Stars of the Lid: Music for Nitrous Oxide (30 Year Anniversary Remastered)

"Something Stars of the Lid were already very good at in this nascent stage was making drones that had an uncanny animation, as if their tracks were creatures and you could sense the life moving through them. The opening "Before Top Dead Center" is a darkly brooding piece of gently throbbing guitar feedback, and the swaying modulations suggest respiration, as if we're watching the coiled potential of a giant reptile as it sleeps."

""Adamord" is where the LP introduces McBride's eerie remnants of sound. We hear what seems to be an elderly woman talking about the difficulty of facing the day with a broken heart, and with this the piece slides into a metallic knock, spirals of hiss, and pulsing sections of feedback. At times, when we hear a fluttering oscillator, we sense the music's distant but crucial connection to rock."

""Madison" is one of several tracks that allow you to hear what Stars of the Lid would become after refining their sound and inching toward modern classical. It has a symphonic bearing that pre-dates Eno and ambient music, a swirl of string-like tones that brings to mind the slowly gathering power of the prelude of Wagner's Das Rheingold, with slow-motion splashes of cymbals and bows pulled across strings that feel like clumps of earth sliding down the side of a mountain."

Stars of the Lid produce drones with uncanny animation, making the tracks feel like living creatures. "Before Top Dead Center" uses gently throbbing guitar feedback and swaying modulations that suggest respiration. "Adamord" introduces eerie sonic remnants, including a sampled elderly woman, metallic knocks, spirals of hiss, and pulsing feedback that retain a distant connection to rock via fluttering oscillators. "Madison" presents a symphonic, string-like swirl that anticipates modern classical ambient, evoking slow-gathering prelude power and earthy, slow-motion textures. "Down" juxtaposes found dialogue and preacher recordings before moving into an impossibly gorgeous musical passage.

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