Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline

(*PERMANENTLY* LEAVING THREAD to prevent another flame-war.)

(Unless I have something to add about SOTL.)

That said, that track on Brainwashed is just a little too clean for my liking, but it's only one track (the shortest, at that), and it's... nice enough and all, so this remains the forthcoming album I am most excited about.

Plus there's always the suspense of seeing if that last title really does happen or is just a joke for eager Brainwashed readers.

i heard 10 second clips and asked about what made this music different from other similar bands. now i've heard a full song and i like it. what is so hard to understand about that?

Sorry, will not be sharing this. Just rest assured it is all that and more.

I agree. This is probably one of the few ambient albums I've ever anticipated.

also "cloud of titties" would fit nicely among the other song titles.

loved it

haha.

Listening to this now..so far so great

This album really is incredible -- heavenly tones, titty clouds, and all the other stuff mentioned in this thread ... all music should sound like this (at least for today).

As you can see from above, they still continue to write the best song names in the business.

I'm definitely looking forward to picking up the 3xLP set.

Heh, "Floating on a Cloud of Titties" was a Skylab song title back in '92 or '93.

Doesn't look like that SOTL mp3 is still up at brainwashed.

i am looking forward to the new one although this quote from the kranky site is a bit hyperboltastic, "I simply feel that they are making the most important music of the 21st century." Ivo Watts-Russell - 4AD label founder

its like floating on a cloud of titties

-- cutty (holle...) (webmail), February 2nd, 2007 7:02 AM. (mcutt)

bought this last week: been waiting to find two hours spare to listen to the whole thing and luxuriate properly. decided that's never going to happen, so have just put it on now, even though i need to go out in 40 minutes.

the first track alone is worth the price of admission. i think i'm going to love this.

I'm adoring this record.

I wish I had this record.

I got this a few weeks back - I love The Tired Sounds of... but it's never been a real go-to album for me. But this, this is something quite incredible. The fact that it's so long and dense almost put me off, but I've had it on my walkman going to work and back and it just *eats* the time because it's so beautiful.

I suggested a colleague give it a listen and he was actually misty-eyed by about half way through the second disc. It's difficult to pick a standout, but I think it would be The Daughters of Quiet Minds - at about nine minutes in it becomes pretty much the most gorgeous thing I have ever heard.

Does anyone else get a kind of spectral, one-tenth speed MBV feel off this at all - like the sound Loveless would make when the radio waves finally hit the edge of the galaxy...?

I have this record :D

I've not heard anything prior to this; I'm wondering whether I should, and if so, what. People?

the Eluvium record ('Copia') is worth a shot. Second track is one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a while.

nick, get "the tired sounds of" immediately

Done.

Not as good as Tired Sounds really.

this one sure is a grower

initially it just sent me back to tired sounds. the electronic textures are a little stranger / other on that one, and the sections where they go for those long, long strung out endless swells on one chord... there are some Steve Roach records in that ballpark, many other classic space records I could mention, but since that's almost _all_ that's done on those records, it can get a bit wearying. but in the context of these records where the fully composed string sections suddenly roll over into these almost endless swoons, it's kind of devestating

the new one favors the strings even more, even closer to classical, which at first sounded duller -- sounded even less distinct from the 80's space music stuff that Tired Sounds seemed to be a 00's update of, but the compositions have emerged through repeat listening and now the streamlined classical move is absolutely working for me, a move closer to center that just works. probably works for a much wider audience as well because this new one's not as overtly 'electronic', just really strung out classical (like an _even sparer_ take on side two of Eno's Discreet Music).

Tired Sounds was the first I'd heard since the first one Nitrous Oxide, which was cool but didn't stick out in the flood of isolationist dark ambient flood of the mid-90's, but I'm ready to check out all of those early records again now -- anyone heard those?

& while I'm on the subject

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there are some Steve Roach records in that ballpark

Funny you should say that, since I was listening to Roach's three-disc (!) Immersion: Three on Sunday, and afterwards put on Refinement. The two did fit together nicely; at the time you could clearly distinguish the relative differences -- Roach is about cyclic drift where SotL is about forward motion, just.

it's not too funny, it's pronounced. most of those 80's space music precedents are currently hiding in dusty new age sections, with lovably terrible packaging, or they're long out of print. makes me hope we're in for a resurgence in the same way that Cluster's Zuckerzeit & the Harmonia records showed up everywhere after Boards of Canada crossed over, it'd be cool to see things like Stearns' Chronos reissued.

& when I say that Roach can be 'wearying' I'm mainly talking about keeping up with the number of releases -- when he hits the real longwave stuff, you don't ever want that sound to stop. the classic own-this-one-if-you-own-any-of-his-discs breakthrough Roach is The Magnificent Void, I'd have been fine with that as a 10 disc set -- that's a dark record, closer to MB or Lustmord than anything happier.

but I'm ready to check out all of those early records again now -- anyone heard those?

