Stars of the Lid

fuck

REST IN PEACE BRIAN MCBRIDE [1970-2023] pic.twitter.com/fvSSeRL6pi

— krankyltd (@krankyltd) August 27, 2023

Oh my fucking god :(

Awful news

Horrible, horrible.

His solo work is also whew, so good. I love this album.

https://starsofthelid.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-detail-lost-its-freedom

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.