Stars Of The Lid - The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid (Kranky, 2001)

1-01 Requiem For Dying Mothers, Part 1 (6:37)
1-02 Requiem For Dying Mothers, Part 2 (7:37)
1-03 Down 3 (5:46)
1-04 Austin Texas Mental Hospital, Part 1 (2:48)
1-05 Austin Texas Mental Hospital, Part 2 (12:18)
1-06 Austin Texas Mental Hospital, Part 3 (5:47)
1-07 Broken Harbors, Part 1 (3:31)
1-08 Broken Harbors, Part 2 (6:47)
1-09 Broken Harbors, Part 3 (9:16)
2-01 Mullholland (6:49)
2-02 The Lonely People (Are Getting Lonelier) (10:05)
2-03 Gasfarming (3:18)
2-04 Piano Aquieu (10:56)
2-05 Fac 21 (3:08)
2-06 Ballad Of Distances, Part 1 (3:36)
2-07 Ballad Of Distances, Part 2 (3:00)
2-08 A Lovesong (For Cubs)+, Part 1 (6:45)
2-09 A Lovesong (For Cubs)+, Part 2 (8:05)
2-10 A Lovesong (For Cubs)+, Part 3 (7:45)

The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid" consiste en deux CDs de musique qu’on pourrait décrire comme "musique drone acoustique", c’est à dire qu’elle est basée sur des sons continus et fantômatiques, à l’évolution complexe et souvent imperceptible. OK c’est compliqué, mais il faut dire que "The tired sounds of..." est un disque inclassable et novateur. Le groupe a franchi un cap depuis "Avec Landenum", grâce à l’introduction d’instruments à cordes (violons et autres) qui sont du plus bel effet, tout en restant minimaliste dans l’âme. Ces chansons ne sont pas construites selon les schémas classiques, elles n’ont pas vraiment de début ni de fin. "Requiem For dying Mothers" part 1 et 2 ouvrent ce disque de superbe manière. Les interactions entre les différents instruments à cordes sont d’une grâce infinie et créent une ambiance apaisante. La deuxième oeuvre du premier CD, "Austin Texas Mental Hospital", en trois parties, est plus sombre, et un peu trop chargée, car le côté répétitif se fait sentir sur les 12 minutes que compte la seconde partie. "Broken Harbours" (part 1 à 3) est plus proche des sons utilisés sur "Avec Laudenum".

Le second disque est magnifique et commence très fort, avec "Mullholland" et "The Lonely People", qui sont d’une beauté indicible. Les sons utilisés sont aussi légers que l’air, une caresse pour les oreilles. "Piano Aquieu" commence par quelques notes de piano floues, dont l’écho se transforme en d’autres sons venus d’ailleurs. La progression de la musique est fantastique, un véritable voyage. La réverbération du son crée une atmosphère onirique. "Fac 21", entièrement composée avec des instruments à cordes, capture peut-être les moments les plus émouvants et les plus sublimes de ce disque. "A lovesong" (part 1 à 3) termine ce voyage en beauté et en douceur. "The Tired Sounds of Star of the Lid" est une oeuvre majeure, indispensable pour les amateurs de rêve éveillé, une musique qu’il faut prendre le temps d’écouter, les deux disques à prendre sur son île déserte.
Musique-Chroniques

Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid have traveled far in the six years since their debut, 1995's Music for Nitrous Oxide. But. They. Continue. To. Move. Very. Slowly. That promising first record combined crude guitar feedback with some snippets of religious radio programming that the band captured in their home state of Texas. It was all likely laid down on a four-track in some living room arranged around a double-barreled bong. Music for Nitrous Oxide was a noble and affecting work of home recording, showing that the DIY aesthetic could be incorporated into experimental drone music just as easily as guitar-based pop.

But The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid finds these guys fully harnessing the power of the studio, with striking results. Strings and horns are all over this record, and the richer palate gives the drones added weight and depth. In 1989, new music pioneer Pauline Oliveros recorded an amazing album called Deep Listening inside a 2,000,000-gallon steel tank, and the feel of The Tired Sounds is similar. Like the Oliveros record, the listener is meant to focus attention on the subtle build and decay inside these layered drones. Slight breaks in harmony between a violin and a shard of guitar feedback carry serious emotional weight. The half-second decay of a breathless French horn resonates like a perfect chord change. Silence becomes another instrument.

The Tired Sounds is an exceptionally long album-- two CDs or three LPs-- with six multi-part suites over the course of about two hours. If this were the latest collection of 2Pac rarities, we'd be talking serious sonic overkill, but music that evolves this slowly needs plenty of time to stretch out. Hence, nothing about this lengthy album feels at all bloated or extraneous.