Try Ballasted Orchestra, specifically "Sun Drugs" and "Music for Twin Peaks Episode #30, Pt. 1 & 2".

love steve roach

my last.fm playlist is testament to my SOTL and roach love:

http://www.last.fm/user/ticsticstics/

Yeah, The Ballasted Orchestra is the first really good one. Those earlier ones are...early. Also destroy the collab with Jon McAfferty. Even for SOTL, snore.

most of those 80's space music precedents are currently hiding in dusty new age sections, with lovably terrible packaging, or they're long out of print. makes me hope we're in for a resurgence

Roach has been upgrading a few of his releases that way on his own or through other labels -- I was always impressed how Projekt was essentially half straight-up goth and half experiment ambient zone and zonk.

Ooh, ooh, I forgot, if you can find it, the split 12" with Labradford is really excellent.

"Stars of The Lid & Labradford -- The Kahanek Incident: Volume 3

Label: Trance Syndicate Records

Labradford & Stars of The Lid sampling each others back catalogue to create entirely new tracks.
The tracks are named after the US state where the band being sampled lived at that time.

Tracklisting:
[01] Labradford - Texas (Stars of The Lid Remix) (07:36)
[02] Stars of The Lid - Virginia (Labradford Remix) (21:07)

Track 1 is produced by Labradford & samples the following Stars of The Lid tracks:
- "Cantus: In Memory of Warren Wiltzie" (From "Gravitational Pull Vs. The Desire For Aquatic Life")
- "Music For Twin Peaks: Episode #30 Part II" (From "The Ballasted Orchestra")
- "24 Inch Cymbal" (From the vinyl version of "The Ballasted Orchestra")

Track 2 is produced by Stars of The Lid & samples the following Labradford tracks:
- "Pico", "Battered", & "The Cipher" (all from "Labradford")
- "Disremembering" (From "Prazision")"

I've never seen it in real life, but both tracks are excellent.

steve roach is dope

some of sotl sounds like rapoon too

Those earlier ones are...early.

Snap?

"Gravitational Pull vs the Desire For An Aquatic Life" is a lesser work, maybe ... but that's not to say it doesn't kick ass over any other 12 CDs you own.

I like Music for Nitrous Oxide. It's obv. different from where they ended up. However, it is a pretty solid "out" guitar record or whatever it is the kids call that sort of thing these days. Kinda reminds me of Machinefabriek.

Oh, I have The Kahanek Incident. It's pretty good. Not totally essential, but worth hearing. Just picked up the volume of that series with Windsor for the Derby for 5 bucks while out in Portland.

Kinda reminds me of Machinefabriek

Who I only just discovered myself. Very enjoyable.

from the press release

Perhaps the best references for this current work would be found in the score to the film Le Mepris by Georges Delerue, the orchestral works of Zbigniew Preisner, or the 1958 CSO/ Fritz Reiner recording of Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain, specifically the third movement.

haven't heard the Delerue, and don't remember the Preisner scores (haven't seen too many of the Krzystzof Kieslowski films), but you can really hear the Hovhaness. And that is an amazing recording they've picked out -- that and the Werthen recording of Celestial Gate are the two I have. Hovhaness usually comes up referred to as a guilty pleasure in classical circles, sticking to consonant music in the age of serialism, but a lot of his music is so dreamy and spaced out I can see why a lot of people are revisiting it now that one or two generations of listeners have grown up with ambient records.

"That Finger on Your Temple Is the Barrel of My Raygun" is very, very SAW II-ish in parts, I actually wondered for a sec whether I was listening to one of those "leaks" that is actually a pastiche of tracks from other albums....

:''-) what a fucking record

OMGOMG EUROPEAN TOUR ANNOUNCED

20 Nov 2007 20:00
TBC BRIGHTON, UK
21 Nov 2007 20:00
REDLAND PARK CHURCH BRISTOL, UK
22 Nov 2007 20:00
TBC CORK, IRELAND
23 Nov 2007 20:00
WHELANS DUBLIN, IRELAND
25 Nov 2007 20:00
URBIS MANCHESTER, UK
26 Nov 2007 20:00
LUMINAIRE LONDON, UK
28 Nov 2007 20:00
CHAPELLE SAINT-SAUVEUR PARIS, FRANCE
29 Nov 2007 20:00
Nantes à l’Université NANTES, FRANCE
9 Dec 2007 20:00
TBC ROMA, ITALY
10 Dec 2007 20:00
SPAZIO 211 TORINO, ITALY
11 Dec 2007 20:00
HANNA.BR(SPIAGGIA 72) RAVENNA, ITALY
12 Dec 2007 20:00
TBC ROMA, ITALY
16 Dec 2007 20:00
SCHEUNE DRESEN, GERMANY
17 Dec 2007 20:00
TBC BERLIN, GERMANY

