50 Best Albums of 2011: Kurt Vile, 'Smoke Ring for My Halo'

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Kurt Vile, 'Smoke Ring for My Halo'

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Vile's hippie folk lays melancholic mumbling over psychedelic ambience and sun-spotted folk-blues picking. "When it's looking dark, punch the future in the face," he advises. It's his version of optimism – and it suits this hazy, gripping and hard-bitten album.