The first three-part piece bears the jaunty title "Requiem for Dying Mothers," and the music itself is fitting. Thick cello harmonies weave between guitar drones that have a bright, almost Celtic quality. Changes are paid out slowly over the course of close to seven minutes, until the track opens up in its second part, introducing periods of silence and deep, foreboding bass pedals. Eventually, the band's penchant for field recording rears its head, as the 20-minute "Requiem" transforms into a gothic piece, with spare piano and unnamable radio transmissions.

"Austin Texas Mental Hospital" keeps the party going over the next 20 minutes, as guitar feedback and a larger orchestra modulate between two chords, rocking back and forth slowly like a self-stimming resident of the facility that gives the piece its name. The second part of the track reminds me of the Peter Gabriel soundtrack to Birdy, with hints of mechanical breathing interspersed with throbbing bass tones and a hanging drone in the middle register.

The second disc has a relatively lighter tone, with more space around the instruments, more keyboards, and less guitar feedback. "Mullholland" seems like it could be an audition tape for the forthcoming David Lynch film of a similar name, glowing with menace like a freshly waxed, cherry-red vanity ride. "Piano Aquieu," though, is the real find on this disc-- a minimal piece for treated keyboards, piano and organ, with a yearning melody and a half-hearted promise of redemption.

The strings return in force on "Fac 21," joining in a thick, Youngian drone. The piano-based "Ballad of Distances" recalls Labradford as heard through the ventilation shaft at Alcatraz, and the three-part "A Lovesong (For Cubs)" incorporates horns and cellos for a more conventional, but no less affecting sound.

With each record, Stars of the Lid seem to assess what tools are at their disposal and then set about seeing how they can maximize the result. Their continued explorations into more varied instrumentation and richer sonics are a smashing success. Still, in their crowded field, it's hard to say exactly what makes Stars of the Lid so special. It comes to mind that their relentless commitment to subtlety sets them apart, as does their masterful hand with tone. Throughout The Tired Sounds, dissonance is doled out in small portions, perfectly coloring the sculpted fields of sound.

Pitchforkmedia

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Growing - The Sky's Run Into The Sea (Kranky, 2003)

A A Painting
B1 Life In D
B2 Tepsije
C1 Cutting, Opening, Swimming
C2 Southern Wrights
D Pavement Rich In Gold

"Less is more" est une devise qui siérait particulièrement à Growing, nouveaux champions du dépouillement. C'est en effet seulement avec une basse, quelques guitares et samples que ce trio américain emplit l'espace sonore avec une ingéniosité hors du commun. Des plages de grondements de basse en boucle sont suivies de riffs étirés juste interrompus par un roulement de cymbale qui disparaît comme il est venu. Les mouvements sont extrêmement lents, laissent aux différentes pistes le temps de s'installer sans confusion et approchent parfois l'univers ambiant que développait Brian Eno. Ce ballet de motifs épurés voire simples a priori recèle d'instants magiques et surprenants. Ainsi en est-il du premier mouvement de Life in D, amorcé par une plage d'orgue à laquelle se superpose une guitare électrique dissonante, puis une seconde, plus sourde, qui vrombit progressivement jusqu'à couvrir l'ensemble. La cymbale ressurgit et c'est alors le spectre de Sonic Youth sous sédatif qui apparaît sur Tepsije et Cuting, Opening, Swimming. Entre doom et drone-noise, Growing offre, avec ce quasi instrumental "The Sky's Run Into the Sea", un monolithe fascinant.
Prémonition

Olympia, Washington trio Growing offer no remedy for what befalls me, but what they possess can only inspire. On their debut album The Sky’s Run Into the Sea, the trio relies on guitar, bass and electronics to create something that defies words, categorization and listener apathy. In six tracks lasting just under an hour, the group creates wave upon wave of noise and drones, comparable to Sunn O))), but equally reminiscent of the ambient mysticism of Fripp & Eno. For a moment the group takes a guitar lick worthy of Randy Rhodes’ devil horns, only to distill it to its bare acoustic essence. Rows and rows of cymbals cascade against each other to levels of uncharted edginess; guitars crash with drums like whales jumping waves in the Atlantic.

