ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #8 KURT VILE - SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO

Following his retrospectively mythicised split from The War On Drugs in 2008, Kurt Vile began to write what would eventually become four albums on Matador Records. ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’ is the most recent, and took the longest. His talent with an acoustic guitar is clear, Vile often opting for a long and mechanical finger-picked motif matted under a musty reverb and compression. Noodling Americana guitars slip in and out of focus, drowned out by his mused anecdotes to a life on the road, delivered with a contemplative, wise and soothing croon.

“Runner Ups” is decidedly vast and furiously crisp, and in the least cliche way possible, laments a life of travelling “two packs of red apples, for the long ride home” (one line particularly powerful), and treats loss with a sarcastic, tonally wavering dismissal “my best friends long gone, but I got runner ups”. ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’ is a close and personal record, delivered by someone weathered and worn enough to ignite a lasting impression of awe rather than disinterest.

Kurt Vile - Runner Ups (MP3) Buy from Matador

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New EP: Kurt Vile - So Outta Reach 

The Constant Hitmaker that is Kurt Vile just revealed news of a new EP, ‘So Outta Reach’, which will drop November 7th via Matador. With the announcement comes a deluxe edition of his most recent LP and a new song in the form of ‘The Creature’, revisiting the thematically overcast illustrations of 2011’s Smoke Ring For My Halo by means of twangy acoustics, descending chord progressions and that idiosyncratic drawling lyrical delivery. Also on the bill is a Bruce Springsteen cover, four more new songs and a comical album-fronting storyboard tracking Kurt’s drinking escapades as they unfold.

Kurt Vile - The Creature (MP3)

Pre-order So Outta Reach via Matador

New Album: Cass McCombs - Humor Risk

Not only did Domino Records present us with a new Twin Sister track this morning, they also dropped a wonderfully rootsy 6-minuter from alt-country hero Cass McCombs, whose ‘The Same Thing’ recalls elements of Kurt Vile, or perhaps early Wilco in its lazy leads and ambling West-country beat. This certainly doesn’t sound like a big label release; but does sound like an an accomplished folk musician heading in to new territory for his new LP. Pre-order Humor Risk now at the Domino Records store.

Cass McCombs - The Same Thing (MP3)

New Album: The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient

After a three year period of rest following 2008’s double ‘Wagonwheel Blues/Barrel Of Batteries’ double release, broken only by 2010’s ‘Future Weather’ EP, The War On Drugs return on August 16th with their sophomore LP ‘Slave Ambient’, now streaming via Urban Outfitters Radio a full two weeks ahead of release.

The LP, a third consecutive release on Secretly Canadian, is accompanied by a full US/European tour, dates of which can be found at the Secretly Canadian website, and also drops as a furtherance of lead single ‘Come To The City’, a typically rallying keyboard driven ambient / folk rock hybrid with a very slight but definite studio sheen which feels far less artificial than it does a natural progression.

The UK dates sadly coincide with my recording session in France - distraught not to be able to make it to the Brighton date at the Green Door Store, but any of you who live in London, Leeds, Sheffield or Brighton will be able to catch The War On Drugs live in the UK for the first time as far as my memory serves this September. Until then enjoy the colourful and abstract video to ‘Come To The City’, a wonderfully bleak view of Northern America through the sun-drenched lens of faded shadings, hazy memories and rural fields.

09/13/11 London, UK - Cargo
09/14/11 Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
09/15/11 Sheffield, UK - The Harley
09/16/11 Brighton, UK - Green Door Store

The War On Drugs - Come To The City (MP3)

This week, music from Denver and Brooklyn with Woodsman’s psychedelic second album ‘Rare Forms’, an introduction to Kurt Vile, with a song from The War On Drugs (where he is guitarist), before a track from his upcoming album ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’, due in March. New music from a band called Prussia, with their wobbly electro-turns-90s indie pop on song Girl Cops from their most recent Band Camp EP, Four For Attention. Swedish balaeric pop due Korallreven have the characteristic luscious ambience Memoryhouse worked in to their single ‘Honey Mine’, and to close the show, a track from lo-fi one man project Coma Cinema, who is set to release his third album, and first with a physical release, Blue Suicide, in 2011.

[LISTEN TO RESONANCE SATURDAY 6.30]

[DOWNLOAD MP3 OF SHOW]

Woodsman - Insects (MP3)

The War On Drugs - Arms Like Boulders (MP3)

Kurt Vile - Jesus Fever (MP3)

Prussia - Girl Cops (MP3)

Korallreven - Honey Mine (Memoryhouse Remix) (MP3)

Coma Cinema - Her Sinking Sun (MP3)