If I like the record, why did I hate the show?
A boy I had a crush on several years ago, who also wrote about music, was pretty into the War on Drugs. It was during that sweet time when Kurt Vile was still in the band, a couple of years after the release of Wagonwheel Blues, which was critically lauded and total catnip for think pieces about authenticity and Americana’s strong revivalist foothold in both psych and pop.
After we were done making out to the Walkmen’s You & Me, he would set Wagonwheel Blues on his turntable and “Arms Like Boulders” would come on. Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile would noodle, and Granduciel would sing about planets full of oil in the kind of spacey, Dylan-esque way that all music writers adored, and I would make out with this guy, genuinely enjoying myself.