvinyl’s 2011 15th anniversary bash expanded on its previous anniversary show with a nine-band bill including Asobi Seksu , Braid, Deerhoof , Japandroids, Joan of Arc, Owen, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, STRFKR , and Xiu Xiu . Polyvinyl moved into their 16th year with

1470-430: The best-selling releases on the label and established a working relationship with Mike Kinsella , who would later go on to release albums as Owen , Joan of Arc , and Their / They're / There on Polyvinyl. In 2001, Knight and Lunsford moved the label from Danville, IL to Urbana-Champaign , IL to give Polyvinyl a better infrastructure to grow. Such growth led to the Polyvinyl 2003 Winter Tour, which commenced right after

1519-421: The blending of classic rock influences such as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty , with punk rock influences such as The Replacements and Hüsker Dü . Critic Steven Hyden described Celebration Rock as "taking a mighty lunge at the pantheon of great rock records," commenting that the album "addresses the teenage wasteland with the bombastic mix of fury and empathy that derives from Who's Next ; traffics in

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1568-455: The bones of Jeffrey Lee Pierce ." Now ' s Carla Gillis criticized the album's repetitiveness, writing "[..] the band's refusal ever to let up on volume, bombast, group-shouted vocals, fast-strummed chords or smashing drums makes Celebration Rock an exhausting sonic assault in need of variety." The album peaked at number 37 on the Billboard 200 . Celebration Rock was nominated for

1617-541: The concepts of good and evil, heaven and hell -- the extreme boundaries of how people can feel and how fast things can change. I like that language. I'm not talking about just some night you felt a certain way, I'm talking about the night you felt that way -- that one time. People have always alluded to those extremes as a way of characterizing the most intense feelings since blues and the early days of rock. A blues singer won't say, "We broke up." He'll say, "Satan stole my baby from me." You just pick it up. King has cited

1666-430: The experience of being Japandroids, the duo taps into a power greater than itself to address impossibly vast and elemental topics-- friendship, lust, revenge, art, self-actualization-- with songs every bit as big." Megan Ritt of Consequence of Sound felt that the band had "retained the energy that pulses below the surface of the best tracks on Post-Nothing and infused it with more focus. Where Post-Nothing melts into

1715-574: The goal of "preserving both the space and its unique legacy within the community that shaped its existence." Alvvays Alvvays (pronounced "always") is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown , Prince Edward Island, and subsequently based in Toronto , Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keyboards), Alec O'Hanley (guitars), and Sheridan Riley (drums). Their self-titled debut studio album , released in 2014, topped

1764-609: The label family. of Montreal released their first album with Polyvinyl, Satanic Panic in the Attic , the same year. Polyvinyl celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006 with a concert featuring Headlights , of Montreal, Owen , and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin in Urbana, IL. The following year, Polyvinyl released Architecture in Helsinki ’s Places Like This and of Montreal’s critically acclaimed Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? ,

1813-766: The music press and its members. According to Rankin, the band's emphasis is primarily on strong melodies rather than for a specific genre. The band has been compared to Camera Obscura ; Rankin noted she shared vocalist Tracyanne Campbell 's "fondness for the pathetic perspective." Rankin sought inspiration from Stephin Merritt , frontman of the Magnetic Fields , appreciating the honest but lighthearted nature of his lyrics. Rankin's personal influences include The Magnetic Fields , Teenage Fanclub , Dolly Mixture , The Smiths , Celine Dion , Pavement , The Primitives , Oasis and Australian indie-pop group The Hummingbirds . While

1862-470: The novel Under The Volcano by Malcolm Lowry as a primary influence, inspiring him to try using more descriptive and poetic language in his lyrics: "In retrospect, the only work I can see reflected in the lyrics of Celebration Rock is Under The Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, a book I read twice during 2010-2011." On March 26, 2012, Japandroids announced that their second album Celebration Rock would be released by Polyvinyl on June 5, 2012, preceded by

1911-636: The occasion, Polyvinyl released a compilation titled Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl , on which twenty Polyvinyl artists covered songs by their labelmates. With the help of Girl Skateboards and artist Jesse LeDoux, Polyvinyl also created a skateboard deck as a symbol of skate culture’s influence on Matt Lunsford’s musical discovery and the label’s early identity development. 2017 brought the release of sophomore records from White Reaper and Alvvays, The World's Best American Band and Antisocialites , respectively, as well as Jay Som ’s first proper record for Polyvinyl, Everybody Works . All three albums closed out

