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The Spectator
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November 06, 2009Kurt Vile: Childish Prodigy
Kurt Vile is the kind of name you want to say when someone asks you what you're listening to.
Think of it: You're alone in a McEwen booth, ear buds in with a plate full of corn fritters and the spread of hot sauces, mayonnaise, ketchups and mountain dew when they walk up. "What's that you're listening to?" says one. You've talked to them before, but only for a minute, outside Root Hall. They're older. They smoke cigarettes with Steve Yao. They wear wool gloves and a leather jacket, even when it rains. They're probably working on their thesis, and until now you thought they were living in a world of higher art where underclassmen academicians like yourself were invisible. But you've been wrong! And now here's your opportunity for validation!
"Kurt Vile." A nod of approval.
"Never heard of him. What's he like?"
The man lives up to the name. One assumes that if he was born with the title, his parents had it planned out that their baby boy was going to be a hairy, toothed madman, exploiting reverb and distorted guitar drones over bright drum beats and echoey vocals. For a second you hear Lou Reed's dissonant prosodies over equally dark instrumentation in "Dead Alive" and "Overnite Religion." Then, you realize that the guitar licks and piano suspensions are Bon Iver without the falsetto.
I'm pretty sure this guy recorded this whole album in his basement or a bathroom or something. I think you can even hear water drops falling into the sink on "Blackberry Song." It's getting progressively colder, and the rain ceases to fall. And Kurt Vile is in some room predominantly decorated with bare, grimy cement and his assortment of grizzled, splintering instruments.
All this sounds horrible to you, doesn't it? Doesn't it!? You stopped reading at "corn fritters." Well, you've got it all wrong! Kurt Vile is doing everything right, and probably hates people who write reviews like this one for people like you and me. But who cares?!
The album is incredible and will soon grace the racks of our beloved radio station. Listen to it. LISTEN! For everyone who doesn't play one song off this album for the next week, I offer one sock to the gut.
Pavement Reunion to Commence in Auckland
Pavement, the '90s band that created classic albums such as Slanted and Enchanted and Brighten the Corners, will reunite on March 1, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand. They will also perform in Australia and the UK before returning to the States for four sold-out shows in New York City's Central Park.
The band's members, including Stephen Malkmus and Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg, have spent the last ten years pursuing solo careers and playing with other groups, but they are finally ready to "go back to those gold sounds." To hear Pavement and related bands, check out SMR on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. on WHCL.