Polvo - S/T LP - Green Vinyl

Merge (2019, Reissue)

Now that it is completed and has wrapped up, I feel pretty confident in saying that the Merge Born Under A Good Sign 30th anniversary subscription thingy was not an effective way to spend my money.  When I originally signed up for it, I mainly did so assuming there would be an exclusive Superchunk release.  And while that did happen, I was pretty disappointed that the exclusivity was only the color of vinyl it was pressed on.  Not to mention it was an acoustic reinterpretation of the album Foolish that, while interesting, is not something I expect to listen to all that much.  The rest of the subscription's offerings ranged from 'pretty ok' to 'this is kind of terrible.'

That brings us to Polvo, a band who at no time have I really understood.  With apologies to my buddy Scott, I have never been able to figure out what Polvo brings to the table that I can't get a better version of from other indie rock bands of the 90s.  Their claim to fame seems to be the way they bring in noisy passages and noodle-y guitar solos to their songs.  Archers of Loaf do that much better on their first two albums, plus they hit with significantly stronger hooks and vocal melodies.  The times that Polvo did actually stand out to me, it was usually in a bad way.  I did a radio show in college with a guy named Todd.  He loved him some Polvo and I tended to only notice them when he played something terrible of theirs.

All that said, the songs on this LP (which is an LP reissue of songs from some of their early 7"s) is probably the best of Polvo that I've heard.  I suppose this was before the band got a little too nutty and these songs tend to be a bit more straightforward in a low-rent Archers sort of way.  Nothing really stands out to me as great, but these are average indie rock songs that aren't offensive or anything.  The green vinyl is exclusive to the subscription, but but the album is floating around out there on black vinyl for sale online and in stores.  Me? I've already sold this green version on Discogs.

Polvo - S/T
https://polvonc.bandcamp.com/album/polvo