OMGOMGindeed. I crossed the Pennines to see them in Manc about five years ago and by the time we got to the venue they'd somehow managed to blow the PA in the proper gig room upstairs while soundchecking and were setting up to play in the bar downstairs - much stress apparent. They eventually started playing what was some of the most amazing sound I've ever heard created by humans and then after about 10 minutes their film projector broke (they had some full-on twin projector light show or something). So they stopped playing and that was the end of the gig. Massively disappointing, and their main excuse was that they just couldn't play after all of that, no more. A pretty bad evening that probably wasn't their fault, but was really frustrating having travelled that far (I had no car back then). So I hope for a better result this time. Those ten minutes, though - wow.

lucky europeans!

ok so i'm getting the sweats because i cannot find anywhere on line to buy tickets yet. anyone know when they go on sale? i already missed out on vooredoms.

I'll be really pissed off if they don't play Brussels. No excuse since half of the band lives here.

i like their early stuff on kranky better, but this is still pretty good.

duh, they're still on kranky. i just downloaded the last two, and assumed that they changed label for some reason. anyway, i think the earlier, more lo-fi stuff is more interesting, their sound seems to have gotten "cleaner", but i suppose they had to move on somehow.

this album is smokin'!...balls-to-the-wall post-minimal ambience!...kick ass!

just sayin'

dear sotl-

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/edge06/comment/thank-you-01.gif

-gr8080

I really love this album, but I still can't get over The Dead Texan, one of the members of SOTL. Anyone else into that album?

I still can't get over The Dead Texan, one of the members of SOTL. Anyone else into that album?

Absolutely. Supposedly some of it was recorded to be part of an experimental film installation (or something) which I haven't tracked down.

I can't decide whether this or Throbbing Gristle is my album of the year. Not that it matters, like.

Supposedly some of it was recorded to be part of an experimental film installation (or something) which I haven't tracked down.

If you find out, let me know. I saw Greg Davis live a while back and he had a video for his music. He went through a forest taking pictures up into the canopy, and gave taking a shot at the same position movement by changing the focus, had a cool kaleidoscopic effect. I'd love to see video for Dead Texan.

Didn't the CD come with a DVD?

the Dead Texan's great, one of my favorites in the Kranky catalog

yes the cd came with a dvd

"articulate silences part 2" is one of the most beautiful pieces of music i've ever heard

woo

last song on that dead texan album--wooooo

yep, the entire Dead Texan album is excellent.

i am going to check out the dead texan album.

i still can't get over how gorgeous this one is. my current fave is "dopamine clouds over craven cottage", but the whole thing is exemplary and it sounds great both quiet and loud.

i wonder if they will tour the states.

US tour in April according to Pitchfork.

top 5 alive

yes the cd came with a dvd

Hate to be a negative nancy, but the dvd wasn't all that good, certainly not measuring up to the music. A lot of it seemed like above average Flash.

As just noted on DJ Martian's blog, this is now the Metacritic album of the year:

http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2007.shtml

dj martian is 1 week late

Some old (but new to me) news from their myspace:

STARS OF THE LID is looking for string players to be part of a quartet to back them on their upcoming tour of europe.
dates are running from november 20 until december 20.

There will be a special limited edition CD available for sale on the upcoming STARS OF THE LID European tour.
It is a collection of unreleased out-takes, and a couple pieces of music from out of print vinyl 12 inches.
This will not be available in stores.
Don't worry N.America, there should be some left for you as well....

from random googling:

set list went something like this in manchester: mulholland, requiem for dying mothers (i and ii), humectez la mouture, even if you're never awake, (deuxieme) december hunting for vegetarian fuckface, tippy's demise and finally an arvo pärt cover.

and apparent tracklisting for the tour cd:

Tracklisting:

1. The Mouthchew (Part 2)

2. J.P.R.I.P.

3. Requiem String Melody

4. Porch (Version #28)

5. The Kraut

6. Slight on the Childproof

7. Virginia (20.03)

8. Hunting for Pops

9. The Funereal

Yes that is the tracklisting of the tour CD.

And is it good?

"Virginia" I've heard before. It comes from a 1997 12 inch split with Labradford. The SotL side "samples the following Labradford tracks:
¤ "Pico", "Battered" and "The Cipher" (all from "Labradford")
¤ "Disremembering" (from: "Prazision")", according to the discogs.com.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, it's really good. It's one of my favorite pre-Tired Sounds SotL songs.

I saw them in Dublin and had no idea the last piece was by Pärt (assuming they did it in Dublin too).

