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)

When asked what he will miss the most when he’s gone during an interview with podcast Five Questions, McBride said surprises. “Maybe you’re in a matter of fact mood, you’re driving home from doing a bunch of errands, you see somebody walking their dog, and the cat has gone on the walk with dog and the owner, and she’s running past them, showing off, scratching the trees. And you suddenly take delight in that,” he explained. “The weird appreciation for the mundane or the banal. That’s what I’ll miss the most. The times when you can surprise yourself and notice things that seem quite matter of fact but are actually quite beautiful depending on how you look at it.”

big oof

I had to get some thoughts out of my head:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/in-honor-of-88329908

very lovely, Ned. truly difficult to describe my relationship with this music— it seems almost all-encompassing at times.

Thank you. It's that sense of scope and immersion without...without drowning you in it, if that makes sense. You feel it more than hear it.

Ah fucking hell, no way. RIP.

i remember years ago when i coached hs debate and i was looking at the ut austin summer debate camps (which i soon discovered our school could never afford). i saw one of the coaches names there as brian mcbride and thought, ha that guy has the same name as the guy from sotl. and then i found it it was the same guy and my mind split apart. everytime i'd listen to them i'd marvel at these grieving sound poems and then think, man imagine this guy teaching teenagers how to spread in debate.

Just devastating.

While my primary musical interest as a teenager was rave culture, my tastes were eclectic (e.g., I started posting here as a teenager). When I started attending parties, I couldn’t understand why ambient and drone didn’t didn’t permeate into dance music culture. The cultures felt, despite their shared history and interests (e.g., computers and drugs), antagonistic toward each other in the late-90s/early-00s. It was particularly baffling in Detroit where the specialized shops like Stormy (Wendy & Carl’s shop) and Neptune exclusively catered towards these two cultures. The one exception was Stars of the Lid. Everyone loved them. This band from, of all places, Texas, was the one artist that managed to bring together all these disparate Detroit music sub-cultures. By 2007 with the release of “And Their Refinement of the Decline” it felt bizarre to think these sub-cultures were so isolated. They truly brought people together.

i.e., rip

legit been reaching out to people with whom i shared major life moments with to this music— i remember my friend Eric giving me a bunch of SotL mp3s in early 2008 when all i’d heard was ATROTD.

multi xpost

just had a debate coach friend of mine reach out to me. apparently when my friend was a young debater, mcbride was his judge on occasion. when he later became a teacher, his debate kids worked with mcbride and apparently he put on little concerts for the students. he had no idea of mcbride's side gig as a musician until i told him about it some years ago.

oh how my heart aches

refinement was so healing for me in such a crucial and dangerous moment in my life. the beauty there is unfathomable.

very sad about this as both an ambient/drone fan and a one-time forensics club kid (didn't know that about him until i read the p4k obit). RIP, too too soon

stars of the lid are my most played artist in itunes. it's not even close. it's reductive to describe the influence of music in numbers like this, especially music with as much soul and grace as the music of brian mcbride.

but the amount of _time_ i have spent with mcbride's (and adam wiltzie's) music ... it is a part of me. i will never forget the nights i spent alone in the control room of the 107" telescope at the mcdonald observatory, refinement of the decline blasting out in the silent high desert. rip brian.

Really sad news. I recall that Brian was briefly on the DroneOn list just as SOTL were signed to Kranky. Nice guy. Remarkable music that continues to resonate. RIP.

Just awful news. Refinement might be my most-listened to ever album.

Sawdust - I ran the DroneOn list. I remember when I saw that he subscribed. Kinda undone by this... RIP

his music has meant so much to me. really sad news. RIP.

This was not what I was expecting to see when I saw the thread revive yesterday.

Stars of the Lid—and Brian’s solo work—are simply transcendent. I like a lot of ambient music but SotL have always hit a different emotional button. Nobody, in any genre, elicits the same feelings in me that they could. All these years later I was still holding out hope for one more album. What a loss.

“Even if You’re Never Awake (Deuxieme)” just wrecks me, it’s so beautiful.

RIP. When I think of Stars of the Lid, I think of specific, vivid times in my life when I was seeking quiet and calm for myself and the people I love: writing my graduate thesis in the library late at night; a restless, painful day in the hospital with my partner when our first child was born; laying beside that child years later on a school night when they were anxious and struggling to fall asleep... Stars of the Lid is almost always the first thing I think to play in these moments. I will forever be grateful to have their music.

It was heartening to read the sentiment in this tweet:

It was my privilege to have worked on behalf of the music Brian McBride made. It was my pleasure to have known him. I'll remember cats and conversations on cold Chicago nights. Believe me when I say that he knew how much the music meant to us all. pic.twitter.com/KGYp7r8608

— Bruce Adams (@BruceMAdams) August 27, 2023

Yes, that.

A lovely comment from Jeff Copas on FB, from the long running (and very good) Austin band Sixteen Deluxe:

I counted Brian as a friend, starting with our radio gigs at UT in the early 90s (I took over the “grunge” show from him, he having wisely moved on to less well-trod pastures). He was funny and frighteningly intelligent, with an eye on the horizon way beyond where most could see. A terrible and tragic loss.

Philip Shelburne celebrates the good man:

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/remembering-stars-of-the-lids-brian-mcbride-with-10-essential-records/

i've been playing refinement a lot over the past few months. miraculous music.

any time i want to be transported to a more peaceful and reflective state of mind, i put on decline. i'm happy to say i'll likely be listening to it regularly until i die.

https://adamwiltzie.bandcamp.com/album/eleven-fugues-for-sodium-pentothal

Releases April 5. Vinyl / CD (yay) pre-order now.

lol at that last song title

And now a nice video too

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

I'm lucky enough to have heard the album.

I won't say much except to say that those, like me, who have found the excessively sentimental and overly-orchestrated cast of recent Winged Victory, etc, will be pleased with how enjoyably sparse and at times harmonically dissonant (ish) this is...

dang, that video is something

I like Wiltzie's album more than the last few AWVFTS albums though it's still just okay. Generally like the vibe but nothing grabbing me the way the best SOTL stuff does.

Yeah I found Winged Victory disappointing too. Can’t believe those SOTL albums are 20+ years old

starting to think McBride was the secret weapon

If you’ve listened to his first solo album, it’s absolutely clear he was the secret weapon

^^^ 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