Customer Reviews

The Dead Texan

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having heard a bit of a teaser in the form of a single song on the recent Kranky Kompilation 2cd set, I knew that this was going to be an amazing album. Stars of the Lid have put out some amazing drone music over the past decade, but I have to say that the Dead Texan is better than anything SOTL have ever released...even Tired Sounds.

What you'll find on this disc is incredibly hypnotic, soothing, beautiful music. This album is fantastic to fall asleep to, to read to, to do the dishes to. The bonus dvd is also a huge added bonus...it really pulled me in, making me loose track of time and before I knew it, the thing was over and I wondered how the hell I got on the couch.

This is a must for Kranky fans and drone fans

There is an obvious Brian Eno/ Harold Budd influence here, but I have to say that the efforts of "The Dead Texan" (and "Stars of the Lid" their other project) are even superior to the work of their predecessors'. The music gives the impression of vast tracts of empty savannah, mist-enveloped foot hills, and torrential rainfall. It is lightly punctuated with human voices and sound effects (rain, footsteps, etc.) and true to the ambient form, it emphasizes the space around the music as much as the music itself. Ideal listening involves a good stereo system in a large room.

The DVD contains music videos and various works of art from Christina Vanzos. The selection "Aegina Airlines" is especially good. Christina's art is almost minimalist, and blends well with the music.

There is nothing "overproduced", noisy, or chaotic about this album. It is dreamy and precise. A terrific accomplishment.

This album got me on an ambient kick, picking up a bunch of Labradford, SOTL, etc., but so far it beats them all hands-down. It's not ambient in the same way the others are: it's not drony and all the samples aren't super-paddy. He uses bright piano samples, vocal samples, there's a rhythm (albeit a gentle, meandering one) to the songs, and while the album flows together well as a whole, the songs are all distinct.

Plus, the album comes with a DVD! Normally I never watch those things, some music video or concert footage or whatever, but I just happened to pop this one in on a lark, and it has music videos for, I think, the whole album. Or anyway quite a few of the songs. And the music videos are really peaceful and beautiful in the same way as the music. I left them looping on my television while I worked and kept the DVD out as one I'll play again.

I've listened to this album a *lot* in the past couple months since I got it, and it hasn't gotten old at all, yet, long after I'd expected to be tired of it.

Fans of Stars of the Lid have probably already picked this one up and won't be disappointed. The familiar drone is here, along with scattered vocals and instruments. Also included is a DVD containing videos of several of the tracks - some are very good and the best give a whole new dimension to the music.

"Chronicles of Early Failure Part 2" is rapidly becoming one of my favorite ambient tracks of all time. A top release from our friends at Kranky records.

This is one hell of an album. The Dead Texan shapes sounds and hums in a manner which leaves you wondering whether to smile, cry, or curl up into fetal position and sleep forever. Listening to this album I find myself struggling earnestly to translate some of the sounds floating underneath the surface of the thick chord progressions. Whatever they may be, they are orchestrated in a manner which will leave you breathless and wanting more. Four stars solid.
PS - The dvd sequences are incredible. Eat a special brownie and go to town.

This album is an astoundingly beautiful artistic creation. I consider myself lucky that I came across this self-titled album by "The Dead Texan". I was listening to the drone zone station on soma fm a few months back where they started playing the track "Girth Rides a (Horse)+". I was instantly hooked. This is the kind of music that sets you on a journey. Something that keeps you awake until 3 am in the morning while you search for the answers to life's questions, and probably end up finding them too. Something that gives you the same kind of feeling that you get while driving alone hundreds of miles on the desert under the red and dark clouds of the New Mexico skies. It is surprising to see how this music paints almost the same kind of pictures in most listeners' mind. But that's just how much magical it is. Everything from the band name to its music, track names, album art and videos speak volumes about the originality and creativity of "The Dead Texan". All the eleven tracks in the album are beautiful, but "Girth Rides a (Horse)+" still remains my favorite, closely followed by "A Chronicle of Early Failures" (both parts 1 and 2). The tracks are slow and droning, the mood is melancholic and most of them without any words. The music is quite experimental but at the same time, very pleasing to the ears. If you are a fan of ambient music and haven't listened to this album yet, you are missing something.

Listening to The Dead Texan is equivalent to being transported to a place beyond time, where nobody has ever been... like a walk in the desert, as stated in the YouTube page for the video of "Aegina Airlines", one of the most special tracks in the album: http[...]

Indeed, the inflences of the masters of ambient and minimalism, Brian Eno and Harold Budd can be heard here, but so can other elements from post-rock bands such as Sigur Ros and Labradford. The end result, regardless of the musical infusions from other places is exquisite, yielding a drone sound that you will find hypnotizing at the very least.

If you enjoy The Dead Texan, I would strongly recommend you check out Hammock's and Robin Guthrie's work too.

The Dead Texan is an audio/visual release with Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid) as the musical side and Christina Vantzos as the visual artist. Unfortunately, I only have the audio side of the project and will be commenting on that for the time being. If I obtain the visual side, I will make an effort to edit my review to include it as well. Wiltzie brings to the table the floating clouds of Stars of the Lid and makes breathtaking soundscapes and gorgeous, moving pieces. Moving through lush keyboard and acoustic accents, Wiltzie takes his listener on a tour of things beautiful and sublime.