Strange to see them in a crowded pub with chatter and clinking glasses all around. Not an ideal SOTL environment, but once someone kindly smuggled me into a spot where I could see a good evening all the same.

I bought the CD, which is pretty good, and a tour t-shirt which doesn't fit, or at least is about the least flattering cut and colour ever. :(

I've tried emailing the band at the couple of email addresses I found online to ask about the possibility of buying the tour CD from them for people like myself who couldn't make it to any of the live dates. Unfortunately I've not heard back from them as yet...

I'm loathe/unable to pay the quickly escalating eBay prices it's currently commanding on a couple of auctions, so I'm still desperately hoping that they'll have pity and sell at least some copies online somehow.

the tour cd rules

Any chance of a Leonardo on that?

Urgh, just realized that the Brussels concert is a live accompaniment of silent movies rather than a regular gig.

i don't see any announcement of a US tour anywhere, but i just bought a ticket to see them in chicago in late april...

i love how this is surgeon's #2 album of the year

The tour CD is very good indeed. "J.P.R.I.P." makes for one of the best tributes yet to one Mr. Peel.

Are they available via the web?

yeah wtf Ned, I live in their hometown of Austin and I can't even find one of these damn things :/

Dare I say, there are things called files.

I don't think I remembered to post this link here:

http://www.archive.org/details/SOTL2007-11-23.AIFF

:-D Have downloaded and am about to listen.

Fanfreakingtastic show tonight!

30sec clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVzqH3UXpI

(more to follow later)

Also, if you happen to make it to one of the shows there's plenty of tour CDs, 3xLPs, etc.

That is great news, re: the merch wealth. Seeing them Friday here in Seattle. Happy happy joy joy.

Jeez, that clip is so enticing. I'd love to see them.

Tour CDs? Are they new, and what's on it?

Tour CDs? Are they new, and what's on it?

It's described upthread

Oops, I even commented on it previously. I'm braindead this morning.

I was just reading the entry about SotL at the website for the Explosions in the Sky curated ATP, and found this nugget:

"Although it has been since the turn of the millennium that either member of Stars of the Lid has lived in Austin, the story began as such.... In 1990, Adam drunkenly wandered into the former KTSB radio station on 21st. and Speedway where Brian was rockin the airwaves with some nifty records by Rod Mckuen. He was proclaiming that his car was out of gas, and he hit a deer. It turned out that he was definitely drunk. And although there was blood on his car, Brian saw no deer. This incident was the catalyst that ignited their strange musical relationship."

I'll be at Stars of the Lid this Friday as well at the Triple Door. Most of early 2008 is pretty much culminating with this show for me.

Just bought tix for the Austin TX show in a few weeks -- $15 is a steal for something this incredible. I haven't been to a flat-out *great* concert in a while. High hopes that this'll be the one.

yeah i think it's $15 here in Seattle too which seems like a crazy good deal

DUDE IM TOTALLY GOING TO SEE THEM TONIGHT

!!

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/OMG.jpg

Just bought tix for the Austin TX show in a few weeks -- $15 is a steal for something this incredible. I haven't been to a flat-out *great* concert in a while. High hopes that this'll be the one.

-- stephen, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 7:57 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

!! when is this!! must go!!

i just heard this for the first time like 3 weeks ago and it is possibly my favorite record in a long time

music for sad airports

I'll be at the Seattle show as well. Excited

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2415176487_acb6be02bb.jpg

The Seattle show sold out. They'll be selling standing-only tickets day-of (I believe).

Two more clips from last night...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIyaBn3ZOs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wbHn8XIQYU

i am very excited to go to the triple door

lol i won free tix from another message board and they did ok and everything but i seriously had to leave like 5 songs in. so did the rest of the club. great music to listen to when making out or going to sleep but terrible for a club where yr gettin high and drinkin. would'ce been so good at the beach or lying down but yah... a rock club it sucked.

loved the banter about encores and love & rockets. what an amazing show.

Oh, awesome. I'm so excited to see them when they come to Chicago. I hope they are selling t-shirts. I want one because they are the most un-t-shirt band ever.

a rock club it sucked.

yeah that's why i'm amped i'm seeing them seated in a theater w/beers & food & a giant movie screen

"requiem for dying mothers" was lovely last night and the show in general was good, but i kept wishing that they were tighter. maybe it was just the night.

they are selling shirts and other merch.

What are the t-shirts like? Pictures would be great. Have they still got the tour CD? What other merch. is there?

they should sell pajamas

Bardo Pond do pillow cases, hand silk-screened by the band. SOTL should jump on that bandwagon.

the shirts were pretty lame

i kept wishing that they were tighter

haha, are you serious?

yeah, it's a mild objection considering the material, but there were a couple of places where the timing and pitch were off.

big HOOS otm. the venue in seattle has booths and dinner and drinks (don't know about the movie screen). i think it's going to be very important to get a booth. i'm totally looking forward to the show.

