Kurt Vile @ 7th St. Entry
Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. On his records, especially the recently released Childish Prodigy, lo-fi noise folkster Kurt Vile washes his classic rock songs in blankets of fuzz and effects. Wednesday night at Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry was no different, although the layers and layers of effects at times overshadowed his great songs and became a deterrent that took away from his great songs he was performing.
You could tell the performance was going to be a guitar-centric rock fest even as Vile and his band, the Violators, went through their sound check. Vile’s acoustic guitars were so awash in effects that they sounded like they were coming from outer space, and his two fellow guitar players didn’t skimp on the bells and whistles either. While Vile’s recorded effort has hints of classic rock and folk, it is all done in a lo-fi manner that is completely thrown out the window live. There were two other long haired guitarists, one of each side of Vile, and a drummer who looked like he wouldn’t be out of place drumming for a Poison cover band. Nothing was subtle with this bass-free lineup and they didn’t hold back at all in their quest to create some epic sounding rock and roll.
Songs were extended well past their original length and various droning, squealing guitar (and saxophone!) solos were inserted at will. There were also tracks with booming, pre-programed drums to accompany the already bombastic live drumming. The band was loose, but still had a good level of cohesiveness that ensured that the performance wasn’t too sloppy. While the vocals were buried under (surprise, surprise) too many effects, there were still many moments where Vile showed his vocal dexterity. He ranged from a gentle folk whisper to a mean, deep blues growl in a way that seemed extraordinary coming from the unassuming kid on stage.
Vile started out off the set with a excellent three song set featuring Childish Prodigy standouts “Overnite Religion,” “Hunchback” and “Freak Train.” While on record his sonic experimentation add another layer to his stoned out songwriting, they unfortunately seemed to overpower his songs live. The three opening songs are all amazing on record and are some of my favorites that he has written, but each was so muddled and disjointed that it took me a minute to even realize which song he was playing. The vocals were at times Bob Dylan-like in that I could see the mouth moving and hear the melody of the songs, but the words got lost in translation. That being said, the over saturation of stuff going on was not enough to ruin the performance. Even when songs were muddled, the band still showed enough chops to make them really enjoyable and kept the medium sized crowd engaged throughout their hour long set. Some of the best songs of the evening were when Vile worked solo and showed off his amazing finger picking and allowed his vocals, and songwriting, to really shine; examples included a stripped down version of “Dead Ali Vee” and “Peeping Tom,” which he played solo during the encore.
Vile is clearly a very talented artist. During the set I was reminded of a show I saw by Jay Reatard a while back at the Triple Rock where I left with the same feeling as I did Wednesday night. His infectious, melody rich songs where played with so much ire and gusto that you would have thought you were at a Black Flag show. For whatever reason, he had no desire to let his “pop side”—which was bursting with genius—out during the performance. He covered it up with his chugging, double time riffs on his Flying V and played a generic and unassuming set that lasted about a half hour. It seemed Vile worked in a similar way Wednesday night. While he has a strong contingent of songs to rely on (his first LP, Constant Hitmaker, is amazing also), he seemed content to wash it all out with a guitar nerd’s wet dream worth of effects. His songs, which are precise and timeless sounding on records, were deconstructed and torn apart at the 7th Street Entry. While I would never advocate, or approve of, a band sounding note for note like their album, there is a point where it seems like Vile was adding dissonance just for the hell of it. Again, there are plenty of artists who work in this territory and make really interesting, compelling music by tearing apart sounds and piling layer upon layer, but those people also probably don’t have the talent Vile does at writing some air tight rock and roll songs. It will be interesting to see how Vile evolves as he gets more attention and he grows as an artist. I, for one, hope that he takes some of the great work he is doing on records and translates it a little better in the live setting in his future shows in the Twin Cities.
