Hear Kurt Vile talk about movies, stardom and Bruce Springsteen with Bret Easton Ellis

Philly songsmith Kurt Vile is eternally in motion. Along with a second summer of heavy touring behind his monumental 2013 double album Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze – which has him playing the Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center in York on May 31st and the Mann Center for the Performing Arts with Nick Cave on July 25th, as well as numerous summer festivals – Vile is out covering Neil Young, hopefully working on new material, and sitting down with famed author and social critic Bret Easton Ellis for his weekly podcast, released yesterday.

A literary darling of the 1980s best known for his works American Psycho, Less than Zero and Glamorama, Ellis is somebody incredibly attuned to pop culture, but at the same time he seems refreshingly new to Vile’s discography. He admits to Vile in their casual and freewheeling conversation that he only came to his music on Smoke Ring for My Halo and Daze, and began working his way back from there. As a result, some of the things they discuss (Kurt comes from a big family, his dad worked on a train, his first music was written while working as a forklift operator in Boston) treads sort of familiar territory. But the meat and potatoes of the conversation comes from their philosophical asides, conversations on movies, the nature of stardom and the role of the music in contemporary culture. Ellis leads into the conversation with Kurt by describing himself as a listener who prefers hearing an album as an entire body of work – in contrast to his more singles-oriented boyfirend – and holds up Daze and an exemplary front-to back album crafted tremendously by “a surprisingly accomplished” musician.

Take a listen to the podcast below – the segment with Kurt begins at around 13 minutes. Get tickets and information on the shows in York and at the Mann by consulting the XPN Concert Calendar.