Stars of the Lid

For some reason Jessica Balliff comes to mind as a kindred soul on Kranky. Both are great choices for long lonely road trips, I think.

stars of the lid on a road trip? i would fall asleep in 10 minutes.

i suggest you try it (with a passager in case you go under)

what it like?

fucking geniuses.

has mcbride done anything since tired sounds (other than playing upfront for fulham thati s. actually, isnt that mcbride a texan too?)

http://www.brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/discog/krank088.html

Are Stars of the Lid like that as well? If Gareth likes them, chances are I would, as well.

requiem for dying mothers part two is filling my room right now and sounds amazing

perhaps i am revealing my innocence, but i do not know what the name, "stars of the lid" refers to. do you?

i love the aegena airlines track from that (http://www.brainwashed.com/common/video/mov/the_dead_texan-aegina_airlines.mov), rest is good, but not essential

adam pacione 'sisyphus' (elevator bath)

very similar vary good

I thought of them yesterday when I heard Harold Budd & Eno's "The Pearl" for the first time, and it struck me as Dead Texan-esque.

Oh, really? Whoops. I knew that someone else did the artwork and the videos for the accompanying DVD, but I didn't know there was a musical collaborator.

"don't worry chief,
there is news and a new 2xcd 3xlp to come.

should be availible in march/april at the latest..."

I'm putting "Stars of the Lid Chief" on my business card, if I ever get one.

It's just plain odd, and quite possibly counterproductive, seeing SOTL at the top of the Metacritic list of albums of 2007. Kind of counter to their whole ethos.

it produces some pretty funny backlash comments though so i'm all for it

Robin C. gave it a 2:
This is a joke,right? These critics have such a wacky sense of humour.

Chris C gave it a 3:
Indie kids decided that the new vogue was a bunch of random tones slowly fading in and out? Why didn't they send me a memo?!

Hehheh.

Best:

Matt A. gave it a1:
This album licks my balls. It's even worse than The Field and so I guess it makes sense in an ironic way that it beats out that atrocity of an album for best of the year on this web site. The critics need to get a clue that they aren't proving anything by raving about this crap. It's aimless electronic nonsense and anyone with ears and half-decent taste in music can tell you that.

Interesting that this was revived, I finally got around to hearing this today. It was pleasant enough. Good ambient music. But top of the list?

xpost
Those comments are hilarious indeed.

I don't understand why it would be counter to their ethos? Unless you mean it's odd to rate it competitively. But it's always fun to read idiot comments.

ironically, this is probably their most "pop" record though in that there are clear melodies/passages in almost every track that stick out in my head and work as hooks, which didn't happen for me with most of tired sounds

it's a bit less minimal and more cinematic than any of their previous albums but i didn't really see anyone touch on this in any of the reviews linked from the metacritic page

I noticed those comments earlier. And chuckled briefly.

ironically, this is probably their most "pop" record though in that there are clear melodies/passages in almost every track that stick out in my head and work as hooks, which didn't happen for me with most of tired sounds

it's a bit less minimal and more cinematic than any of their previous albums but i didn't really see anyone touch on this in any of the reviews linked from the metacritic page

-- ciderpress, Sunday, 18 November 2007 23:18

I'd partially agree with that.. certainly the occasional track like 'Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxieme)' is markedly hooky by their standards.

i think my favorite part of that metacritic page is
GENRE(S): Rock, Electronic

So, it's become imperative that I buy either "Tired Sounds. . ." or "And Their Refinement of the Decline." Either way, Is there any consensus on which is better to get first? From what I gather the consensus says Tired sounds is more so, and I'm not too familiar with, and don't want to burden myself with the arduous task of actually deciding for myself. Or, is there not much difference?

start with tired sounds, yes.

*Should say "Not too familiar with "And Their Refinement. . ." I have, in fact, made my own decisions before.

tired sounds is more singular in tone to atrotd; atrotd goes for full-on widescreen euphoria, where tired sounds culminates with a series of endless blissed out drones. kinda like the difference between inner and outer space. both are some of the best music ever recorded imo so you need both really. even if you only start with one you'll get the other eventually.

going to watch them live on monday. gonna be sick.

