start with tired sounds, yes.
― cutty, Sunday, 25 November 2007 00:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
*Should say "Not too familiar with "And Their Refinement. . ." I have, in fact, made my own decisions before.
― mehlt, Sunday, 25 November 2007 00:54 (5 years ago) Permalink
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.
― r1o natsume, Sunday, 25 November 2007 01:02 (5 years ago) Permalink
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.
― Z S, Sunday, 25 November 2007 01:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
i was really upset by those metacritic posts.
― cutty, Sunday, 25 November 2007 01:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
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.
― mehlt, Sunday, 25 November 2007 02:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
woohoo, live in Seattle at the Triple Door 4/18!!! (with Christopher Willits and Lusine)
― Mackro Mackro, Friday, 29 February 2008 21:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
a while back a friend gave me all of their albums, and because i get so much music all the time, i didn't really pay them any attention.
and now i've been listening to Avec Laudenum and Refinement on the daily.
― the table is the table, Monday, 3 November 2008 07:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
i should add that i was incredibly distracted by the other stuff he gave me, too: lots of Plank and rare Eno shit.
woohoo, live in Seattle at the Triple Door 4/18!!!(with Christopher Willits and Lusine)
― Mackro Mackro, Friday, February 29, 2008 9:37 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark
i love these guys but if my experience seeing them live is any guide you were way too excited about a Stars of the Lid show
― HOOS HOOS HOOS on the autosteen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 3 November 2008 13:51 (4 years ago) Permalink
I"m pretty sure "Dungtitled" is still my top track on Last.fm
anyone else see them closing the Brainwaves festival last night? they were great!
― nerve_pylon, Monday, 24 November 2008 15:05 (4 years ago) Permalink
I saw them friday in nyc. great show.
― Alan N, Monday, 24 November 2008 15:27 (4 years ago) Permalink
That tour CD they were selling this year is really, really good. I guess it's a combination of earlier rarities + new tracks, although I haven't been able to find anything that lists which is which and where they come from. The only track on it that I recognize is "Virginia", a 20 minute cover of a Labradford song. It's actually one of the weaker songs on the CD. The last song exists in the middle ground between SotL and Dead Texan.
I bring all of this up only because I noticed that they're selling the left over copies of the tour CD on kranky's website now, if anyone's interested.
― nikefanatic90: Sup (Z S), Monday, 24 November 2008 16:05 (4 years ago) Permalink
I forgot to mention, one of the guitarists said something like, "we're stars of the lid and this is the last time you'll see us in... a long, long time" right before they started playing. pretty cryptic. I took it as, "touring is no fun and we won't be doing it again anytime soon" but who knows.
― Alan N, Monday, 24 November 2008 18:58 (4 years ago) Permalink
@ nikefanatic90: Sup (Z S), the discogs entry for Carte-De-Viste gives details of where the various tracks come from: http://www.discogs.com/release/1143841
Tracklisting:1 The Mouthchew (Part 2) (3:45)2 JPRIP (4:37)3 Requiem String Melody (2:46)4 Porch (Version #28) (5:00)5 The Kraut (9:42)6 Slight On The Childproof (5:01)7 Virginia (20.03) (20:05)8 Hunting For Pops (5:24)9 The Funereal (2:27)
¤ Tracks 1, 6 and 8 are out takes from And Their Refinement Of The Decline¤ Tracks 2 and 3 are out takes from The Tired Sounds Of¤ Track 4 is an out take from Maneuvering The Nocturnal Hum¤ Track 7 was previously released as part of The Kahanek Incident - Volume 3¤ Tracks 5 and 9 are previously unreleased (1999 and 1997 respectively)
― krakow, Monday, 24 November 2008 19:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
Ah, thank you for that!
I was going to say earlier, on one of the tracks there was the same deep, resonating, buttitch-inducing bass tone that comes up in "Requiem for Dying Mothers, pt. 2" on The Tired Sounds Of, so it doesn't surprise me that it's an outtake.
I am surprised that The Funereal is from way back in 1997. It's more "active" than most of their other material, particularly their stuff from back then.