!! when is this!! must go!!

Austin TX May 7 Alamo Ritz downtown, tickets @ Alamo web site $15 apiece

bring yr ladyfriend big hoos

I'll be at the Triple Door at 6pm tonight (seattle show) with a bunch of friends (all are ex-Austin peeps) some of who were at that Tamarind Tree/EMP Pop Conf dinner thing this past Sunday (Chr1s and R/-\ch3l).

(oh and /-\dr1an)

they ruled in portland last night.

I am sad to have missed it. :-/ But there ya go.

bring yr ladyfriend big hoos

-- stephen, Thursday, 17 April 2008 02:18 (Yesterday) Link

Ha would love to but I imagine she would be bored out of her skull.

oh come on! bring her! it's gonna be gorgeous ambient-classical with pretty projections, an audio-visual feast.

i saw them many years ago at king tut's in glasgow and they were other-wordly.

but i share HOOS's pain: there's no way mrs fiendish would ever go for it.

mackro mackro, lxy and i and a non-ilx friend are getting there at like 7:15. do you think that's early enough to get a booth?

if lingbert can talk a girl into going any of you can

oh you

:)

I'm actually going to be there at, now, 6pm (my friends REALLY want a good seat apparently.) But I'll obviously come over and tauntsay hi to you guys.

here's what sean (who's putting on the show) said:

Sorry to anyone that wasn't able to get tickets. I thought there'd at least be some walk up tickets available. As Aron mentioned, there will be standing room only tickets going on sale at 5:30 the day of. Perhaps you can swap seats with friends throughout the performance? I'd offer my lap, but I'll most likely be running around :)

A few recommendations:
1) Get there by 7pm (there'll likely be a line to reserve seating and doors to the theater open at 7:30pm - music begins at 8pm)
2) Come with a group or group up with people at the show (there are several 3-5 person booths that offer the best experience)
3) Bring your appetite--->http://www.tripledoor.com/pdf/dinner_menu.pdf

Looking forward to Friday night and thanks again for the support. I love city.

I love city

Fantastic show on Friday. Could have gone much longer.

Did anyone recognize the music playing before SotL started their set? Very nice, whatever it was.

Good sets, too, by Lusine and Christopher Willits to open it up.

Glad they had projection screens to alternately focus on. Liked the imagery for all three bands.

how long was the main set?

75 minutes? that's a drunken estimate

Andy from SOTL is a total bro

(sorry, Adam)

75 minutes sounds about right. It sure wasn't a standard 90 & encore. Sigh. The downside to the early ending Triple Door shows is the main act doesn't seem to wear out their welcome. Still a great venue, though.

the upside of the quick exit was going out after

looooooove that place. what service, what sightlines. great sound.

I definitely have to go see this this Monday (!)

Man, just found out the Chicago show is sold out too! I should have known better and bought a ticket early, of course. If anyone is going to this and has an extra, I'd love to buy it from you! I'll buy you an overpriced drink for your kindness.

All very lovely when half asleep on the train. But hard to shake the thought that it's the first thirty seconds of "when the streets have no name" looped for 2 hours.

??!

RONG

I said I was half-asleep didn't I?

I want to loop
I want to sleep
I want to play with effects pedals
That make things songs deep

I want to stretch out
And feel no pain
While half asleep on the train.

Can we elaborate on the shirts? I'm debating whether or not to bring merch money.

x-post

:D xp

also yes plz re: info on shirts

ay stephen me and the lady bought us a pair of tickets so we will be seeing u up in the place at the time

gimme your # on the facebooks and we'll catch a beer & sit together or whatevers

my # is on my facebook, under contact info :)

this will be very fun!

great show in Austin last night, about 1 hr 20 min of lovely SOTL drones & tones, very satisfying. i also used the urinal next to brian mcbride before the show, after which he failed to wash his hands (and i did not). and i bought a tour cd, etc.

I didn't buy the vinyl after all! I'll have to pick it up at End of an Ear or something. Great show though, the projections were ace, and that Guinness shake was a great cap for my evening.

Terrible show, IMO. Volume was way too low to really get immersed in the sound. You could hear Adam's empty direct-fed-guitar strums all the way to the back. I also found it ridiculous they made everyone wait a full 45 minutes after said show time before the opening act even went on. Pretty sure that was well below the 1hr 20min mark, too, maybe including the opening act.

the thing with stars of the lid vinyl, is that you have to change the disc or flip it like.. five times during the course of an LP.

You could hear Adam's empty direct-fed-guitar strums all the way to the back.

true, but it didn't really bother me. I did find I enjoyed myself more when I made it a point to visually pay attention to something else (ie projections) and not watch the musicians. The opening act did seem louder, but I was OK with that.

