Ancienne Belgique

Rock band from Philadelphia throws Dylan, Springsteen and Tom Petty through the psychedelic blenderKurt Vile saw the virtues of his songwriting capacities praised internationally over recent months, t...

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Rock band from Philadelphia throws Dylan, Springsteen and Tom Petty through the psychedelic blender

Kurt Vile saw the virtues of his songwriting capacities praised internationally over recent months, thanks to his album ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’. Vile was still a member of Philadelphia's The War on Drugs until the end of 2008. A band operating in the fringe of the American music scene and one that could already count on quite some support for their 2008 debut ‘Wagonwheel Blues’.

Main character Adam Granduciel has now come up with successor ‘Slave Ambient’ that is to be released by Secretly Canadian on August 16. With classic American rock (Dylan, Petty, Springsteen) as his point of departure, he creates complex but at the same time infectious songs that repeatedly ignore the basic principles of the genre. For example: the song ‘Baby Missiles’ – that was also to be found on the EP ‘Future Wheater’ – seems to have been taken from a feverish Bruce Springsteen dream. A "hillbilly power drone", according to Granduciel. An extra dash of psychedelica and distorted organs complete the whole and provide it with a good touch of My Bloody Valentine.

Following an unfortunate cancellation, March 2011 is the moment for revenge: on Saturday 17 September in the ABClub.

British experimental musician Alexander Tucker released the album ‘Dorwytch’ on the Thrill Jockey label earlier this year. On it he combines minimal string arrangements with electronic drones, thus creating what you could call psychedelic musique concrète collages.