I know that the uninitiated must assume that a musician named “Kurt Vile” must be an abrasive, unfriendly, avant-noize guy, but they’re wrong. Which is why I aim to initiate them now. And do it in as simple and straightforward a way as I can– behold the “Bedroom Tom Petty” appeal of “Freeway:”

Although Vile is already known as a player in The War On Drugs, I think we can safely go ahead and chalk him up, solo, as another “Gonna Be Big in ‘09” name. He’s already been snapped up by a big (but as yet undisclosable) indie label for his upcoming full-length, Childish Prodigy. And after some debating over at MBV about just when his Mexican Summer limited-edition LP, God Is Saying This To You, would be released, we finally determined that it’s due next week. So if you’re not a Mexican Summer subscriber, that means you’ve probably got, oh, I’d say a day or two left to get in a pre-order for it. Of course, you could always just wait around and pay a fortune for it on ebay in another few months…

(FWIW, they say that ‘Kurt Vile’ is his real name, and not just an obvious take-off.)