Believe The Hype: No Ripcord Recommendations

Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring For My Halo

Legendary producer John Agnello has helped Vile to refine his lo-fi aesthetic and at times Smoke Ring For My Halo sounds nothing short of stunning. It’s still vaguely psychedelic, yes, and the same adjectives (woozy, fuzzy, hypnotic) apply, but this is undoubtedly the first Kurt Vile record that sounds like a studio creation as opposed to a bedroom one. This is a sensible step for many reasons. Firstly, I don’t think an artist on an influential and highly supportive independent label like Matador can continually justify making albums that sound like they were recorded on a scratchy old four track machine. Secondly, critics and bloggers tend to focus a lot of their attention on new artists and new scenes, meaning that veterans like Vile need to broaden their horizons to appeal to the wider music-loving public. There’s also the simple fact that the blogosphere has absorbed an awful lot of poorly recorded D.I.Y music over the last five years." 9/10