The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Two hours of drones made by mail, which sold slowly, then by word of mouth, and became an ambient landmark.
Stars of the Lid, 2001
- Released
- 29 October 2001
- Studio
- Home recordings, Chicago and Austin
- Label
- Kranky
- Length
- 123:54
Play on hypersongs (1)Play on hypersongs (2)
Conceived from the start as a three-LP record and issued as a double CD in a three-part gatefold sleeve, it was made at home in Chicago and Austin with samplers, an Akai MPC 2000 for Wiltzie and an Ensoniq ASR-10 for McBride, and DAT tapes sent through the post. All songs are credited to Lid Music.
Pitchfork gave it 8.6, AllMusic 4.5 of 5 and Drowned in Sound ten out of ten. The Austin Chronicle heard a grand plateau of elegance and purity. PopMatters dissented, calling it the most boring album its reviewer had ever heard. Pitchfork later ranked it sixth among the best ambient albums of all time and 187th among albums of the 2000s, and HHV set it beside Fennesz's Endless Summer, Basinski's Disintegration Loops and Gas's Pop as one of the ambient landmarks of the turn of the millennium. Kranky reissued it on three LPs in 2015.
Track listing
- Requiem for Dying Mothers, Part 16:36
- Requiem for Dying Mothers, Part 27:37
- Down 35:46
- Austin Texas Mental Hospital, Part 12:48
- Austin Texas Mental Hospital, Part 212:18
- Austin Texas Mental Hospital, Part 35:47
- Broken Harbors, Part 13:31
- Broken Harbors, Part 26:47
- Broken Harbors, Part 39:16
- Mullholland6:48
- The Lonely People (Are Getting Lonelier)10:07
- Gasfarming3:20
- Piano Aquieu10:54
- Fac 213:08
- Ballad of Distances, Part 13:36
- Ballad of Distances, Part 23:00
- A Lovesong (For Cubs) +, Part 16:45
- A Lovesong (For Cubs) +, Part 28:05
- A Lovesong (For Cubs) +, Part 37:45
Personnel
- Adam Wiltzie composition, recording
- Brian McBride composition, recording
- Sara Nelson cello
- Craig McCaffrey artwork
- Pieter De Wagter contributor
More from Stars of the Lid
And Their Refinement of the Decline (2007)
Sources
- The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, Wikipedia
- Records Revisited: The Tired Sounds Of, HHV Mag (2021)
- The Tired Sounds Of, Bandcamp
- Phases and Stages: Stars of the Lid, The Austin Chronicle (2001-11-30)