Good vibes and words to live by from a perfectly imperfect indie philosopher. The thing about Kurt Vile’s perfectly imperfect indie rock is that he knows what to leave in and what to cut out. You can’t teach that balance, and you can’t workshop it, either—you gotta, as Vile might say in his faintly mid-Atlantic drawl, feel it, which he would be quick to acknowledge is harder than it seems in this crazy busy world. Recorded in the same home studio as 2022’s (watch my moves), 2026’s Philadelphia’s been good to me is both way weirder and way more comfortable with itself than Vile’s earlier music. He trades the classic-rock poise of albums like Wakin on a Pretty Daze for the haphazard charm of a sketch, letting his funky ideas—the occasionally goofy vocal delivery, the seemingly misplaced guitar lines that turn out to be perfect on third listen—come to rest where other artists might smooth them out. No surprise that the definitive songs here (“Philly’s been good to me” and “Holiday OKV”) are about home, which is always somehow known and not. Guys like this don’t make mistakes, only decisions.