Slave Ambient

[noddin0ff]

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

Been listening a lot to this one and thought it deserved special mention. The only mention of it I see on the boards is jonnyhambones' here. Doesn't quite have any song you can point to as a hit but rather the whole album comes together in a stellar way. When I first listened I thought immediately of The Cure - Disintegration crossed with an early The Feelies album when they were channeling the Velvet Underground. Throw in a little Bruce Springsteen when he's good. Disk is only $9 on Amazon

It will be one of my top albums for the year.

[Rae]

Hmm, a lot of folks have been talking about this so I guess it's time for me to check it out... up to this point, I've only thought of this band as "that band Kurt Vile used to be in"...

~Rae

[noddin0ff]

Just goes to show how un-hip I am as to who's who. I don't know who Kurt Vile is. :-)

[Rae]

Oh wow, you should check him out! One of my most-listened-to artists over the past 12 months. He was in an early lineup of War On Drugs before splitting off with his own band The Violators. I like all of his records but Childish Prodigy is probably my favorite. Anything before that (Constant Hitmaker and various EPs) is a little more lo-fi... I don't want to say half-formed, but more playing around with ideas and sounds like early Ted Leo or GBV. Childish Prodigy and the new one, Smoke Ring For My Halo, have fully realized songs. I prefer the phasy production on Childish Prodigy and I think the songs are better but maybe that's just because I came to it first.

Sample it here maybe? And if you like it buy it?

~Rae

[jonnyhambone]

good advice being slung here. I also love the last couple Kurt Vile albums - new one is pretty special and they even sorta blew away Thurston Moore when they opened for him here this summer. that's some props! I also Really love the new War On Drugs...prob. quite a bit more than Kurt Vile, or at least see myself spinning it more often. Actually, his imprint on the band is still strong and often, I'm surprised that he's not behind this release 'cause it sure sounds Vile-y. Can't miss if you check out any of these imo.

[Swish]

Oh wow, you should check him out! One of my most-listened-to artists over the past 12 months. He was in an early lineup of War On Drugs before splitting off with his own band The Violators. I like all of his records but Childish Prodigy is probably my favorite. Anything before that (Constant Hitmaker and various EPs) is a little more lo-fi... I don't want to say half-formed, but more playing around with ideas and sounds like early Ted Leo or GBV. Childish Prodigy and the new one, Smoke Ring For My Halo, have fully realized songs. I prefer the phasy production on Childish Prodigy and I think the songs are better but maybe that's just because I came to it first.

Sample it here maybe? And if you like it buy it?

~Rae

As is usually the case with opening acts, the sound sucked and most of the Pavement crowd never heard of the guy, and he's from Philly! There was just too much commotion with people milling around, drinking beer and preparing for Pavement, so you couldn't appreciate what Kurt was doing.

[noddin0ff]

Oh wow, you should check him out! One of my most-listened-to artists over the past 12 months. He was in an early lineup of War On Drugs before splitting off with his own band The Violators. I like all of his records but Childish Prodigy is probably my favorite. Anything before that (Constant Hitmaker and various EPs) is a little more lo-fi... I don't want to say half-formed, but more playing around with ideas and sounds like early Ted Leo or GBV. Childish Prodigy and the new one, Smoke Ring For My Halo, have fully realized songs. I prefer the phasy production on Childish Prodigy and I think the songs are better but maybe that's just because I came to it first.

Sample it here maybe? And if you like it buy it?

~Rae

Thanks, Rae. I'll look into those. Never have gotten torrents running on my systems but I'll see what I can do. Appreciate the suggestions!

[Rae]

Yeah, that particular one is pretty dead, actually, so don't go through too much trouble. Lots of DLs available of that record with a cursory Google search but I couldn't find any other links that were lossless.

Seriously, thought, the "Dead Alive"-"Overnite Religion"-"Freak Train"-"Blackberry Song" stretch of that record rules so hard... and "Heart Attack" on the B Side is a total anthem, probably my favorite song of his.

~Rae