Kurt Vile... new on Gulcher.

Yes, he rules...haven't heard the Gulcher CD but I plan to

liking this
igottafreewayinmind

he is a nice young man, such a nice boy

space forklift

SOOOOooooo.....

The London shows next week are with War On Drugs, which he's apparently a member of. What's the deal with them dudes? Haven't heard 'em. Lookslike they've got an ep on Secretly Canadian, which makes me think 'literate indie'. Hopefully not.

Still no Gulcher thread to speak of.

Who's this Meercaz dude?? Not a reissue, despite the look of it.
http://home.earthlink.net/~slippytown/meercazcd.jpg

There's a review and a song on dusted
http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4827
sounds pretty good

Really love the "God Is Saying This To You" LP. Really, really loving it. The new one on Woodsist is good too, but not as cosmic-epic at first few listens.

What else is worthwhile that I can find on the LP format?

So, how is the Hunchback EP? Is it... not as good as I want it to be?

some info here

http://blastitude.blogspot.com/2009/03/kurt-vile-violators-hunchback-ep-12.html

thanks for the link, sleeve.

funny triple-dose of reviews there. can't say i feel too enticed to check out the hunchback ep, based on the review as well as opinions of a few friends.

This guy is great. At first I wasn't sold but the man and his work definitely fall under the "grower" category. At least, to me. Excited about his Matador debut.

A washingtonpost.com writer who is always touting various indie dudes keeps hyping this guy. Let me what I can find on youtube

best record is def "god is saying this to you."

also, he appears playing trumpet and acoustic guitar on the new blues control album.

I've been listening to this guy a lot over the last week or two. He's a little uneven, I think, but songs like "My Sympathy" and "My Best Friends (Don't Even Pass This), which are both on God is Saying This to You, more than make up for any shortcomings.

A new LP coming out soon, Childish Prodigy, has leaked on whatwhatinthebutt.cd for those who may be interested. I haven't listened yet but regardless I'll definitely have him in mind as one of my favorite new artists of 2009. His other (more popular? I honestly don't know) band, The War On Drugs, is decent too. He plays guitar in that band, but you wouldn't necessarily connect the dots unless someone told you. The War On Drugs is kind of dominated by the singer's voice, which is a bit like a more tuneful Dylan. The lyrics are kind of hit or miss, but there are moments ("There is no Urgency") where they hit a kind of stride.

heh, the influences Vile lists on his myspace page unsurprisingly do a better job of describing his sound than I could ever do:

room to live, love to burn, street hassle, street legal, beat street, bully of the bayou, heartland feeling, yellow schwinn stingray, roots train number 1 (extended mix), cocaine in my brain, juicy juicy juice, strawberry wine, violent students, richie records, ag tonez, tusk, ccr, neil young, crazyhorse, suicide, the dead c, charlie patton, bertha lee, blind lemon jefferson, mississippi john hurt, blind willie johnson, furry lewis, fred mcdowell, harry smith anthology, american primitives, etc, robert johnson, lightnin hopkins, john fahey, doc watson, hank williams, townse van zandt, bob dylan, bobby neuwirth, eat the document, the vu, lou, the stooges, iggy, the ramones, the stones, the kinks, cluster, morton subotnick, isoa tomita, the fall, kurt's garage, blue kangaroo and the rest of wattle & daub.

i really liked that war on drugs record. pretty curious about this one.

my sympathy is a great song

Constant Hitmaker is still my favorite.

saw two shows where this dude opened last week and missed him at both

I haven't listened to it yet. But yeah, actually I have you to thank for getting me to listen to him recently, I saw one of his songs on your KOPN playlist and was reminded that a friend of mine had recommended that I check him out.

xpost to trip maker

You should listen to that birthday show on the holy victrola blog, bro!
I turned 30 the minute it ended.

will listen. Happy b-day too :)

The "I've never been so insulted in my whole lieeefe! SHIT!" part on "Freak Train" kills me.

