On the heels of The National’s Homecoming festival lineup announcement, the band has released a mini-documentary entitled Juicy Sonic Magic, directed by David DuBois.

According to a press release, the new film “tells the story of late, great concert taper Mike ‘The Mike’ Millard,” who became well-known for his high-quality bootleg tapes of artists such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan.

Along with the mini-doc, The National also unveiled their Black Friday Record Store Day release: The National: Juicy Sonic Magic, Live in Berkeley, September 24-25, 2018. The three-cassette box set was recorded by Erik Flannigan, who attempted to recreate Mike Millard’s taping methods..

“The National was kind enough to let us test the Millard Method for two concerts at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California last September,” explains Flannigan. “These live recordings were made with vintage AKG 451E microphones and a restored Nakamichi 550 cassette deck which are identical to those used by Millard circa 1975-81. The idea was to see if we could recreate what Matt Berninger calls the ‘juicy sonic magic’ Millard captured in his 1970s field recordings.”

Check out The National’s mini-doc below, and to find a place to purchase the box set, visit recordstoreday.com.