Stars of the Lid: “Down 3” (The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, Kranky 2001)

For at least a full year, my roommate at the time and I would crank SOTL’s Tired Sounds album on high volume to help fall asleep (we shared an open loft storefront near a busy street in Chicago at the time). As a result, there is indeed something drowsy about hearing these tracks now, though I no longer use it as a sleep aid but rather reveling in its ambient splendor. “Down 3” is a bit of an odd man out on the double-album, but it’s no less great. One of my favorite albums of all time.