I agree with the post above re: the singular tone vs widesceen thing, and that if you like the one you'll want the other eventually. Still, I'd say start with Tired Sounds, as it contains perhaps the greatest consecutive 15 minutes of music they've ever made - Requiem for Dying Mothers, Pts 1 and 2, which somehow manages to evoke the feeling of drifting around in North Atlantic coastal waves, or some impossibly long descent from the top of a tree as a falling leaf, or maybe just peaceful last breaths before dying, all without sounding nearly as gay as I just made it sound. And the rest of the album is nearly as good. Refinement goes for a more varied blissed out feeling, and succeeds, mostly, but if you dig the melancholy mood of Tired Sounds, you'll be obsessed.

i was really upset by those metacritic posts.

Of the next 5-10 cd's I buy, there's a good chance both will be included. It's honestly sometimes hard to fathom how much of an affect they can get out of so little, it's some of the most viscerally captivating and straightforward music I've heard in so long.

woohoo, live in Seattle at the Triple Door 4/18!!!
(with Christopher Willits and Lusine)

^^^ love it as much as SotL

Me too

Something appears to be happening

Sign up: https://t.co/BSmRdb16qs pic.twitter.com/y3Yj69zaJi

— Stars Of The Lid (@starsofthelid) April 25, 2025

Reissues?

Could be, although Wiltzie did say he was going to finish some unreleased music, and I don’t recognize the short audio clip attached to the tweet

audio sounds a bit like something from Gravitational Pull, but i’m not certain. looking forward to whatever it is

They were working on something for years… it would be great if Wiltzie was able to finish it.

Sorry to raise expectations and then trample on them, but can confirm this is definitely not new music. Sorry folks.

Saw a mention that the audio clip was from Adamord, on Music for Nitrous Oxide.

It's a reissue of Music for Nitrous Oxide, it seems:

https://starsofthelid.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-nitrous-oxide-30-year-anniversary-remastered-2

bummed that I’ll never again feel the thrill of seeing this thread bumped and thinking for the few seconds before I open this thread that there might be new material from these guys

I believe that if JonR345 can crush our hopes he can also make them a reality.

I wish I had your optimism

https://starsofthelid.bandcamp.com/album/edits-for-nitrous-oxide

1. Tape Hiss Makes Me Happy (Edit) - 2025 Remaster 02:31
2. Adamord (Edit) - 2025 remaster 02:23

"After listening to the remastered recording, I started to focus on a few sections of the pieces that I completely forgot about because they were almost lost in the length of the original tracks.

These edits can keep you cool in the summer months approaching, free of charge and can be a lovely crossfade somewhere in the depths of your playlists if you use the Bandcamp App…" – Adam Wiltzie

https://starsofthelidforever.com/

Oh that's great, thanks for sharing!

omg, that's incredible on many levels. the first thing i did was look to see if they have the one show i got to see, 9/22/15 at st agnes church. they do!

https://starsofthelidforever.com/shows/boiler-room-st-agnes-church-new-york-usa

also, on a muuuuuuuuuch more obscure level, i'm helping to start an archive of a local (amazing) performance space, and this website is giving me lofty dreams of what that could actually work

very cool

Fantastic - thanks!

[

I believe that if JonR345 can crush our hopes he can also make them a reality.

It's gonna happen. Not soon but it's gonna happen. Also, just great interview overall https://soundcloud.com/airpodcast/air-077-adam-wiltzie

I was surprised how gorgeous the site itself was, then just now saw it was designed by Jon Hicks who’s done great work for ages: https://hicks.design/journal/stars-of-the-lid-forever

i landed on "refinement of the decline" this morning after frantically trying to find something soothing and distracting to listen to in the background of a meeting wherein someone was annoying me.

i left it playing in my headphones and "december hunting" just hit like a ton of bricks, especially *that moment* at 8:40. and just generally i'm hearing and appreciating more details. something about how the sound is processed makes it really easy for "what is actually going on" to slip out of focus and you're just left with that tranquil and serene mood. not a bad thing, but the "what is actually going on" part is wonderful too.

i have a faint memory of ordering the "tired sounds" 2cd from a distro pretty soon after it was released, i think it was forced exposure, without having heard any mp3s or anything, not really knowing what to expect. and once it arrived it just immediately became a favorite, something i couldn't live without, especially on road trips. i had a yellow sony discman that matched the color of the album cover. the cover and the blue-gray cds were so pleasant to look at. i'm listening to it now on bandcamp for the first time in forever. there was a feeling i had at the time, that music was full of endless excitement and discovery, big open horizons-- i can still feel that today, and for that i am grateful.

