Hey slackers, here's something worth waking up for besides your next visit from the pizza guy. Philly indie-stoner troubador Kurt Vile and his band the Violators are hitting the 9:30 Club in DC later this month, and your friends at RVA Magazine want to hook you up with two tickets to this exquisite extravaganza! Operating under the radar for close to a decade now, Kurt Vile (who performs under his real name, believe it or not--any resemblance to the author of "Mack The Knife" is strictly coincidental) attracted some attention with his fourth solo album, 2011's Smoke Ring For My Halo. That album's rough-and-ready appeal, which clicked in a big way with fans of Neil Young and The Rolling Stones, mixed dark, bluesy acoustic jams with a hazy, psychedelic sensibility.
Vile took the whole thing to another level entirely earlier this year, though, when he released Wakin' On A Pretty Daze to by far the most acclaim of his career thus far. Incorporating an electrified guitar sound into his lackadaisical bummer jams, Wakin' places Vile solidly into the psychedelic indie rock tradition of artists like Tame Impala, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Mazzy Star. It's also a fascinating, original collection of tunes that will hold listeners' attention no matter how stretched-out the jams sometimes get. And now Kurt Vile and the Violators will be bringing their stretched-out psychedelic jams to the 9:30 Club, to let them loose in a live environment. And in a bizarrely outstanding turn of events, they'll be joined by Boston's Swirlies, one of the original shoegaze bands of the early 90s, who are still active after more than two decades in the business. These guys make getting there on time not only worthwhile but essential. This show promises to be a fascinating musical experience from beginning to end--one you do not want to miss!
WHAT:Kurt Vile Wakes The 9:30 Club From Its Pretty Daze
WHO:Kurt Vile & The Violators, The Swirlies
WHERE:9:30 Club, 815 V St NW, Washington DC
WHEN: Saturday, July 20, 8 PM
ADMISSION: $20 in advance--order tickets HERE
Best of all, you could be seeing this show for free! Just plug your info into the lovely futuristic web application below this paragraph, and keep an eye out for bonus chances to win. You've got until Friday at 5 PM to enter, but why wait? Do it now!
And while you're waiting to find out if you've won, check out the first video from Vile's great new album, Wakin' On A Pretty Daze. In this clip for "Never Run Away," Vile, dressed all in white, travels around his Philly hometown on a white bus, stopping to check out abandoned industrial sites, graffiti-covered walls, and rubble-strewn vacant lots while singing and occasionally playing a guitar--white, of course. Eventually he ends up in front of the real-life street art that forms the cover of his new album, which was painted by Philadelphia artist Steve Powers. There, he sprays a fire extinguisher into the air and fills the general vicinity with a misty white haze. Seems rather appropriate, on the whole.