Breaking: The War on Drugs

Who: Lo-fi folk-rock quintet from Philadelphia featuring Adam Granduciel of the Capitol Years and guitarist Kurt Vile, who releases solo records boasting stunning fuzzed-out guitar jams.

Sounds Like: Bob Dylan cranking out jams with Sonic Youth. Granduciel, whose adenoidal croon eerily recalls the Bard's, has a knack for penning cryptic ruminations on life, death and hitting the road. "There's a song you hear on the radio/ It's a funeral march," he sings on "Arms Like Boulders." "So you change the channel/ But it's all you hear/ As you're driving up the 101 from Mexico to California." Meanwhile, his band turns spacey noise-blues epics that sometimes stretch on beyond the 10-minute mark.

Vital Stats:

• In his spare time, Granduciel, 29, works as a maintenance man, cleaning out houses of college students at Drexel University in Philadelphia. "Most of the time, the kids leave tons of shit behind them," he says. "Sometimes I've found good shit. We got a drum set and a PA system last year. And I could have, like, 50 microwaves if I wanted to at this point."

• Granduciel honed his writing chops when he and a pal started writing their own dictionary, which featured bits of poetry alongside more traditional definitions of words. "Some of the material is great," says Granduciel. "There's a lot of great lines and good phrases in there. And some of it was nonsense."

• Granduciel credits his mother with helping him shape his band's sound. As a kid, she turned him onto Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison records. "She didn't really listen to too much else," he says. "Dylan's whole catalog is amazing but I particularly love Highway 61 Revisited and Street Legal."

Hear It Now: The War on Drugs' Wagonwheel Blues is out now. Click above for a live, unplugged performance of "Arms Like Boulders."

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

More Song Stories entries »

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