Tag Archives: Kurt Vile

Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of the Week: The Allah-Las, “501-415”

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It wasn’t until I heard “501-415” by the cleverly-named Allah-Las that I realized how much Kurt Vile sounds like a modern day Bob Dylan. And I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Because Kurt Vile is the Shizznit.

It makes sense that this band is from Los Angeles, especially since NPR‘s review offers that “The vintage sounds of Allah-Las combine the harmonies and hooks of the British Invasion with the atmosphere of a West Coast psychedelic band.” This 1 minute 45 seconds bit of sonic bliss just captures the dreamy aspect of a California lifestyle so perfectly. Their bio even mentions the members meeting while working at Amoeba Music in LA. So yeah, there are no accidents. The video looks like it was tons of fun to make as well, giving them the chance to use eclectic props like a dessicated cow skull and a Pinata. Fun!

Allah-Las‘ second album, Worship The Sun will be released on September 16th on the Innovative Leisure imprint. You should buy it. Like them on the FaceBook at This Link. Enjoy!

Allah Las Band
Photo Credit: Wesley Herron

Music, Pop Culture

Recommended Listening: Kurt Vile, Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze

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Kurt Vile Wakin On A Pretty Daze CD Cover
Album Cover Art By Steve Powers!

When it comes to modern music, not much impresses me these days. If you look back over the past few years at any Top 10 Albums list I might have compiled – in those years where I was even able to cobble together such a list at all – you’ll see it’s comprised partly of comeback records by classic rockers, greatest hits packages or tribute albums that revisit the material of a legendary artist. That’s rather pathetic, I know, for a writer who once embraced the tagline ‘Rock Critic at Large,’ but it is what it is. I don’t apologize for being unable to shake the feeling that the best years for popular music are, for the most part, 30 – or even 40 – years behind us. Continue reading Recommended Listening: Kurt Vile, Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze →

Music, Pop Culture

Steve Powers Designs Upcoming Kurt Vile Album Artwork

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Wakin On a Pretty Daze
Photo by Jessie Trbovich

I was so crazy about Kurt Vile’s 2011 release, Smoke Ring For My Halo that I could not possibly be more excited to hear that he has a new CD coming out in 2013, entitled Wakin on a Pretty Daze. What makes this news even cooler is the announcment that the album cover art, seen as a street mural in the photo above, is by contemporary painter Steve “Stephen” Powers, whose fun and original work I was introduced to this past summer at an exhibit at Joshua Liner Gallery. This mural, which I am guessing depicts the names of songs found on the album, is located at the intersection of Front and Master Streets in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, where Vile is from. Produced by John Agnello, and described by Vile as being comparable to Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, but “No cheese, just rock,” Wakin on a Pretty Daze is due out in the spring.