Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy (2009)
Genre: Indie,Psychedelic ALLRIGHT!!
Myspace
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Tracklist
1. Hunchback
2. Dead Alive
3. Overnite Religion
4. Freak Train
5. Blackberry Song
6. Monkey
7. Heart Attack
8. Amplifier
9. Inside Looking Out
10. Unknown
11. Unknown 2
Yes kids, that IS his real name - but his music is far from vile. It is a melange of trippy-tambourine-psychedelia-mountain shack- delta-folk-fuzziness that is rather warming and very hypnotic in places, like the best bits of Spaceman 3, M Ward and a spot of Suicide. Not exactly the true taste of Philly then (his home-town)?
This is his 2nd full-length album and his first for troubadour-shelter, Matador Records, and it's a bit of a blinder to be honest. From opening slouch-rocker "Hunchback" (from a recent EP), you begin to nod and agree with the description of his music on his website, thus: "(it's like)....when u wake from a long and glorious slumber, then u realize u don't have to go to work, then u fall back into a long and glorious slumber...". Couldn't agreed more Kurt - now amaze me some more. He does. "Dead Alive" crackles like a roasted suckling, "Overnite Religion" shimmers with a hazy druggy glow and then "Freak Train" spends 7 minutes puffing its lungs like an Amtrak on acid. I like, I like and I like again.
The comparison with M Ward is justified by the gob-smackingly pretty hypno-strum of "Blackberry Song" - you get the feeling it isn't about the degeneration of the human mind via an expensive hand-held jerk-box but, moreover, a paean to that most persuasive of hedgerow fruits. OK, I'll go and get my incense and leave......but not before I tell you about the pop-folk shudder of "Monkey" (a cover from Thurston Moore and Richard Hell's 90's Dim Stars project) and the Dylan-esque, Felt-esque hymn "Heart Attack". Oh come on Kurt - there must be a crap song on here?...somewhere...?
Bastard - he wheels out "Amplifier", country-shuffle joy in an under-rated stanza and another perfect example of country and crash-out. Well, it's only until the closing song, "Inside Lookin Out" that things get a bit monotonous and forgettable - a cyclical drone-song of no consequence so let's move on. The album has been extended with 2 bonus songs, "He's All Right", a Robert Forster-style (Go Betweens) acoustic slackathon of unremitting beauty and "Goodbye Freaks", a dubbed out instrumental outro version of "Freak Train" replete with harmonica. Mmmmmm.
Kurt Vile - I order you to come and play some dates in the UK right now! This is a very good excuse to wake up, get ready for work and then remember you don't have to go to work and then go back to bed and jam this album into your player on repeat. Take your time...........it's a grower.... (allgigs.co.uk)
