Altered Zones

Last week, Dad christened The War on Drug's Slave Ambient with a fat Best New Music seal of approval. If you've had the chance to dive into their latest, you undoubtedly picked up on the dueling dichotomy within principle sound artisan Adam Granduciel-- namely his affinity for both stadium-ready fist pumpers and engrossing galactic ambience. The version of Slave Ambient that dropped last week skews toward the former. To allow the group's experimental tendencies more breathing room, Slave Ambient is receiving a complementary second release in the coming weeks on (appropriately) shiny red cassette. Side 2 features six new freeform movements that strip away the bombast, revealing the sonic aquifer of fluid drones, synth explorations, and celestial textures that flows underneath. Version one of Slave Ambient was made for speeding down the road windows down; the cassette version was made for the long ascent up the space elevator. --Kenny Bloggins, The Decibel Tolls

MP3: The War on Drugs: "Snake Tongues"

The limited edition cassette version of Slave Ambient is available for pre-order now at Mirror Universe Tapes