This self-titled disc starts off with "The Six Million Dollar Sandwich." The listener is immediately invited into the lushness of Wiltzie's musical brush strokes. Piano floats on top of cloud-like keys. Shimmering guitar enters the mix and reminds me of a beautiful sunset in the middle of the New Mexico desert, with the color of the red clay blending with the sun's last moments in sight. Wiltzie's vocals make a rare appearance on this track towards its finish. The vocals are a tad eerie, with a staccato type of feel. With the sun having gone out of site, the earth rotates into the view of the starry night with "Glen's Goo." Ok, the title of the song doesn't evoke vast scenes of the Milky Way, but it sure does emote that for me as I sit and feel the reverberating synths. The sound is atmospheric, lucid, and soothing. This leads the listener into "A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 1." This track begins with a somber tone and leads into louder strumming of an acoustic guitar. This calms down and the synths hum to life and, perhaps, call the listener to contemplation. Perhaps I am influenced by the title of the song, as I think I should be, but it seems there is a sense of regret in the sounds of this track. The song is powerfully emotive: still, yet unsettled. "A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 2" starts with wind sounds, an almost growling, and some clicks. There are two senses I get from this song. Either, there is something ominous on the horizon or The Texan is inviting the listener to an awakening. The sounds eventually disappear and Wiltzie floats a hopeful listener on clouds of warm sounds. His musical brush strokes are deep and broad, creating gorgeous movements throughout his pieces.

"Taco de Macque" begins with sounds of refreshing rain and a sample saying "I feel sorry for you kid." There is slow piano and melancholy synth. This is one of those tracks that one "sits in," if you know what I mean. "Aegina Airlines" starts with soft piano and moves into shimmering sounds that move around the piano work. The sounds are angelic and the voices in the keys really speak to the listener. "When I See Scissors I Can't Help but Think of You" is dreamy with a beautiful piano melody and breathing synths. "Girth Rides a Horse" is a short track with swirling sounds and humming, reverberating keys. The build in this song is a bit more prevalent and the volume goes up a bit as the track progresses. This fades into the night sky as the keys dwindle down to a small swirl of sound and then silence.

"La Ballade d'Alain Georges" has a very slow, plodding feel that lies upon the hum of a drone. This grows into a throbbing, ethereal rise of keys. Some backwards sound eventually join the mix as it builds slowly and patiently. The track is emotive, peaceful, and altogether moving. This is the longest track on the disc and it really shows Wiltzie's ability to be patient in composition and really allow the music and soundscapes to take the listener somewhere. "Beatrice Part 2" floats along into the air of the room. It is lush and spacious. This has a darker feel to it, but not so much depressing as beautiful. Kind of like the dark beauty of the sea or night sky. Eventually, violin type sounds come into play and the drone floats among the staccato of the strings. Toward the end of the track, there is a moment of slide guitar that washes in and out of the mix. The album ends with "The Struggle." Voices intermix with backward sounds as the track begins and they fade to simple, subdued keys. There is what I might call a guitar hook playing a melody over the keys that is rather awesome. Perhaps the struggle here is between the power of the keys and that of the melody fighting for prominence in the mix. This fades into waves of warm guitar and keys and they blend together and stop fighting one another. By the end of the song, there are vocals by Wiltzie and a female vocalist. They are bright and beautiful and sing, "Every time we ask now why are we going so fast we had better stay awake cause the sun cannot last." It seems that the slow patience of the music invites the listener to take a look around and step out of our fast-paced lives.

The Dead Texan is a beautiful project. Wiltzie has outdone himself and has proven once again that he is an ambient master. His soundscapes are lush, lucid, floating and breath taking. I can't wait to see the visuals!

Beautiful first solo release.

But put it beside his comrade in arms Brian McBride's solo debut 'When the Detail Lost It's Freedom' it falls short. Both SOTL members went off and crafted solo albums in the time-out post Tired Sounds and it turned out both their respective releases harked back to SOTL roots, like babies lost temporarily from their mother in the wood.

But with very distinct differences between both. McBride went for a more scaled down approach, with sparse melodies and textures, and space space space. Wiltzie here fills all space with sound, and texture, some of it unwanted.

I'm all about atmosphere, and I tend to forgive a lot when it comes to this type of music anyway, but I found some of his sampling extraneous and meaningless, almost as if compensating for lack of better composition. Some tracks , such as 'a chronicle of early failures pt. 1', 'when i see scissors', +'taco me manque' meander, but to no avail or to no end. These tracks barely keep me interested, and come across as just 'trying too hard'. In these few cases, the shiny gloss covering the surface of each track tends to fade a little bit, and you can see the hardware underneath. And with music like this, I don't want to be able to see the hardware underneath!

That said, the meaninglessness fat of the album is forgiven, as there is nothing unlistenable or abrasive to be found here to deter us from the singular goal of the artist to lull us into hypnogogic trance and put us all to sleep. But he doesn't kill us. Wiltize keeps the pulse going just enough to sustain ourselves until the album is over - but presumably, we lost 'the struggle' and are now all dead, or sleeping.