Kevin Bronson on January 18th, 2022

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Even by the standards of the most notoriously eclectic music labels, L.A.-based Everloving Records is left-field.

The label was founded by an artist manager/producer and an A&R exec — JP Plunier and Andy Factor, respectively. More than two decades after its start (then, as Enjoy Records), it has released music from artists stationed in far-flung locales such as France, London, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tokyo, Portland, Orange County, San Diego, Long Beach and L.A. The music has come from names you recognize (Jack Johnson, Metric, Cornelius and the Growlers, to name a few) and from others you maybe ought to know (Don Cavalli, Jupiter & Okwess, Adanowsky and Piers Faccini, for instance). Everloving has been beholden to no genre, and not even a specific vibe.

“We have no rules,” Plunier says, “but if we had a mantra, it’d be not to do the same thing twice.”

The label’s catholic tastes are represented on the album, “Everloving vs. Evil,” released Friday to celebrate Everloving’s 20-year anniversary. The 12-track compilation is a nifty bit of incest — Everloving artists covering songs by other Everloving artists. It makes for the kind of record you’d put on at a salon night, just to see if anybody recognizes that, yes, that’s Johnson’s “Sexi Plexi” being covered by the Congo’s Jupiter & Okwess.

The highlights are many, and the tracklist almost reads like a game of “tag, you’re it.” Michael Andrews takes on Metric’s “Calculation Theme,” from the Canadian band’s 2003 debut that he produced, “Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?” Inara George, whose solo debut Andrews also produced, takes on his 2006 song “See Me Plain.” New Jersey duo the Jack Moves play Don Cavalli’s “Vitamin A,” while Cavalli does Adanowsky’s “Dancing to the Radio.” Long Beach husband-wife duo Soft Palms get dreamy with Piers Faccini’s “Each Wave That Breaks,” while Faccini turns in a brilliant version of Guy Blakeslee’s “Smile On” from 2014. Blakeslee, in turn, shines on perhaps the one millionth cover of “Mad World,” here because Andrews and Gary Jules famously covered it on the “Donnie Darko” film soundtrack, released by Everloving in 2003.

Also not to be missed: an aching “Take Good Care of Yourself,” penned by the late Chris Darrow for his 1973 solo album (reissued by Everloving 36 years later) and handled with care on “Everloving vs. Evil” by Four AM — aka CJ Harper, son of Ben Harper, whose early albums Plunier produced.

It’s a voyage of discovery. Tag, you’re it.

||| Watch: The videos for Jupiter & Okwess’ version of “Sexi Plexi” and Michael Andrews’ version of “Calculation Theme”

||| Stream: “Everloving vs. Evil” in its entirety