Kurt Vile
Constant Hitmaker

Cover art for Constant Hitmaker by Kurt Vile Description: LP on Woodsist
Format: LP (vinyl)
Genre(s): Alternative/College Rock
Label: Woodsist
Price:
£15.69
Availability: In stock. Dispatched in 1 working day.

4Rating: 4
...according to our on 23 April 2009.

The name Kurt Vile had me expecting some sort of Weimar-inflected noisefest but the title Constant Hitmaker doesn't. Unless it's playing some sort of clever bait and switch like the ultra cute cover of that newest Merzbow Japanese birds thing that's out soon. Which it isn't. It's poppy! Singer-songwritery pop-folk-rock with a bit of that characteristic Woodsist lo-fi hazy wonkiness that always hits the spot, the man with an amp and guitar but no friends to play with recalls all sorts of people with his vocal delivery: rock-era Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler, all the cool shit. Reliably tidy stuff from a reliably tidy label and we're digging the cover. Get your hair cut, you hippy!

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What their label says...

Philadelphian one-man band Kurt Vile kicks off this excellent record with a lo-fi pop anthem: 'Freeway' is a simple enough guitar & drum machine affair, but there's a raw, energetic romanticism that instantly taps into the tropes of great Americana songwriters, & the fact that this is all strung together in a punky, DIY setting only serves to make the record more effective & heartstring-tugging. Not all-out pop though: you'll find weird sketchy pieces that sound like the emissions of some far out supermarket synth drones, like some freakish combination of Ariel Pink & Atlas Sound. Thoroughly weird & unfocussed, but not without considerable ......................