All Things Kurt Vile

Played Smoke Ring For My Halo this morning and thought it was a good idea to get a little discussion going involving Kurt on this wonderful forum. This and Wakin' On A Pretty Daze are the two I know well. Have an opinion, got a story, pics maybe, don't hold back. Looking forward to some fun here.

 

Smoke Ring For My Halo is one of my favourite albums of the last few years. I really wanted to like his new one just as much, but is just hasn't grabbed me. I do enjoy the first few songs and a couple here and there, but I think Smoke Ring beats it in terms of song-by-song quality.

 

New EP in November: http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2013/09/24/kurt-vile-new-ep-deluxe-album-and-studio-mixtape/

 

bump for the man

 

just got a new smart tv so i've been going through the live at kexp archives on youtube. watched the kurt vile session from earlier this year last night...fantastic stuff!

 

Is that his real name? anyway just listened to Constant Hitmaker after checking out Pretty Daze from the library on a whim. With a name like Vile it was not what I expected! But I liked it none the less. The first 2 songs on Daze are awesome, really well done. He has no vocal real range but that's ok I like it better that way, I can relate more to the songs. And there is some nice guitar work and solos. I'll write more later maybe if people are interested in discussing.

 

"slow talkers" may be my favorite song.

I saw him play solo/acoustic at a record store and wish that was his main mode.

 

Yea, not sure if it would be any better if Kurt hired someone else to sing his songs, but his style works fine for me here too, kinda the same way that Lou Reed and countless others have managed to get their words out. But then again, I guess it's kind of a stretch to call it singing, and in Kurt's case, it's probably more about the guitars anyway.

In the dawn's early light
I recall a girl named Alex
She and Mark, they were happily wed
At least in my head

I think about them all the time...

So I had no idea what this song was about, and still don't really, but I like the feeling I get from it, and it's kind of like a dream. Of course, the whole record is kind of that way too. But this song has a mysterious girl named Alex, and every verse talks about fantasy and illusion, and thinking about her and Mark all the time. So when it was new I did a little search to see if there was any interviews talking about it, and did find a little light at The Rumpus ... http://therumpus.net/2013/06/the-rumpus-interview-with-kurt-vile/

Rumpus: One of my favorites on the album is “Girl Called Alex.”

Vile: Yeah. Me too.

Rumpus: Is there a story behind that? A real-life Alex?

Vile: I’m not gonna tell you the whole story, but basically it’s about my friend Alex, who’s an amazing girl, and she deserves a song written about her. She’s a good friend. It got mistaken as like a jealous love thing, which was so annoying, but what can you do? I wrote it when I was feeling pretty low on the road. It gets lonely on the road sometimes. You can catch long-distance melancholy once in a while. I never was straight literal and put somebody I actually knew in a song, with the name and everything. But I showed it to her recently, I finally saw her, and she was happy.

Rumpus: She didn’t know about it until the album was out?

Vile: No, which is why she’s awesome, she had no idea. I kind of got paranoid that maybe she would have heard it and been like, “That’s weird.” But she hadn’t even heard it. It’s not like everybody is always listening, you know? [Laughs.]

Anyway, I like Kurt Vile quite a bit, I think he will continue to get better. I like some of the people he has associated with over the years even more right now. The latest from his old band The War on Drugs is great, as is the one Steve Gunn made with and Hiss Golden Messenger last year, Golden Gunn. I think Steve Gunn plays some guitar with him on the road. Gunn also played some nice guitar on the Black Dirt Oak Wawayanda Patent record this year (or late last year), and that's another very nice one.

 

I like the lou reed comparison in that respect. I was thinking that too. I get the feeling that many of his songs are super personal almost like an inside joke that I can't quite fully grasp. Which is okay there are many artists like that. To me it's great it just adds to the mystery of it all. I did hear that War on drugs album and I like that too. Great band name by the way. His guitar playing is great too. It's more like atmosphere than just throwing a lot of notes together. There's an economy to his playing and sound it's exactly the right note at the right time and the right tone and the right effect to convey the emotion. Who says no one is making great music these days

 

A friend of mine introduced me to his music a few years ago. I liked it then, but kept forgetting about him. Bought several of his albums recently and realizing they are universally fantastic. Glad to see he has some fans here. Dude seems prolific.

Also, a big fan of The War of Drugs. There's apparently this whole Philly scene of guys that play on each other's records.

 

FYI, war on drugs is on letterman tonight

 

Do you have this on vinyl?

Listening to my copy for the first time and it sounds kinda cruddy. A bit distorted throughout the album. Wondering if it's an issue with my LP or just an issue with the printing in general.

 

Caught them on Letterman, not knowing anything about the band.



Checked out the AMG biography and learned about Kurt Vile. Impressive.

 

On Lost In the Dream by the War On Drugs, especially on the title song, Vile reminds me of Elliott Murphy in his inflections and enunciations. His voice sounds like a blend of Grant Lee Phillips and Joe Henry and Murphy. An immediate favorite. In fact, this certainly qualifies as one of the best albums of 2014.

 

I guess it's my fault for mentioning above some of the things I also like that he's been associated with, but Kurt Vile left after the first War On Drugs record. The main singer and writer is Adam Granduciel. That aside, Granduciel does take on a lot of vocal personalities on this record, as evidenced by the wide range of comparisons people make, but it's not like he's really changing his voice, it's more the songs and how he uses his limited vocal range to such good effect to give the song a feeling, familiar but fresh sounding.

 

My understanding is that Kurt and Adam's most recent records are the ONLY records the other hasn't also played on.

 

What is the biography called? YouTube link?

 

AMG = All Music Guide ... http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kurt-vile-mn0001988927/biography

 

"I beg your pardon?"

 

I'm going through his discography right now from first to last. The only one I had previously heard was the newest one. The guy is a phenomenal guitar player.

 

My favorite recording this year, stellar album!

 

Wakin On A Pretty Daze is a beautiful record, and 'Was All Talk' is my absolute favourite song of the last 2-3 years. I find it mesmerizing. Many bands in the '80s and '90s spent entire careers trying to get that sound/vibe/atmosphere, and failed. KV makes it sound so casual. But then his chord changes are so much superior to theirs.

I know people who saw gigs on his last UK tour and weren't impressed. Too loud and grungy, they say, so I'm not sorry I missed him. But I do look forward to his next album. I'm hoping it might be a bit of a classic.

 

I love all his output on vinyl, but I saw him in Leeds in December and it was a really poor show. I will keep on buying his records, an earlier comment was on the pressing quality of "Smoke rings..." I have absolutely no complaints, his guitar sound is sublime to my ears.