1960-509: The official transition of the fanzine to Polyvinyl Record Co. Lunsford and Knight established a 50/50 profit sharing model for the label. Early releases, like the debut album from the Direction-featured band Rainer Maria , Past Worn Searching , and Braid ’s 1998 album Frame and Canvas , set a national eye on Polyvinyl. The following year, Polyvinyl released American Football ’s self-titled debut . This record has grown to be one of

2009-453: The progression lies in the songwriting, the captured performances, and the mixing/production of the album, all of which are simply reflections of our shared knowledge and experience since recording Post-Nothing ." In an interview with Pitchfork , drummer Dave Prowse cited Appetite for Destruction as a specific influence on the album's sequencing. Rather than having a traditional ‘Side A’ and ‘Side B’ structure, Appetite For Destruction

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2058-503: The release of Japandroids’ Celebration Rock . In 2014, Polyvinyl released another best-seller, Alvvays ’ self-titled debut , and leading up to the label’s 20th anniversary, Polyvinyl expanded to a bigger location in Champaign in Spring 2015. After the label’s move, Beach Slang released their debut full-length that autumn. In 2016, the label celebrated its 20th anniversary. To commemorate

2107-475: The same streetwise rock-patter drivel originating from Born to Run ; has the drunkard's sentimentality of Let It Be , and the tour-weary determinism of Appetite for Destruction . It's a beefy, pop-conscious punk record in the mold of Nevermind , and it's destined to become, like White Blood Cells , an important battle in the never-ending war to end bass playing as we know it." The band has repeatedly cited Live at Raji's by The Dream Syndicate as

2156-485: The songs were so hard won after that long dry spell that they sound especially lively, but Celebration Rock starts strong and stays there over the course of its eight songs and 35 minutes." Ian Cohen of Pitchfork gave the album a "Best New Music" designation, writing that even though Celebration Rock was recorded the same exact way as Post-Nothing , Celebration Rock "[..] dwarf[s] its impressive predecessor." Cohen continued: "[I]n writing about something other than

2205-550: The tour, the band temporarily relocated from Vancouver to Nashville to continue writing. The duo cited disillusion with Vancouver, as well as the difficulty of returning to a sedentary lifestyle following two years of continuous touring, as the primary motivations for the move. Both "The House That Heaven Built" and "Continuous Thunder" were written during this period. The album was recorded in Vancouver with Post-Nothing engineer Jesse Gander. The band has said they intended for

2254-408: The use of contrasting themes such as good and evil, heaven and hell, life and death, young and old, etc. As Ian Cohen of Pitchfork noted, "Japandroids have gone from having almost none at all [lyrics] to packing their songs with an astonishing command of legend and literalism that all but dares you to feel something ." Regarding his use of language and themes, King stated: Personally, I really like

2303-516: The year with spots on several year-end publication lists, including Pitchfork , NPR , Stereogum , and Paste . At the start of 2018, Polyvinyl committed to donate 10% of mailorder revenue one Friday per month to deserving causes, especially organizations that strive to make progress in music communities. Donation recipients have included the Tegan and Sara Foundation, OurMusicMyBody, and Girls Rock! Champaign-Urbana. In February 2018, Polyvinyl announced

2352-620: Was released by Royal Mountain Records (Canada), Polyvinyl Records (US) and Transgressive Records (Europe) in July 2014. Simon Vozick-Levinson, writing in Rolling Stone , called the album an "indie-pop wonder". Alvvays went to #1 on US college charts on August 5, 2014; in November that year they performed in Los Angeles with another Canadian band, Absolutely Free . " Archie, Marry Me " became

2401-918: Was released in August to promote the single. The black-and-white video, directed by Jim Larson and produced by Pitchfork.tv , documented one week in the life of Japandroids on tour using footage from the east coast portion of their spring 2012 U.S. tour, including live footage from shows in Toronto , Montreal , Boston , New York City , Brooklyn , and Washington, D.C. Japandroids toured heavily in support of Celebration Rock , performing over 200 shows in more than 40 countries between March 2012 and November 2013. The Celebration Rock Tour consisted of 13 individual legs across North and South America , Europe , Asia , and Oceania , including numerous festival appearances: Coachella , Bonnaroo , Sasquatch! , Pitchfork , Firefly , Governors Ball , Fun Fun Fun Fest , Free Press Summer Fest , and Metallica 's festival Orion in

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