Kurt Vile @ the Empty Bottle

Yes, your cell phone camera, while crappy, is still better than mine.

I really hate the idea of being one of those people gushing about bands on the internet. “Blah blah blah I’m such a hip taste-maker for the rest of you sorry lot.” All that aside I quite enjoyed seeing Kurt Vile at the Empty Bottle on Tuesday. He rambles and mumbles with a bit of “croon” more than singing. You can tell some bands do it for effect but here it seems sincere and it perfectly suits the tunes at hand. To sing these songs on perfect pitch would be a disservice, unless you have the pipes of Martha Wainwright (or another blessed with one of those voices that can to bring you to tears). [A brief aside: unless you have one of those million dollar voices, you probably should work on a mumbling drawl as your attempts at singing make you come across as though trying to hard. The only thing you accomplish is sounding like the guy from Creed. Eeeew.]

I’d managed to avoid hearing any of Mr Vile’s music (including his previous stint with “the War On Drugs”) until a month ago. While I might go back and dig through that catalog I would recommend starting in the present with “Constant Hitmaker” or the “Hunchback” EP. The former is acoustic based but augmented with some spacey-ness and sparse drumming, all of which is drowning in reverb. The latter includes his backing back, “The Violators” who very tastefully added to the sound instead of cluttering it up. I’m glad he’s picked up a band as it adds some variety to the set, breaking up the solo numbers. They hit all moods as they had my hips swaying on some tunes and in full dance mode on others. So again, no gushing here. Check them out live if you get a chance and make up your own mind.