Full of limitless grace, the group’s use of panoramic harmonies, crushing dynamics, and a well-controlled sense of space is an aural skip-bomb sending humdrum indie-sally’s back to their bedrooms. While some may be quick to point out Growing’s predilection for “doom metal”, the group isn’t necessarily high on fire (earth and wind, maybe). But with nary an ironic half-gesture to be found, the group’s debut is the most original piece of wax to drop in a very long time…even if they do blatantly reference the Beatles for a minute.
Dusted Review

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Lichens - Omns (Kranky, 2007)

1 Vever Of Agassou (4:57)
2 Faeries (8:19)
3 Bune (8:46)
4 M st r ng W tchcr ft L v ng n Sp r t (18:41)
5 Sighns (2:27)

Après le réussi The Psychic Nature Of Being, le projet Lichens de Rob Lowe (par ailleurs membre de 90 Day Men) présente un nouveau disque, Omns, qui s’accompagne d’un DVD. Sur ce dernier, on retrouve une performance (guitares et pédales) de Lichens à l’Empty Bottle de Chicago : une sorte de western semi-silencieux, pénétré, long de 28 minutes. Entrecoupé de quelques plans forestiers, on y voit Lichens y donner de la voix, légèrement filtrée, apportant un timbre toujours plus psyché-folk, dronique et bizarroïde, à ses longues complaintes de guitare. L’album en lui-même n’est pas bien loin. Il est constitué de cinq longs titres qui reprennent les choses là où son prédécesseur les avait laissées : la musique de Lichens, improvisée à souhait, prend la forme d’un millefeuille de guitare, piano, percussions et chant. Follement psychédélique mais avec un côté parfois un peu malade, pas toujours rassurant, Omns évoque les grands espaces américains, la guitare d’Hendrix, les cheveux longs ondulant sous le vent et les forets (encore).
Autres Directions

Rob Lowe, bassist and vocalist for the 90 Day Men, ex-TV On the Radio collaborator and general good sport is something of a spiritual soul. Of course, I don't actually know the feller, but after listening to 'Omns' there's no doubt in my mind that he is on a different universal plane than the rest of us. There are some records you listen to which make you think that they're made in a bubble, out of time if you will, and "Omns" is one of them. The key is likely in the simplicity, the music of Lichens is unfussy and desperately uncomplicated, maybe it's just a voice or a plucked bass guitar but that's all you need, and the space created by this is hypnotic. A good reference point would probably be Akira Rabelais' absolutely stunning album 'Spellewauerynsherde', an album which had a similarly ghostly treatment of vocals. However where Rabelais used samples Lowe uses his own voice and engages with the music on a simply devastating spiritual level. Curl upon curl of wordless murmurs erupt like fountains of blue smoke and are accompanied by ethereal string plucks and waterlogged gurgles. This is music to accompany you to the other side - get rid of your spirit guide, with Lowe's hums and whispers you should have no trouble crossing over, it grabs hold of you and lets you think - this is the power of measured simplicity. Also included in the package is a DVD of a live performance, showing you Lowe's absolute engagement with the music as he falls into a near-trance of improvisation. Fans of the Nonesuch Explorer series of World Music releases or more recently Grouper simply need to check this out without delay. Breathtaking.
Boomkat

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Chihei Hatakeyama - Minima Moralia (Kranky, 2006)

Bonfire On The Field (8:13)
Swaying Curtain In The Window (8:25)
Starlight Reflecting On The Surface Of The River (7:00)
Towards A Tranquil Marsh (4:46)
Granular Haze (7:21)
Inside Of The Pocket (4:31)
Beside A Well (11:30)

Whilst we all suckle from the white-plastic aural teet of our iPods, wouldn't it be cool if life was given an actual-factual soundtrack? If it was 'Minima Moralia' from Chihei Hatakeyama would be a shoe-in for frosty mornings.... Guranteed! As one half of electronic duo Opitope, Tokyo-based Hatakeyama certainly knows his way around a laptop - yet rather than fashion a digitalis off-shoot, 'Minima Moralia' chooses to eschew the silicon palate and focus instead on a collation of highly textured and instantly identifiable sounds. At its most simple 'Minima Moralia' is the noise of guitar and vibraphone fed through a laptop and given a makeover by Hatakeyama. At its most emotional 'Minima Moralia' is a gorgeous, life-affirming album that will have you living each day as if it were a snow-draped feature film. Or is that just us...? Flecked in glitter and with a velvet sound that can't help but seduce the ears, Hatakeyama opens through 'Bonfire On The Field'; wherein a cloud of diffused soundscape encroaches upon twinkling percussion and ill-defined field recordings, with the resultant eight minutes both joyfully anonymous and bursting with character. With the kind of fevered expectation that rightly greets any new addition to the Kranky catalogue, it'd be all too easy for albums like 'Minima Moralia' to buckle under the sky-high standards and crushing anticipation; yet rather than disappoint, Hatakeyama has crafted a bijou and lambent excursion in sound that will reward anyone who favours Baskinski, Lichens or Belong. Taken on their own, pieces like 'Swaying Curtain In The Window', 'Beside a Well' and 'Starlight Reflecting On The Surface of The River' are like a log-fire on a dark, cold night (we're thinking thoroughly welcoming and endlessly enchanting), yet indulge yourself in the album as a whole and you'll be submerged deep within it's mealy charm.

