The View From Here: He’s alright: Kurt Vile
- Jan 06, 2010
Not to be missed: the man dubbed ‘Philly’s Constant Hitmaker’ on his myspace can be relied upon to do just that. Though why anyone with a name like Kurt Vile on their birth certificate needs another moniker is beyond us…
Vile harks from the northern liberties of Philadelphia, US, and made his commercial debut on prestigious label Matador (sometime home of The Fall, Pavement, Sonic Youth) with Childish Prodigy last October. But Vile’s an old hat – the kind of man you know hit puberty and then couldn’t tear himself away from his record player, his guitar.
He skipped uni to work blue collar jobs and fund three 12” releases: The Hunchback EP, The Constant Hitmaker and God Is Saying This To You. These were the records that stirred the waters and earned him the Matador signing – the break he was looking for before Childish Prodigy, the one he says he had to “save up for a bigger label” went out last year.
You’ll hear why he was saving it. Childish Prodigy goes places – it travels in your head as the music rattles in stasis, waiting for a break. Distorted riffs squirm over jangled melodies, Vile whoops and curses his grungy-vocal – it’s complete and concrete and a light-year beyond the stuff most musicians will hope to achieve in a lifetime.
Vile hit UK shores for a couple of gigs last month with his band The Violators and has been on the road on the US ever since. Big songs from the album were all there at his Lexington show – ‘Freak Train’, ‘He’s Alright’, ‘Monkey’ – but the highlights happened when everyone else left the stage. Then Vile picked out the exquisite, watery hues of ‘Blackberry Song’ and debuted new tracks, each as painstakingly intricate and casually executed as the last. You get the sense that Vile’s music is made inside himself, despite himself – and that there’ll be much more to come.
If you’re stateside you’re in luck – catch Kurt Vile on the road this winter with F***ed Up, The Black Keys and others, dates on myspace.
To be a Top Music Blogger get involved by clicking the link.
Written by Hazel Sheffield. Head to The View From Here for more of her musings on music.
