For those of you who still haven't treated yourself to the magic of Kurt Vile, get down to the store and grab his most excellent "Childish Prodigy" from last year. Here is what I said about that album when I ranked in my top twenty of the year for 2009:
Kurt Vile has made a hell of a name for himself over the past couple of years with the much heralded "Constant Hitmaker" on Woodsist and "God Is Saying This To You..." on Mexican Summer, which is pretty much why it is so fucking weird that "Childish Prodigy" has fallen by the wayside of notice. Is the backlash that quick these days folks? Christ it took at least five years before Mogwai and Godspeed got the slap in the face for just doing what we wanted them to do. I am a pretty big hater of backlash, and if an original artist produces an excellent album, I think they deserve all the praise in the world, which is why Kurt Vile did not cease to amaze me with "Childish Prodigy."
Present are the lo-fi americana blues hymnals of old, but with a hell of a lot more consistency than before. Nearly every song on "Childish Prodigy" is worth getting excited about. While there is a little more sonic variation than before (Vile oscillates between a full band sound, and solo guitar and effects), the songs achieves a particular type of transcendence specific to American culture. Listening to "Childish Prodigy" is sort of like driving to Colorado with Jack Kerouac and Cassidy, while listening to Hank Williams Sr. read Walt Whitman's "O Pioneers." Yeah, it's that good.
"Blackberry Song"
"Freak Train"
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