Various Artists

Guilt By Association Volume 2

[4/5]

The first volume of Guilt By Association, which featured the likes of Superchunk and Devendra Banhart covering cheesy hit songs, was a boring, bloodless disappointment. Thankfully, Association’s sequel is more engaging, mainly because its tunes highlight pop music’s melancholic side. Robbers On High Street interpret New Edition’s bubblegum-rap classic “Cool It Now” as a horn-peppered lounge tune, while Scottish popster Frightened Rabbit turns N-Trance’s Eurodance hit “Set You Free” into a wistful, Smiths-like jam. Other highlights include Kaki King’s echo-drenched Justin Timberlake re-do, My Brightest Diamond sprinkling keyboard fairy dust and glassy guitars over “Tainted Love” and the Bloodsugars imagining Laura Branigan’s “Self Control” as a hushed synthfunk brood. Add in Lowry’s chirpy, twee version of Toto’s “Africa” and the Forms’ mad-scientist-gone-haywire take on Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” and the second volume of Association is a rousing success. (ENGINE ROOM; engineroomrecordings.com) Annie Zaleski