Constant Hitmaker

Thank god that's over. Summer, that is. We're more of an Autumn. Winter, even. But Summer's just a smeary, bleary blur of heat, sun, and muggy humidity. Good riddance, we say, and realize we're in the vast minority. So be it.

Before we hit up today's musical guest, we have a request. We need to fix up our links to the left, along with an eventual site re-design, and figger we're missing some mighty fine sites, musical or otherwise. Anyone got some recommendations of websites we should be pimpin'? It could be your own, of course, or someone you're following. Let us know, and we'll get it up.

Now we got a feller who we think is super duper, and perfect for an Autumn afternoon.

Kurt Vile (yes, it's a pun) is a slightly cracked egg, at least on wax (we don't know him personally). He plays in a band called The War On Drugs, which is a fine band, but not our concern for today's post. We're interested in Vile's fascinating solo work.

We don't know much about Vile, really. We've got four records by the man, all released within the last 12 months, and each one a tiny bedsit jewel of strummed melancholy, looped languidness, chug-a-lug ramble, urban psych, and keen lyrical observation. He's called "Philly's Constant Hitmaker", for what it's worth.

Vile takes the pre-supposed nature of the bedroom auteur and transforms it into something revelatory, stripping away the self-involved excess and creating, nay, crafting records full of the richness of the everyman. More tuneful and accessible than Jandek, less bombast than Neil Young and somewhere in between the twilight and the morning.

Sensory reflection, then, a spillage of foilage with darkness at the edge of town, and the drop the needle, the intake of breath and a hiss of tape, a voice in the void of summer speeding and winter hibernation, a warm drink taken bitter and sweet.

The following songs were taken from, in order, his brand spankin' new record "Childish Prodigy", his previous long player "Constant Hitmaker", the limited vinyl "God Is Saying This To You" LP, and the EP "Hunchback". Check 'em all out!

Perfect music for watching the leaves change and the evening comin' on.


Kurt Vile: Freak Train(mp3)

Kurt Vile: Freeway(mp3)

Kurt Vile: My Sympathy(mp3)

Kurt Vile: Good Lookin' Out(mp3)

Please support your local, independent Cider vendor.

Six Pack

Howdy folks, and gather 'round. Gonna try something today, and perhaps it'll turn into something regular-like in these parts. Call it a way to get more posts up without having to worry about all that messy exposition 'n' all.

We tend to buy way more records than is probably healthy. We've been slowly "digitzing" these swell little frisbees, which is nifty since a record demands a closer ear than a cd with it's "next/skip" function or an mp3 download with the always handy "delete" button. That's neither here nor there, really, just pontificating.

What we'd like to do every week or two is toss up a quick "six pack", appropriately enough, of some fine tunes we've culled from our vinyl obsessiveness. Some of the songs come from classic albums by artists we'd like to cover more closely in the future, some are from crappy records with one killer track, and some are from super duper records that have fallen under the radar. We're gonna have brand spanking new stuff and older stuff with varying degrees of scratchiness. We'll have tracks off of 45's, LP's, and EP's. 7 inches, 10 inches, 12 inches, whatever your, ahem, preference is (Sorry, couldn't resist). Sound quality will be, as can be expected, in varying degrees, but, hell, isn't that supposed to be some of the charm?

Let me know how this works for all y'all. Yea or Nay?

Our first six pack starts off with a David Allen Coe track pulled off the soundtrack to the vile film, "Take This Job and Shove It". Kurt Vile gives us a perfect summer driving song courtesy of his 2008 record, "Constant Hitmaker". More summer holiday fun follows from disturbed, masked, and,apparently, smelly sleaze-trash god NoBunny from his record "Love Visions". After that we need to cleanse our souls with a superb track from Numero Group's recently issued Local Customs: Downriver Revival double LP. Rounding things off, we've got a couple of 7" tracks: a garbage can Country lament from the immortal DM Bob and the Deficits, and then back on the road with a hitchhiker's tribute from the legendary Bob Luman.

Songs are not arranged in any kind of "best" to "not best", so check 'em all out.


David Allen Coe: You Can Count On Beer (mp3)

Kurt Vile: Freeway (mp3)

NoBunny: Chuck Berry Holiday (mp3)

Gospel Supremes: Sinner Man (mp3)

DM Bob and the Deficits: Blind Man With A Pistol (mp3)

Bob Luman: Interstate 40 (mp3)

Please support your local, independent record store.