Music for Nitrous Oxide

Music for Nitrous Oxide is the first studio album released by Stars of the Lid on Sedimental Records in 1995. The album features minimal, droning compositions of varying length. The press release from Sedimental Records read: “Sedimental announces the first CD from Austin drone stars Stars of the Lid, an amazing 4-track recording that is created in the spirit of Eno, Main and Spacemen 3. Produced without keyboards, this lo-fi ambient journey employs predominately [sic] guitar, avoiding typical rock elements while still possessing the ‘home’ recorded feel of so much independent music.”

In 2009 Sedimental Records released a remastered version featuring updated artwork by Craig McCaffrey.

Adamord features an excerpt of a letter written by Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Lois W., addressed to her husband. It also incorporates a main sample of the electricity bolts blasting taken from the Lynch/Frost Productions screen that would run at the end of each episode of the American television series Twin Peaks.

Track four features an audio clip of Brent Spiner from the seventh season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Force of Nature". Spiner's character Data is shown attempting to train his cat Spot not to jump onto his keyboard while he is working. Track four also contains an unknown Christian radio broadcast and snippet of Chopin's Prelude Op.28, No.7.

Track five features a clip from the film Apocalypse Now during which Frederic Forrest's character Jay 'Chef' Hicks suffers a nervous breakdown aboard a boat after encountering a tiger in the Cambodian jungle. This clip is interspersed with one of an unknown sci-fi program discussing extraterrestrials.

Track seven features an audio clip of C.H. Evans who played Jack in Hap's Diner, in David Lynch's film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Evans' line is: "Now, her name is Irene and it is night. Don't go any further with it. There's nothin' good about it."

Recording
Most of the album was recorded on a Yamaha MT120 4-Track cassette recorder. However, track nine was recorded on a Revox A77 2-track reel-to-reel recorder, and track 6 was recorded to DAT tape from their first live performance in Spring of 1994.

Track listing

 * 1) “Before Top Dead Center” – 5:25
 * 2) “Adamord” – 11:51
 * 3) “Madison” – 9:24
 * 4) “Down” – 6:34
 * 5) “Lagging” – 3:58
 * 6) “(Live) Lid” – 9:48
 * 7) “Tape Hiss Makes Me Happy” – 13:05
 * 8) “The Swell Song” – 9:24
 * 9) “Goodnight” – 7:02