That song's a tranced-out grower for sure, and I'd love to see it done live (the YouTube clips of it played out look great); the two riffier tracks on Childish Prodigy seem a bit weak/clunky/standard rock-by-numbers to me, though ("Hunchback", "Monkey"), but then again I didn't like the Hunchback EP that much. Some of the new tunes are streaming on a blog here: http://pastaprima.net/?p=3967

Constant Hitmaker still rules the roost for me, and The War On Drugs record's a total classic. These guys (Vile, Granduciel) sure know how to sprinkle on the digital FX.

best record is def "god is saying this to you."

yeah that's my fave too, the cleaner production on Constant Hitmaker took a little bit away from it imo

the preview mp3 of the new Matador album sounds good

I liked the hunchback ep!

but what do I know

I'm looking forward to his new LP just so I can actually PURCHASE the damn thing! I'm trying to track down God is Saying and Constant Hitmaker on vinyl, but everything is like "limited to 30 LPs/must guess secret code/must have last name starting with T, W or K/must go to secret show in basement that was only disclosed to people who went to other secret show in basement that had last names starting with L and Y and guessed secret code", etc

Z_S we have God Is Saying... in stock at the moment at the price of $18 (second pressing) if u are interested email me dr.carl.sagan at gmail dot com

not sure abt constant hitmaker but i can check on that too

thanks for the head's up ian, I'm giving it some thought.

I hate to revive this thread and then speak disapprovingly of the forthcoming album, but I must. Childish Prodigy has its bright spots, but it seems to bury everything that I like about Vile under a pile of heavier "band" songs. From what I've heard on this, and the Hunchback EP, the influence of the Violators is not entirely a positive one. It's like he's sort of trying to pull a Neil Young guitar epic off, but the Violators aren't Crazy Horse. It kinda sucks that it's on Matador and so it will serve as a lot of people's first impression.

Still really digging Constant Hitmaker and God is Saying this to you, though.

Just downloaded pretty much everything, and he's coming to Minneapolis. Can't decide how I feel about the new one, but there's definitely some undeniable beauty in here...

i love childish prodigy

freak train is some real http://i36.tinypic.com/do554x.jpg shit

i don't think he'll ever do anything as good as "taking the farm" or "arms like boulders" but this one smashes the war on drugs album

need to hear constant hitmaker

Constant Hitmaker's pretty great, and a few of the songs on God is Saying are still my very favorites. I am trying to warm up the new one, but tbh I'm not really feelin' it.

huh i really like the new one a lot. it gets a little samey near the end but the first half is pretty solid. maybe i'm weird but i like the strong songs on childish prodigy more than the formlessness of the earlier albums.

"overnite religion" and "my best friends" are so so fucking good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3Nf59X22m4

re: Record Store Day
Mexican Summer is re-releasing "God is Saying.." as a one-time-only vinyl/cassette combo.

http://e2ma.net/userdata/24823/images/medium/e1270658628.jpg

really ended up in love with childish prodigy. have totally overplayed the heck out of heart attack in particular

man this new EP is good... title is Square Shells and the 7+ minute jam is sounding so fine right now, almost like Spacemen 3 but with more of a ticking motorik beat.

agreed... this is wonderful...

Thanks for the heads up! I've been looking forward to some new Kurt Vile.

Snagged it! Top-notch sounds from Kurt.

Yeah, formless music in general can irritate me to no end, but I find his stuff mesmerizing. Really loved Childish Prodigy.

He reminds me a bit of what might've happened if someone had given Jeffrey Lee Pierce a cheesy/cool drum machine & said 'go at it.'

getting harder and harder to ignore this guy

?

I think he's rolling through town in two weeks. I'm gonna try hit it up.

One Trick Ponies rips.

New album today

had felt like poster above when it comes to singles so far, but this album is great, especially after the first few tracks. love the mild production variety!

the sum of the album is better than the individual tracks, yes. But my god, 80 minutes is a lot.

i guess maybe i am starting to wonder exactly how many Kurt Vile songs i need in my life

― alpine static, Thursday, October 11, 2018 4:08 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah def...i like him still but i miss the weirdness that creeped around the edges back in the square shells etc era

80 minutes is a lot.

this, too. or maybe instead of what i posted before. or maybe both.

“Hysteria” is great!

https://open.spotify.com/track/1oRu9aGmEgnzxrtyz601j7?si=2PlEIcxaSTauLtZloeD4pg

Could have used Stella on the title track tho

Well shit I guess it is her on the title

he wrote one near-perfect song in Wakin On A Pretty Day but everything else has felt like rehashes of it or just doesn't come close

"runner ups" is his near-perfect song. he has several! but it's true that many of them seem to have ended up with rehashes at some point down the line -- tho they can still be pleasant

still need to listen to the new one

smoke rings is still his best album. his approach on that one was a bit more motorik, not as much of the rambling Neil Young-isms that define his most recent work, a lot of tight finger-picking in interesting tunings. baby's arms and runner-ups are my favorite tracks of his.