I also found it ridiculous they made everyone wait a full 45 minutes after said show time before the opening act even went on.

Again, maybe just a me thing, but I show up pretty early for Wednesday Alamo shows on the regular. You order your food & drinks, you grub down, make conversation with your neighbors. I thought it was really well timed that the opener came out right around the same time as my first beer!

the montreal show was so magic. at the old, vast Masonic Temple. like a friend said - it felt like the old wood of the place was going to come to life under all the drones and resounds. the sound was peerrrfect.

the opener they're touring with (whose name escapes me right now) was also really good. the montreal openers (momies de la palerme), aiiee vangelis not-for-me.

You weren't turned off by the opening banter of the set:

"We haven't played Austin since what 1997? We call this place Boogertown because we can't think of anything better." *begin set*

dude is a bro

"We call this place Boogertown because we can't think of anything better."

i was actually leaving the restroom when brian and adam were discussing this! and of course i stopped to discretely listen: "dude you oughta say boogertown before the set begins, instead of austin. this town is too fuckin weird to be called, just, AUSTIN. hahahahaha."

I did find I enjoyed myself more when I made it a point to visually pay attention to something else (ie projections) and not watch the musicians.

this ^

I thought it was really well timed that the opener came out right around the same time as my first beer!

also, this ^

and for anyone surprised by the Boogertown thing... their myspace page does list their hometown as Toiletville, Belgium: http://www.myspace.com/starsofthelid

the Toiletville thing makes it a little funnier, it's true, but i'll probably still refer to them as Boogerband instead of Stars of the Lid

I just saw them last in Glasgow and I thought it was amazing. With the lights off, their abstract light-show type projections running and the huge slow volume of the music it was totally immersive. They had a three-piece string section and did a version of a piece of Arvo Pärt's Fratres at the start of the set, which for me was the highlight; achingly beautiful.

The stage banter was surprisingly good. I expected them to be completely insular nerds, but Adam, who did the introductions and so on, was excellent.

*last night

*weeps*

i'd have loved to have seen that. i got offered a ticket by three different people BUT COULDN'T FUCKING GO.

tits.

glad it was so awesome.

The tour CD is great too. Anyone else picked it up during the band's travels?

I thought £15 (~$30) was pretty steep though. It irks me when band merchandise is so expensive; surely they'd be making plenty of profit and a lot more sales at £10, or even less. Rip off Britain as always.

15 pounds! it was 12 last time round. not that i care, i sold it for 45.

I bought it at the London gig on Tuesday... didn't seem too dear when the gig was only £12 with two supports. That's about a third of the price of most of the gigs I've been to this year...

Anywhere to buy the t-shirts online? I didn't buy one at the show cause I didn't bring cash and didn't wanna fuck/w the line, but now I can't find em.

:(

Best description of a show I've read thus far:

undeniably affecting as a whole, if only to confirm that Stars of the Lid’s lovely, undulating compositions are created and performed by actual humans, not some benevolent intergalactic amoeba floating somewhere in deep space.

15 pounds! it was 12 last time round.

Inflation moves fast in these tough financial times, I guess.

BIG HOOS, perhaps best to get someone still to see them on this tour to buy one for you?

You could always try emailing them, but before I knew they'd be returning to the UK following the previous mini-tour I emailed them a few times to try and get hold of the tour CD without any luck in terms of getting a reply.

I've found Steve from Chaos vs Cosmos to be a very helpful individual (he co promoted the London date) if you sent him a mail via MySpace, he might be able to help in some way.

i have the tour cd from a internet file sharing community.

"You can't download a t-shirt", as my boss likes to say.

The tour CD is great too. Anyone else picked it up during the band's travels?

Yes, it's very very good.

They had a three-piece string section and did a version of a piece of Arvo Pärt's Fratres

Now this is what needs to be shared on a internet file sharing community.

There's a video here on last.fm of them performing it in the Netherlands:

http://www.last.fm/music/Stars+of+the+Lid/+videos/3800175

Enjoy.

Off topic: what the fcuk is so special about this Stars of the Lid poster being worth $295 ?!

I thought it came as a freebee with the Ballasted Orchestra vinyl version. It was an insert in mine (bought 2nd handed off of eBay some years ago, though).

The artwork is just THAT GOOD!

I original read the previous comment as "came as a frisbee" and got all excited.

Hey guys, feel like I gotta do some shameless self promotion here.
I'm going to be interviewing Adam Wiltzie from SOTL today on WNYU. The show starts at 4 p.m. and he will probably come on around 5 or so! You can listen at 89.1 FM in New York, or at wnyu.org if you so choose. If you've got any brilliant questions you think I should ask him, that'd be pretty cool too. I'm excited!

