Stars of the Lid

Was that in a tiny club in Amsterdam that was full of smoke? They mentioned it, complained that the barbican was too big for the smoke machine :)

Set felt short, 4 tunes, a shade under 90 mins I think, no encore. I don't remember the guitars being so inscrutable last time I saw them - like, what are they contributing to the sound? Are they even playing them? All became clear at the tumultuous end of December Hunting though.

Impressive monumental organ drones from support act Claire M Singer.

It was actually! :-) Just before they started a smoke machine puffed some clouds into the room and my brother and I were like: lamest on-stage effect for SotL ever. But boy, did it make sense once they started! Stunning visuals because of the smoke. Will post some pics later.

It was amazing. They played four pieces, two of which were encores. The first was a half hour suite (with movements of Requiem for Dying Mothers and other pieces). They only got their first applause after that suite, and you could hear a pin drop the entire time. Rarely experienced such a quiet audience.
Oddly, after the first piece McBride said "we're going to play the last song now". That turned out to be Vegetarian Fuckface, which all in all lasted more than 30 minutes as well? I wouldn't have even minded if they'd stopped right there and then, but they came back for two more pieces cause the crowd never stopped applauding. First one was with the string quartet (perhaps it was 'Mulholland'). The last encore was just the guys on guitar and someone using that monster of a Moog on stage, droning out for 10 mins.

sounds like the same set minus the encore fakeout. yeah it was great, no complaints really. people falling over each other to leave after the last piece at the late hour of 9:45, hopefully they were keen to get to the pub, not bed.

The same happened in Amsterdam. Very odd. Lots of lonely 40+ males though, perhaps they couldna hack it any more.

i just ctrl_f's "debate" with no luck but
mcbride is a debate whiz who has done the UT-austin debate camps for high schoolers and i have half a mind to convince my school to let me take students up there so i can stalk him

i wish i could make music like this but i wouldn't even know how to start

ha, yeah, it sort of seems like it wouldn't be toooooo hard to do, but it is! i was trying to do some ambient-y kinda things recently and couldn't get a grip on it.
anyone check out this? might scratch the stars of the lid itch: https://scissortail.bandcamp.com/album/diminished-composition

i wish i could make music like this but i wouldn't even know how to start

― na (NA), Monday, November 28, 2016 4:07 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seems to me a volume pedal + analog delay + knowledge of basic guitar chords and voila but what do I know

There's a new AWVFTS out on Erased Tapes... a film soundtrack. Haven't spent enough time with it but, perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn't seem at the level of Atomos. Felt a little more generic.

Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie has the "Salero" soundtrack at Erased Tapes, while AWVFTS have the "Iris" soundtrack available at the usual electronic haunts now (look for the bonus version w/ 2 tracks from ABW's EP), as well as the cd/vinyl versions for pre-order at Erased Tapes.

New material from Brian McBride (from 25 mins in): https://www.mixcloud.com/NTSRadio/kranky-w-brian-mcbride-5th-july-2017/

jesus, it's been 10 years since the last one

stars of the lid, that is. every time this thread is revived i'm literally crossing my fingers

me too :(

https://soundcloud.com/adambryanbaumwiltzie/sotl_twin-plotkin_v2

"For fans of SOTL's earlier minimal drone era. This Lost recording from 1997 of a remix of Stars of the Lid's Twin Peaks Episide # 30 Part 1, by James Plotkin. (Commissioned for $100USD)During this particular moment, the glory days of pre-file sharing, we had been considering and gathering remixes via the post for a potential release but as many things go in the world of Lid, the idea became a bit stale. Mostly due to our own boredom. We are not sure if this thing is of any decent quality, but if you listen at low levels then the effect could possibly lead to a good nap at the very least...."

damn

every time this thread is revived i'm literally crossing my fingers

same

wait, i said that
still the same, i guess

the tired sound of this thread revival

it's kind of weird to introduce a remix by someone else with "we are not sure if this thing is of any decent quality"

i like it though!

I get the sense that SotL have a case of crippling perfectionism and truly cannot tell if anything they do is good.

Hence the self deprecating song titles :)

I'm seeing them live for the first time at the Sigur Ros thing next week.

those recent shows they did in some church in NYC looked transcendent, would love to see them :/

I saw them in LA 2.5 years ago and they were phenomenal.

how hard is it to stay awake during their sets, just curious

not hard, it's an enthralling experience.

Man, the refinement of the decline of this thread and its updates, indeed

was just clowning around tbh

:)

👊

They were great tonight in Reykjavik. Beautiful and medative. I did find my eyes closing over a few times, but didn’t fall asleep.

totally fell asleep at a Boston show ~2003, no regrets

“Atomos” will be on TV

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/dance-season?#heading-atomos

awesome!

Pfork article on Adam Wiltzie scoring the new Whitney Houston documentary.

We work on stuff, but I don’t know. We’re weird people, Brian [McBride] and myself. After 2007, we could feel this—I don’t know why I would ever feel like Stars of the Lid was starting to feel hyped—but there was some madness starting to happen at the end of touring that last record [And Their Refinement of the Decline]. If we had just kept going, it would have turned into something else. For me especially, I just thought I should do something different. [Sighs] Like let’s move on and do something else. We come back to it and still enjoy making music together. Hopefully, we’ll try to poop out one more Stars of the Lid record before we pass on.

poop it out! poop it out! poop it out! poop it out!

lol

what is with that embarrassing headline

yeah, it's awful

maybe it'll catch on

hold up a second, you're telling me there's a lost coltrane album featuring his classic quartet?

wope, wope, wope - dave grohl recorded new music and i'm writing about it?

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down - Elvis Costello? DEAD?? No way

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/now-wait-a-damn-minute-here-let-me-get-this-straight-youre-saying-that-elvis/

'a guy from stars of the lid' smh

guess i'll be seeing the whitney doc!

going to see laurie anderson at the Art Institute of Chicago tonight, and afterward i will definitely be making a trip to see the Stars of the Lid installation:

Stars of the Lid ··· “Installation for People with Special Powers on the Run from Government Exploitation” ··· Inspired by the Sculpture Court
Location: Gallery 161

will provide trip report when i get back. also on the docket tonight are site-specific installations by midori takada, visible cloaks, kaitlyn aurelia smith, tashi wada and julia holter, and more.

https://midwinter.pitchfork.com/schedule/

i am very excited because i didn't think i would be able to see any of this since i had 0 dollars when the shows were announced, but my partner secretly bought us a ticket and i just found out recently. :)

that's awesome. i went on friday night and thought i was going to volunteer/see stuff for free on sat but that fell through. tonight i promised to go to a friend's show BUT it includes another friend playing in the "secret Slowdive side project" (lol) that played last night. it was a pretty engaging enterprise, hope they do it again!

did you end up seeing any of the installations on friday night? i'm not sure what to expect

they were not well labeled imo -- i also have to admit to having trouble reading the program because it was so tiny BUT you may have an easier time knowing where things are if you have read about where and what it is beforehand? i wanted to see the stars of the lid one but failed to find it. on the upside, haley fohr's performance was amazing and i'm glad i saw it.

yeah, i don't want to criticize the roll-out of the entire midwinter thing too harshly because i'm guessing someone i know, here or otherwise, might have worked on it, but on the whole it has been very, very confusing just to figure out what is going on, who is playing and when, how much it costs, and what you will be able to see with a ticket.

the sound installations are just some sonos speakers stuck in corners of certain rooms. all the music i heard from them was pretty ambient. the stars of the lid one was probably the most effective because it was in a more open space and was loud enough to hear. the julia holter one was almost inaudible.