Who He Is: Long-hair noisenik from Kensington; moonlights (or, more appropriately, daylights) at Philadelphia Brewing Company.

What He Does: It feels kind of weird tagging Kurt with the “Breakout Philebrity” thing, because we’ve known him for years — and maybe you have, too. Vile has been playing low-key gigs and hand-burning CD-Rs in Philly for literally years now — all populated with his moody, almost David Crosby-ish take (a good thing, honestly) on space rock, blending folk and modern disaffection and loads and loads of weird noise. With memorable efforts like the Accidents EP and last year’s Constant Hitmaker full-length already in circulation, Vile now finds himself in a whole scene of buzzworthy acts and labels building their reps on the liberating power of noise. What separates Vile from the pack, though, is an old-school hippie songwriter gift for stoney profundity, where even songs with names like “Space Forklift” have a chilly poetic effect that hangs with you way longer than any song called “Space Forklift” oughta. Vile’s sonic pallet informed the sound of The War On Drugs greatly, and though these days, he’s not playing with the band, his mark is still noticeable on their sound.

Hated On For: In like five years of knowing this guy, we’ve never met a person who did not fall in love with him instantly.

Loved By: Several microniches of indie rock, all at once: Freak-folkers, stoner rockists, avant-noise scholars, and even good ol’ Superchunk fans… they all think Kurt is a righteous dude.

Over/Under: Vile’s stock is exploding as we speak: Just check out the frequency with which he’s been hitting the Hype Machine lately. Meanwhile, Vile is about to play in Belgium, followed by a U.S. tour that will take him straight down to SXSW, where he’s already lined up to play some of the fest’s most hotly-tipped gigs with bands like Eat Skull, Endless Boogie, Wavves and more. Look out, America: You’re about to get Vile-ated.

Kurt Vile plays with Watery Love and Bogan Dust tonight at Kung Fu Necktie, Front & Thompson Sts.

[Photo credit: Sarah McKay]

Read about more Breakout Philebrities here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 5:01 pm.