Ask him if he's going to do any more Dead Texan stuff in the near future!

ask him if he ever posts on ILM!

so are these fucks doing a new album or

kinda forgot about this, need to crank it up again.

Anyone know anything more about the movie that there was the teaser trailer for?

http://vimeo.com/1847116

Didn't they just put out a new double album like last year?

Aye, could be some time before another one, given the previous.

damn hoos, relax. i'd like a new dead texan record first.

or what, hoos?

i also want a new album.

Too soon!

Adam SOLT curated some sort of video/audio installation in Brussels a couple days ago with Christopher Willits and Dead Texan Christina. Seemed pretty cool.

Nothing about a new SOLT record on the way though...

man there's no way i'm even remotely finished with this album yet.

slow down people

srsly.

hoos needs to pick up the new sotl tape

SLEEPIN AINT DEAD hosted by DJ Signfy featuring street smash Ridin' w/ Vegi Fuckfaces Remix

was gonna write more jokes but im gonna take a nap instead

so beautiful...

*ahem* some dust in my eyes

The track "Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage" refers to Craven Cottage in London, the home stadium of English football club, Fulham F.C.. At the time of the album's release, their captain was ex-United States soccer international Brian McBride, who shares the same name as Brian McBride from Stars of the Lid.

SoTL fans should possibly check out Kevin Drumm's "Imperial Distortion" but I can't say for sure, I'm listening to it for the first time on an airplane and I can't really tell which sounds are which.

?
http://vimeo.com/1847116

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2QZBq6STME

otm

I was about to launch into this lengthy reminisce about that show we went to and how hilariously obviously bored our gfs were and how I had just been talking about SOTL w/my roomie and regaling her with the story of that show and so it is v v lol that you revived this thread tonight!

then i remembered that you and ilxor are different ppl.

lol

yeah, I'm ksh/kshighway, not ilxor

I know who you are now, though :-D

this band needs a new album in the winter (no point in releasing it during the summer; totally the wrong season).

haha i knew that dude, momentary confusion of liftment

and: yes xp

:-D

man, this record is super long -- can't remember for sure whether I've actually heard the whole thing through

in my pretentious animal collective days i would (like most of you) devote a one to two hour section of my day to just lie in bed and try imagining shit from this album. mostly my mind would wander and i'd forget the music, so my journey with them didn't really last beyond a week. i listen to them now and it just sounds like my refrigerator.

would you please sell me your refrigerator

McBride's new solo album = good stuff.

Dead Texan? Or something else?

in my pretentious animal collective days i would (like most of you)

u projecting mayn and we dont like it

i was more saying that i wasn't unique by devoting an amount of my day to the sole purpose of listening to music (oOoO, look at me, look how seriously i take music), not that you're all pretentious and like animal collective. a lot of you are, but that's beside the point.

I want you to know I'm not SBing you for the last sentence.

http://i55.tinypic.com/65bt5j.jpg etc

its like floating on a cloud of titties
― cutty (mcutt), Friday, February 2, 2007 12:02 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark

all time

I was about to launch into this lengthy reminisce about that show we went to and how hilariously obviously bored our gfs were and how I had just been talking about SOTL w/my roomie and regaling her with the story of that show and so it is v v lol that you revived this thread tonight!

then i remembered that you and ilxor are different ppl.

― friends don't understand us, adults don't understand us (zorn_bond.mp3)

You're back??!!?! Nice!

Anyway, yeah, that was a great show. My gf (ahem... *wife*, nowadays) really enjoyed it, actually, in a "YESSSSS NAPTIME" sorta way. She drifted off during the set and said she couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep or halfway in between, and that the music was perfect for that. Go figure...

I tried hippin' a friend to sotl the other day. he called it 'ambient music' at least once and said it sounded like an orchestra tuning up. (not sure if he 'meant it in a good way')

I still like 'em a lot though, and this

devote a one to two hour section of my day to just lie in bed and try imagining shit from this album

Dead Texan? Or something else?

Something else.

Dead Texan was Adam Wiltzie rather than Brian McBride. I remember McBride's previous solo album 'When The Detail Lost Its Freedom' as slightly different (more song-based, if I'm recalling correctly), but pretty good.

Release date 10/26. Amazon link.

new project A Winged Victory for the Sullen is Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran..... my thoughts here.... out tomorrow i think, on Kranky, and it's frickin lovely and awesome, everyone should buy this immediately.

good record.

The Sleepingdog record, With Our Heads in the Clouds and Our Hearts in the Fields, is really lovely too.

Picked up the Winged Victory for the Sullen CD today and ordered the Sleepingdog one from Amazon. I’ll indiscriminately buy pretty much anything associated with Stars of the Lid quite happily.

