Reunion Summer rolled on unabated this weekend in New York with the first visit from ‘90s notables Polvo in just over a decade. This Chapel Hill, NC outfit garnered a pretty narrow range of sonic comparisons throughout its career–Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr primarily in their earliest years, which was strong and interesting enough to make later material sound “Polvo-esque.” Listening to their hazily complex arrangements on record a good 15 years since their release, you can hear clearly how the band made strides to pull listeners into their own orbit. They were a jam band using more poisonous weapons than any hippies might wield, exploring the notions of bent keys; severe distortion; studio heat; and chiming, chanting, dissonant song structures, all of which maintained a malleable quality rare for the era’s rigid framework for an acceptable indie rock sound.
Having reconvened for a series of All Tomorrow’s Parties dates–and possibly a full-scale reunion as well–Polvo is working its way through a limited set of U.S. dates in 2008, the latest of which went down at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC over the weekend. Who goes to see Polvo in 2008? Men, primarily Caucasians, and from the looks of it, a lot of them were showing the stress of life in their mid-to-late 30s, possibly single and running out of options. Hecklers were met with cold retorts and a somewhat hostile vibe from within the crowd. Here were guys that got pushed around in life a little too much. This show was their vindication for years of thinking they were silently right all along, and there was to be no sharing of personal space with drunken dude-bros who stumbled into the Cat’s Cradle to see these guys play back in the ‘90s and returned for some Carolina pride.
Fortunately for all, Polvo did not disappoint, distending already unorthodox rock arrangements even further out of whack with opener “Thermal Treasure.” Sounding very little like the original song at all, save for some familiar chord changes and Ash Bowie’s elliptical lyrics, this was off-key and rusty, yet cut from an unmistakable internal logic belonging to this band and few others. Displaying a musical connection that quickly jelled back into its own orbit, guitarists Bowie and Steve Brylawski exchanged barbed hooks and harsh, almost rude tones back and forth with one another, anchored down with rhythms that punctuate the riffage by bassist Steve Popson and drummer Brian Quast, the only non-original member of this reunion. As the set progressed, it was as if Polvo was never gone, snapping into form with meandering twin-guitar themes that heaved into a familiar opening: “Tragic Carpet Ride,” “Feather of Forgiveness” and “Title Track” all surged back to life in new ways that suggest wild life behind a set of dead eyes. Slackening down enough to allow Quast to entertain flimsy drum solos might have been taking things a step too far, but Polvo managed to do what reunion casualty Swervedriver could not accomplish: they found an intriguing way to bring out the best in how they play now, rather than deflate studio-tightened songs with low energy and slower tempos.
Shoegaze fans, rejoice: My Bloody Valentine are coming back to the U.S. for what may be the most proper concert fest: All Tomorrow’s Parties, September 19th-21st, in lovely Monticello, New York, on the grounds of Kutshers Country Club. Can you think of a better place to roll around freaking out listening to looped feedback than a golf course?
If My Bloody Valentine alone aren’t enough to lure you to a weekend in the country (imagine the foliage!), read the rest of lineup, designed to make any indie rock fan who cut their teeth in the ’90s cream their figurative jeans: Shellac (Steve Albini), Mogwai, Polvo, Fuck Buttons, Autolux, the Drones, Low, Wooden Shjips, Edan, and Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra are slated to perform sets.
And how many times have you wished you could hear your favorite band play your favorite album in sequence, live? There will be plenty of that, too. Built to Spill will perform Perfect From Now On; Tortoise will re-enact Millions Now Living Will Never Die; the Meat Puppets will thrash out Meat Puppets II; and Thurston Moore will break Psychic Hearts.
Tickets go sale today (April 25) at atpfestival.com.