― nikefanatic90: Sup (Z S), Monday, 24 November 2008 19:22 (4 years ago) Permalink
Stars of the Lid are planning a movie...
http://sunhammerpounding.blogspot.com/2008/11/stars-of-lid-plan-feature-film.html
Wonder if non-Youtube clips will embed?
http://vimeo.com/1847116?pg=embed&sec=1847116
― Treblekicker, Thursday, 27 November 2008 23:26 (4 years ago) Permalink
I heard that Adam was becoming sort of bored with the set list.
― ian, Thursday, 27 November 2008 23:35 (4 years ago) Permalink
lol
― BIG HOOS is those british white steens (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 27 November 2008 23:55 (4 years ago) Permalink
Had no idea that Brian had a new band: http://www.bellgardensmusic.com/
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 7 June 2010 19:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
I think I'll pass on this one after hearing those samples.
― Bilderbooger (van smack), Monday, 7 June 2010 19:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
Roffle
http://spinalbap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/blog-post.html
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 29 April 2012 23:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
Live in London:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/187786
― itt: 'splaining men (ledge), Monday, 5 November 2012 16:12 (6 months ago) Permalink
lol at that link ned posted:
― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Monday, 5 November 2012 16:18 (6 months ago) Permalink
can't believe it's been 5 years since And Their Refinement of the Decline.
― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Monday, 5 November 2012 16:19 (6 months ago) Permalink
does a new live gig mean there's a new album in the works?
― tylerw, Monday, 5 November 2012 18:14 (6 months ago) Permalink
Promoter's page is silent on the matter. Going to have to spend the next month huffing their older stuff so I don't mistake it for new.
― itt: 'splaining men (ledge), Monday, 5 November 2012 18:37 (6 months ago) Permalink
this band remains really something.
itunes tells me i listened to tired sounds...167 times this year. that's not counting playing it on my phone, or on spotify, or on cd, or anything else. some days i think i could only listen to the two parts of "requiem..." happily for the rest of my life.
― the oral history of (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Sunday, 9 December 2012 18:43 (5 months ago) Permalink
They played Requiem last night, and December Hunting, and er others - including a new piece. I read somewhere that you can't fully experience SotL without seeing them live which is always a bullshit line - sucks to be you if you never get the chance - but especially in this case when you really don't want the real world intruding on and distracting your experience. Yes I mean the hell of other people. The venue was fantastic, a large church, freezing cold which seemed oddly appropriate, and a wall with stained glass in the middle and large expanses of white plaster either side where the amazing visuals were projected. TBH the crowd weren't too bad, a few cameraphones here and there at the beginning and one bloke in front of me writing a text wtf you arsehole, but once December had reached its impossible series of ever increasing crescendos everyone that i could see was pretty much stunned into passivity. But there was a bar in the rear corner and in the quieter moments you could hear the clinking of bottles and chinking of cash drawers all the way through the gig. So overall it was awe-inspiring enough but I never achieved transcendence.
― ledge, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 10:21 (5 months ago) Permalink
Also there was a loud crash in the middle of one of the songs, I looked around and up in the pulpit was the photographer leaning over and looking glum. Wasn't sure if he was just into the music but previously he'd been strolling round quite indifferently. Turns out he'd just knocked one of his lenses onto the floor ten feet below.
― ledge, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:23 (5 months ago) Permalink
Also I still feel like I've got a long way to go before I've internalised most of their stuff, but The Ballasted Orchestra is in to my top 3 with a bullet.
― ledge, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:44 (5 months ago) Permalink
Ledge did you see the concert at St Giles a couple of years ago?
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:47 (5 months ago) Permalink
I fell asleep standing up the last time I saw these guys live
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:00 (5 months ago) Permalink
You couldn't have fallen asleep during "December...", bass was immense. Didn't see them at St Giles (4 years ago more like), I saw them at ATP around the same time but that setting lends itself even less well to transcendence, although reasonably well to a kind of semi-distracted acquiescence.
― ledge, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:06 (5 months ago) Permalink
I only fell asleep for like 10 mins, the show was great, but still
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:10 (5 months ago) Permalink
uuuuuuugh, i can't TAKE these long waits between records!! it's KILLING ME
it's been about 6 years now since refinement. same as between tired sounds and refinement (2001-2007)
uuumnnnnnnngggh
― "reading specialist" (Z S), Thursday, 3 January 2013 03:45 (4 months ago) Permalink
there's a new kate bush album
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Thursday, 3 January 2013 04:32 (4 months ago) Permalink