Boomkat

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Labradford - Labradford (Kranky, 1996)

1		Phantom Channel Crossing (4:43)
2		Midrange (6:29)
3		Pico (5:46)
4		The Cipher (3:12)
5		Lake Speed (6:47)
6		Scenic Recovery (4:52)
7		Battered (7:57)

This eponymously titled Labradford album was actually the group's third, and finds them in chillingly good form. The opening track, 'Phantom Channel Crossing' is a real hair-raiser, ushered in by the sound of rattling chains and shrill percussion. The typically atmospheric mini-epics the band became famous for are just around the corner though: just check out the luscious strings and ghostly organ on 'Mid-Range', or the stately, quasi-gothic textures of 'Lake Speed' for further details. Very, very beautiful indeed.

Boomkat

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The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan (Kranky, 2004)

The Six Million Dollar Sandwich
Glen's Goo
A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 1
A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 2
Taco de Macque
Aegina Airlines
When I See Scissors I Can't Help But Think of You
Girth Rides a (Horse)
La Ballade d'Alain Georges
Beatrice Part 2
The Struggle

I once asked a middle-aged composer I'd come to know-- one who writes fairly "difficult" art-music-- what she'd been listening to lately. Based on the complex theories behind her work, I figured she could introduce me to some crazy stuff. But she looked at me as though the question held little interest and said, "I don't know... Bach, mostly. And a lot of folk music. Some Pink Floyd." I was pretty surprised that, given the amount of mental effort her work asked of its listeners, she herself kept to music with such direct emotional power.

Still, it's an understandable inconsistency-- "cutting-edge" music isn't always synonymous with "inviting." No matter how much I dig Milton Babbitt, I'm more likely to put on Iron & Wine when I get home. The IDM/ambient sphere of artists and listeners has always had an underlying interest in marrying these extremes. (For example, Aphex Twin works at both the most abrasive and warm ends of the spectrum.) Many artists on the Kranky label are concerned with creating a synthesis of music that has "artistic" merit and that which remains inviting, and The Dead Texan is an album that achieves such a goal. It's a refined, original sound, but one that gives a listener more than it takes.

The Dead Texan is Adam Wiltzie, one half of Stars of the Lid, a band that has produced some of the best guitar-based ambient/drone music of the past 10 years. Rather than take the Fennesz or Keith Fullerton Whitman approach of mutating and splicing guitar tones, SOTL create reverberant drones through the expert manipulation of attack and decay. Wiltzie recorded the material for The Dead Texan while in Belgium and deemed it too "aggressive" for SOTL. And it is, though "aggressive" is a relative term when applied to music that sits upon the brink of consciousness.

Wiltzie doesn't depart dramatically from SOTL's most recent full-length, The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid; he employs similar two-chord repetitions, swells of stacked-fifths, and utilizes many of the same timbres-- swirling string-quartet drones and effects-laden piano. But as The Dead Texan, Wiltzie's music takes on a more composed quality. It cycles through complete chord progressions, allows steady rhythmic pulses, lets loose just a little bit of dissonance, and occasionally overlays vocals or an instrumental melody. His drones are accented with acoustic and slide guitars, as well as occasional samples and sine waves. While by no means traditional songs, the pieces of The Dead Texan thus feel at least like miniatures-- more manageable than SOTL's wide-open scapes, which can be devoid of reference points.

It's a wildly overused trope to describe dramatic instrumental music as "the soundtrack to ________" (e.g.: a rainy day, a lonely drive, an acid trip, a bear attack)-- the phrase is used to connote a sense of detachment engendered by such music, one that allows us to view our lives as a movie. But in this case, discussing the record's cinematic leanings is justified. Wiltzie has stated the influence of several film composers, and the title of his piece "La Ballade d'Alain Georges" namedrops an old French actor. More overtly, this release includes a DVD of videos for several of Wilzie's compositions-- all made by filmmaker Christina Vantzos. Her accompaniment for "Aegina Airlines" combines beautifully simple animation with abstract hues, representing the clarity of various musical elements through a literal "clarity" of imagistic presentation. Wiltzie shows himself increasingly drawn toward the world of film compositions-- a safe haven for modern composers who don't necessarily want to engage in "modern composition."

The vocal additions to "Glen's Goo" and "The Struggle" lend the songs a shoegaze tinge, recalling the hushed moments of Slowdive. In these spots, The Dead Texan's sense of cathedral-like reverence is balanced with extreme intimacy. Throughout, the attention to sound-quality and design is nearly as impressive as the music itself. Wiltzie has come quite far from his four-track recording days; The Dead Texan is an entirely enveloping album from a skilled craftsperson. Currently, he's working with Brian McBride on a new Stars of the Lid release, and with The Dead Texan as an indication, we should be very excited-- in a laid-back, barely conscious sort of way.

Liam Singer, October 25, 2004, Pitchfork

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