1. The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient

    Slave Ambient is a powerhouse of a record. Anyone who has heard preceding single Baby Missiles could expect that already. That song itself is the perfect road trip track - literally a driving track, you’ll find yourself accidentally up at 120mph without even noticing (imagine now the wise traffic cops cunningly using Shazam). It, and the rest of the album, manage to soak up American rock music from the 80s like Huey Lewis and the more obvious touchstone, Bruce Springsteen, and by splicing that with a foreground of shimmering guitars it sounds fresh. But what it sounds most like is: anthemic. And managing to achieve that despite the lack of significant singalongs or Arcade Fire-style vehemence, it is perhaps something of a micro-manifesto for rock in this decade; cultivated and powerful but with nothing to direct it at.

    • September 25, 2011 at 1:10am
    30 notes
    1. hotspotmusic posted this