Repress of this album, which has been unavailable for a couple years now. Stars of the Lid from Austin, Texas are Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride (both guitars). They've released some of the purest records of late -- 'Music For Nitrous Oxide' to 'Per Aspera Ad Astra' on Kranky in 1998. Pure groovy droning ambience, these are tracks that think nothing of spending minutes between chord changes, but they are never boring; they pull you into such a hyper-alert hypnosis ? it's absolutely thrilling and a perfect resolution to the tension set up by previous minutes. With 'Avec Laudenum,' Stars of the Lid are at the summit of their art -- pure deep inside thrills, and more than just brilliant guitars and soundscapes -- with transcendental sounds aiming for a celestial serenity, liquid mass coerced by invisible forces, enormous washes of phosphorescent sound that pan through the murk like graceful leviathans.