Kurt Vile joins other musicians on the Hal Wilner produced “I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico”.
As far as influential bands and albums go, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and their Andy-Warhol produced, eponymously titled 1967 debut record – the one with the peeled banana – is one of modern music’s pinnacles, and necessities. From David Bowie through to Flaming Lips through to Kurt Vile; if you’re loud and experimenting within the pop-rock idiom, and darkly poetic within doing so, you feel the presence of the VU in your sound and vision.
Announced last night, Verve Records – the original label home of The Velvet Underground – will release a multi-artist tribute album, I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico, with tracks from Iggy Pop and Matt Sweeney, St. Vincent and Thomas Bartlett, Sharon Van Etten (with additional vocals by Angel Olsen) and others most inspired by Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Mo Tucker and Nico.
Released on September 24, nearly in connection with director Todd Haynes’ also eponymously titled documentary on The Velvet Underground, not only does the various artist album’s record’s debut track, “Run Run Run” come from Philadelphia’s own, Kurt Vile & The Violators, I’ll Be Your Mirror was conceived, curated and produced by Upper Darby’s late, great Hal Wilner.
The SNL sketch portion musical director and the producer/curator to various artist tributes to Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Kurt Weill, Walt Disney, Nino Rota and many more happened to a dear friend (as well as producer) to Reed as a solo artist, and, with Reed’s wife, Laurie Anderson, a primary curator of Reed’s legacy. Sadly, this is the last album Wilner produced before he passed away in 2020.
As for Vile and “Run Run Run,” the Philly guitarist, vocalist and bandleader wrote, “I literally covered “Run Run Run” when I was a kid. In my late teens with my band at the time. So it was pretty cosmic, let’s say. There is a direct connection to certain indie bands and beyond w/ the Velvets. That’s why the Velvets are a classic. You know it can have doo-wop in there and things like that, but it can also have this jagged noisy thing, and it immediately let me feel like I could do anything. The possibilities are endless. You’re completely free. Unapologetic and effortless.”
Vile recently signed with Verve as a solo artist, limited autographed items including vinyl and vinyl test pressings signed by Kurt Vile and other featured artists will be available HERE.
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