Playing 4 Square, Vol. 2

Various Artists

  • AllMusic Rating
    6
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

Playing 4 Square, Vol. 2 Review

by Tim Sendra

This is the second volume in a series in which four indie labels get together and showcase their best and brightest talent. All the tracks can be found on the bands' releases except for two demo versions: Allister's "Somewhere Down in Fullerton" and the Stereo's "You Better Believe It." A run down the labels for the viewers at home: Commercial indie Drive Thru (they have a distribution deal with mighty MCA) showcases six bands, including Finch, RX Bandits, and Home Grown. Emo stalwart Fueled by Ramen also has six bands, including the Impossibles and the extremely energetic The Stereo. Suburban Home only has five bands here, the most promising being Saturday Supercade. Polyvinyl has the most diverse lineup, as each of their six bands sounds completely different from the others. From the drum and organ cuteness of Mates of State to the sonic adventurism of Aloha to the emo-tastic sounds of Sunday's Best, Polyvinyl shows they are not afraid to take some chances. If this were a contest, they would be the winner. It isn't -- but it is a fine compilation of young bands who lean toward rocking. Hats off to the labels involved for showing some good, old indie solidarity.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
1
The Gamits 02:57 SpotifyAmazon
2
Allister 02:37 SpotifyAmazon
3 Recover 02:39 SpotifyAmazon
4 The Ivory Coast 04:03 SpotifyAmazon
5
The Fairlanes 03:22 SpotifyAmazon
6
Finch 04:11 SpotifyAmazon
7
The Stereo 02:53 SpotifyAmazon
8
Paris, Texas 02:37 SpotifyAmazon
9 Contender 02:25 SpotifyAmazon
10 Home Grown 03:24 SpotifyAmazon
11 The Impossibles 02:38 SpotifyAmazon
12
Mates of State 03:04 SpotifyAmazon
13 Counterfit 02:49 SpotifyAmazon
14 The Movielife 03:06 SpotifyAmazon
15
Cadillac Blindside 02:43 SpotifyAmazon
16 Rainer Maria 03:34 SpotifyAmazon
17
Saturday Supercade 02:55 SpotifyAmazon
18 The Starting Line 02:32 SpotifyAmazon
19
Blueline Medic 03:38 SpotifyAmazon
20 Sunday's Best 03:36 SpotifyAmazon
21 Discount 01:49 SpotifyAmazon
22
RX Bandits 03:14 SpotifyAmazon
23 Whippersnapper 03:41 SpotifyAmazon
24 Aloha 03:22 SpotifyAmazon
blue highlight denotes track pick