[photo courtesy of Cory Smith and The Line Of Best Fit Blog]
The War On Drugs released Slave Ambient this past week. Its an album that’s been in the works for a couple of years, since the 2008 release of their excellent Secretly Canadian Records debut Wagonwheel Blues. But in a way, its an album that’s been waiting much longer for its release. The band’s leader Adam Granduciel incorporated some older songs into the album and spent many months tweaking the mixes, reworking arrangements, and perfecting what will undoubtedly become one of 2011’s best albums. When we recorded The War On Drugs in January, the new songs were beginning to take shape, but when the album versions were released, the positive developments were striking. On Friday at Cameo Gallery, The War On Drugs performed a superb ninety-minute set that consisted primarily of Slave Ambient material — eight of the album’s twelve songs were played. Of the new songs, the second-slotted “Baby Missiles” was particularly tight and focused and we’re streaming it below. Other highlights included the jammed transition from “It’s Your Destiny” into “I Was There”, and the eighteen-minute encore of “A Needle In Your Eye #16” with an extended guitar and sampled-driven ambient jam. The War On Drugs will be touring throughout the Fall. While they are on a current East and Midwest swing, they will tour Europe in September, and return to the US in October.
I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones mounted in the center of the room in front of the soundboard booth and raised to 12 feet. The room mics were mixed with a mono board feed to accentuate the vocals, and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!
Stream “Baby Missiles”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W1008WOD2101/02.%20Baby%20Missiles.mp3]
This Recording is now available to Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].
The War On Drugs
2011-08-19
Cameo Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-08-22
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:26:47]
01 Best Night
02 Baby Missiles
03 [banter]
04 Comin Through
05 Your Love Is Calling My Name
06 Come To The City
07 [banter2]
08 Brothers
09 It’s Your Destiny
10 I Was There
11 Arms Like Boulders
12 [banter3]
13 Black Water Falls
14 [banter4]
15 Buenos Aires Beach
16 [encore break]
17 A Needle In Your Eye No 16
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The War On Drugs, visit their website, and purchase their new album Slave Ambient from Secretly Canadian Records [HERE].
Wow, thanks for this! What a setlist…
A total jaw-dropper, this one.
Thanks a lot. This kills.