What is interesting to me about SotL is how extremely different each record is in their approach. Refinement is great if I’m driving with somebody, Tired is when I’m driving alone

That's interesting! Just now, my impression is that "tired sounds" is a little more cheerful overall somehow? More plinky-plonky and fuzzy-nostalgic. Which is weird because "austin texas mental hospital" is still like staring at waves coming in on the ocean at night for 10 minutes. Maybe what used to seem morose to me now seems cheerful lol.

i think that maybe i prefer nitrous oxide to tired sounds at this point! i've been really loving it since the rerelease.

for me it’s Refinement>>>Nitrous>>>Tired Sounds

what about The Ballasted Orchestra? I feel like that one's reputation has diminished over time for some reason, but in my view it's as good as or better than Tired Sounds

the Ballasted Orchestra is too quiet for ne

me*

Refinement for me
(humblebrag: I took some of the photos/short vids for the 2008 Echoplex gig for the SOTL Forever site)

Winged Victory's first album ranks just as highly, verges into Erased Tapes territory (and it's... released on Erased Tapes so go figure) but it's a nice "spa day" version of SotL

I rank four SotL albums as "perfect": Ballasted, Laudanum, Tired and Refinement. I don't know if I've listened to Gravitational vs. Aquatic

Refinement will always be my favorite, Tired next, then When the Detail Lost Its Freedom

Table, that’s my ranking too.

My esteem of “Refinement” has matured like a fine wine over time. I loved it when it came out, but since then I’ve come to consider it one of the top albums of the 2000s, and then the 21st Century, and now I consider it one of my top albums of all time, period. Tired Sounds is excellent but hasn’t quite matured like that for me. And I only discovered Music for Nitrous Oxide after the latest repress, though I was really impressed by it out of the gate. Refinement, though, what a special album.

i have a clear memory of driving through the mojave national preserve on my way back to la listening to 'refinement'. it was a strong beam of light and peace that reached me during a dark and turbulent time.

I never connected with this band, not really, despite it being right in my wheelhouse. Ambient, Kranky, etc. But I'm listening to “Refinement” for the first time in eons, maybe really listening for the first time, and boy is it connecting. (At the same time, I'm having vague flashbacks to dozens of different documentaries and indie films.)

I only started liking Kranky stuff when I got old and my ears got tired

“Tired Sounds” suit tired ears - especially if you are old and, ahem, Kranky.

They just shared this new to me live in-store at Other Music from 1996. I like all of their stuff, but this was near when I first heard them (when Ballasted came out early the following year) and is my favorite era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6DcFTEJQuY

the ballasted orchestra is really bringing me down deep lately. haunted, alien, somehow very comforting.

always love to see this thread bumped. i play this a lot in my classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ub681YQENc

that's where i'm at in the album. it's very peaceful.

that opener, 'central texas', is one of the most eerie things they've done, the sound of dark empty space over long distances quietly throbbing.

1996 show at the Empty Bottle popped up in the Aadam Jacobs collection: https://archive.org/details/ajc00014_starsofthelid_1996-07-05

Listening and realizing this is actually the source for side B of Maneuvering The Nocturnal Hum. I guess the clue was in Aadam/the uploader titling it the same (Live in Calgary, Alberta) but assumed that was just because it sounded similar. This version has another 7 minutes not on the record.

!!!

the tapers pit delivers again, thanks for this post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZq9YsqGMuM

I dig it!

Winged Victory show in Chicago last night was wonderful. Perfect sound, beautiful lights and staging, ecstatic audience.