kurt vile live

Last year I had an epic and still somewhat ongoing obsession with Kurt Vile’s “Beach On The Moon”, which saw me listen to absolutely nothing else on my iPod for days at a time, addicted to its Balearic saltiness and free-associative musings. And now I’m now hooked on the live recordings Chocolate Bobka recently posted of Vile playing an acoustic set in Washington DC.

Vile is the master of the heavy downstroke, big mind-filling chords that punctuate his songs and tie their fabric tight; he also lets them breathe out again with impulsive but steady chord shifts, and of course his brilliant vocals, all Dylan street-shaman rambling and high-school sniping. There are gorgeous little details too, like the faint arpeggios behind the steady listlessness of “My Best Friends (Don’t Pass This)”, and when he gets fixed into a groove you feel like he’s hovering on the edge of the spiritual planes cruised over by the likes of Fahey and Rose, before shrugging and deciding against it. Get the whole awesome set here.

Kurt Vile – My Best Friends (Don’t Even Pass This) (live at DNA Test Fest, Washington DC, 28/4/09)

Kurt Vile – It’s Alright (?) (live at DNA Test Fest, Washington DC, 28/4/09)