To me it sounds like he’s trying too hard on Smoke Ring. It sounds so busy all the time. Stuff since then has been more relaxed, dare I saw meditative

I liked the new one as I listened to it but now I don't feel super compelled to go back to it. Wouldn't turn it off if it came on, but don't think I'd actively seek it out either.

that pretty much sums up Kurt Vile in general

he peaked when he was kurt vile... new on Gulcher

This is a good record man!

I can totally picture post-Benji Kozelek taking guest verses on Bassackwards.

Other than that, the new album feels like it's a thousand hours long (I haven't been able to hear it in full so far), and yes Runner-Ups and Baby's Arms are some of his best tunes on what happens to be his best album.

this album must be terrible because the album cover art has like fake "ring wear" as the actual cover. why do people do this?

ufo otm.

WOAPD the album is all the kurt i imagine i'll ever need.

the new album i mean xp

i've been kinda looking at his output post smoke-rings along the lines of yo la tengo when they released "and then nothing..." and "summer sun" but instead all they ever did were to keep releasing records in those veins and say not put out a "pass the hatchet, i think i'm goodkind."

this album must be terrible because the album cover art has like fake "ring wear" as the actual cover
haha yeah I wtfd at this too

When free online photoshop tutorials go wrong

give 'em a glass of wooder
give 'em a cherry pie

Bonded with my wife's college-age cousin on Christmas Eve over KV. (Unsurprisingly, he's also into Mac DeMarco.)

https://open.spotify.com/track/22YbmBNDcL1jACZIPuItR8?si=iy3lodDqT3uwmORZ4oEaQA

Really loving his song with John Prine, a take on "How Lucky", very sweet and heartbreaking in retrospect. The rest of the EP is okay, but "Dandelions" is such an on the nose, meandering song that it borders on Vile self-parody.

New song is very much what I needed

https://pitchfork.com/news/kurt-vile-announces-new-album-watch-my-moves-and-tour-shares-video-for-new-song-watch/

Nice
Happy to see Stella return too

a new song called “Exploding Like Stones,” which features Sun Ra Arkestra’s James Stewart. Watch it below, and find Vile’s upcoming tour dates, too.

The new album includes a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Wages of Sin.”

Oh yes.

I really enjoy the new singles but nothing will best freeway

I couldn’t get more than halfway through the new one. It was fine, but it just occurred to me that I do not need 75 more minutes of Vile. I just don’t hear a ton of growth. In fact, even some of the older stuff I once really liked has lost its luster for me.

“Pretty Pimpin” is his only listenable song IMO

wakin on a pretty day is good

album w courtney barnett is tops

listening to the new album now, sounds great to my ears, very on point, he is what he is

i guess maybe i am starting to wonder exactly how many Kurt Vile songs i need in my life

― alpine static, Thursday, October 11, 2018 2:08 PM (three years ago)

hehe well yes

I saw him a few years ago at a festival in Cancún. By far the dullest act of the entire four-day festival.

Alpine Static OTM in both 2018 and 2022

'smoke rings' is still the best thing he's done by leaps and bounds, but i'm glad he's still out there doing his thing (and for a major label now!)

Yeah

When I’m realizing is that he’s kinda like Spiritualized for me - gimme the best song from each album and I’ll put together a single killer playlist that provides what I need from this act

the ep where he’s asleep on the front cover is really sweet, can’t remember the name. think the songs were all from the smoke ring sessions?

Finally getting around to the album. I really like it tho it’s not surprising. Completely in character , kind of lazy and mellow but has some nice moments. The track “fo sho” is exactly what you’d expect

albums vmic

albums where I'll have what they're having

albums i wish i was in the mood for more often

bless im

any whiff of him or Courtney Barnett briefly sends me back to their collab album. i think it's the best thing either has done

“Even if I’m wrong I’m gonna sing until the ass crack of dawn and it’s probably gonna be another long song”

Kurt Vile was on this week's Hollywood Handbook although I'm not sure he enjoyed it too much.