^^ that is me, too. McBride and Wiltzie are yet to prove me wrong on doing so, their solo-efforts so very wonderful as well.

^ Never heard of Sleepingdog before. Gracias!

I've been listening to the Winged Victory for the last few days. Really lovely. I like Brian McBride's solo stuff a lot, but based off of Dead Texan, Winged Victory, and Aix Em Klemm, I think Wiltzie is brilliant.

i didnt really like the Sleepingdog record... too little SotL, too much female coffee shop songerwriter style :(

who is on the Sleepingdog?

Sleepingdog are not Stars of the Lid, but this eliding intro has a purpose because Adam Wiltzie – one half of Stars of the Lid – is a big contributor to Sleepingdog’s new album, With Our Heads in the Clouds and Our Hearts in the Fields. This is a good thing; when Wiltzie’s lushly textured arrangements take center stage, With Our Heads is a rather good if not great album. But, again, this is not a Stars of the Lid album, but rather a Sleepingdog album, and thus these arrangements have to be paired with Chantal Acda’s vocals, and, more importantly, her songwriting.

oh.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/43256/Sleepingdog-With-Our-Heads-in-the-Clouds.../

this (winged victory) really is lovely so far

Listened to Winged Victory in bed last night. Brilliant. Will be on heavy rotation for the next while. I ordered the Sleepingdog CD for £3 or something so even if it's crap I can live with that.

Meantime, A Winged Victory for the Sullen interview:

http://www.theliminal.co.uk/2011/09/it-was-quite-a-heavy-time-for-us-an-interview-with-adam-wiltzie-dustin-ohalloran-a-winged-victory-for-the-sullen/

Yr response to this track should be a pretty good indicator of whether or not you'll be into the Sleepingdog record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kQLB9oL94s

That is all sorts of amazing, whoa...

its nice but "female coffee shop songerwriter style" otm

yup. I'll pass.

Atomos by Winged Victory for the Sullen is getting to be right up there with Hatchback - Zeus and Apollo, Tycho - Awake, and Neu! (pink on white) as my go-to "writing" music

Good choice, that.

"december hunting" is playing on the stereo in my bedroom while my roommates' band is playing a song in the living room in the same key with fiddle and banjo and it sounds AMAZING.

it has been ELEVEN YEARS since refinement of the decline

god DAMMIT

They know that people are out here dying for lack of a new SoTL album and they just couldn't care less. Invade Belgium or wherever.

COME ON

crissake

Out today - https://adambryanbaumwiltzie.bandcamp.com/track/how-to-disappear-inside-a-thirty-piece-orchestra

'How To Disappear Inside A Thirty Piece Orchestra’, was recorded in Budapest in 2014. It is an excerpt from the first recording of the Stars of the Lid follow up to ‘And Their Refinement of the Decline’. Subsequently, this piece was abandoned and left in the lurch as time elapsed. After some contemplation, Adam is letting the world have a taste of what could have never been, and what is possibly yet to come.

god...DAMMIT

loooooooooooooooool please Adam, PLEASE

it's been NINETEEN YEARS since Refinement of the Decline

Actually just a mere THIRTEEN YEARS

abt the length of a SotL album

if the next one is that long then i'll accept the wait

genuinely thought this was SOTL when i first heard it, but no it's just 90 seconds of incidental music from the righteous gemstones soundtrack https://open.spotify.com/track/5S9PV6EfwYxrclLUNiptbw?si=8ff35e5f38d14177

can we get a mod to change the thread title to say "(no new album announcement)"

It’s been fourteen years. Fourteen years and change.

My hopes and dreams are about to get a drivers license

Lord in heaven my heart skipped a beat too.

It's never going to happen, is it? I love Brian McBride's solo albums, and some of Wiltzie's stuff with Winged Victory, but the latter is just so insistently...syrupy? Harmonically obvious? Buffed of all rough edges? I don't know. Not that the SOTL of the last two albums were ever abrasive, but perhaps some of you know what I mean. All of this is to say... I guess it's not happening.

Yes, AWVFTS has their moments but they feel readymade for television drama scores. Case in point I was watching a show yesterday and legitimately wondered if they were scoring it (they weren’t). Stars of the Lid have a much more specific, unmistakable kind of grandiosity.

I firmly feel that McBride’s first solo album stands right up there with the last two SotL albums (minus the Labradford pastiche he does in the middle). So maybe it’s his influence that is the secret ingredient.

I also quite like 'When the Detail Lost its Freedom,' and think you might be right in your hunch. I adore some AWVFTS stuff, but nowhere near as much as I like the McBride solo and SotL records.

AWVFTS == readymade for television drama score == truthamundo for me

i always thought that SotL refused to do soundtracks/scores, but according to imdb their music has appeared in a few things:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1540111/