Stars of the Lid

Not sure, but it does seem like A Stable Reference to something.

The second best joke in the thread!

I'll take it :)

maybe she'd like CS + Kreme's Snoopy?

I enjoy the first two AWVFTS albums and like their subsequent stuff just fine, though nothing as transcendent as the high bar of Stars of the Lid. Have not listened to anything from new album yet.

I just listened to Aix Em Klemm for the first time in a long time, just the other day. Agree re the first track, which is also why some of the early Labradford albums are hit-and-miss for me.

Am I wrong or does Labradford only do the high-pitch thing on Mi Media Naranja? It's in multiple tracks on that album but I don't recall it on their other albums.

Not to cut across what is one of the finest jokes I've ever seen but this has bugged me for a bit: are Labradford named after the basketball player or is it something more obvious/arcane?

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 9:33 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

my assumption is it is a take on the band name "La Düsseldorf".

referencing the town in west yorkshire, beloved of american people everywhere

Courtesy of BandNameOrigins.com:

How did Labradford get their name? Sorry, we don't know how Labradford got their name.

stars of the leeds xp

A Wakefield Victory for the Sullen.

Sigh. It was the best I could do.

thought that was pretty good.

Am I wrong or does Labradford only do the high-pitch thing on Mi Media Naranja? It's in multiple tracks on that album but I don't recall it on their other albums.

At least Fixed::Context has the high pitched sounds appearing.

I think the new one is lovely.

that is, Invisible Cities. I imagine it would work quite well for its original purpose, too.

From a FB post today. Maybe there will be another album one day:

Once upon a time if you wanted to go away for a while it might have been easier to disappear without being swallowed by the internet.
Lately, there has been a myriad nefarious activity (vacuous sounds uploaded digitally & unauthorised physical product) that it behooved oneself to trademark the Stars Of The Lid moniker. Part of this new endeavour is an official merchandise store Hello Merch We are slowly digging into the archives and re-printing former tour-shirts from ages long ago, starting with these two visible in this post (More arriving in time for Christmas) And in our gruesome passive-aggressive way, eventually some new music, unless the world ends next week, which seems plausible at this point…

Order: https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/stars-of-the-lid
Order: https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/adam-wiltzie

I saw that post and totally skipped over the part at the end because I thought it was just about march, damn I'll take any glimmer of hope for new music from them

And one of them is already sold out completely. Jesus, you really do just have to jump on everything IMMEDIATELY these days to even have a chance. Good for them, this bodes well for more shirts and merch down the road.

!!!!!!!

legit just did a little yelp.

https://www.facebook.com/100050668261250/posts/518163743215897/

nice remembrance of making Ballasted Orchestra, for its 25th anniversary. not even attached to a reissue or anything.

I was watching a recent French spy drama. The protagonist had completely screwed the pooch - he'd misjudged a situation, his agent had been captured, total disaster. His response, almost instantly, was to trash his apartment. I sat there watching thinking "I would never do that". In that situation all my anger would be turned inward, to curdle into shame. It would never have occurred to me to direct it outwards like that. My therapist made the point that the anger is going to go somewhere. She often tries to connect me to a healthy, self-protective, outward-directed anger.

Luckily for me, anytime I need to do that I just need to visit the RYM page for Gravitational Pull vs The Desire for An Aquatic Life, so I can read Threntall's review: "Cool, warm and enveloping drones. Very much what the rest of their more famous discography sounds like. Not really good enough to standout, but certainly enjoyable and relaxing to listen to."

New AWVFTS single? Why thank you.

https://awvfts.bandcamp.com/album/all-our-friends-are-vampires

Good job there Whiney

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-stars-of-the-lid-made-two-ambient-masterworks-20150721🕸

god DAMMIT sotl you’re killing me! Aaaaaagh oooh nooo *dead*

xpost

Doh how did I do that. Hmm.

Anyway this stood out to me, possibly cause I read this thread backwards and that newish post about dealing with anger was in my mind.

McBride: I like late at night because there’s no distractions. There’s very little chance there’s gonna be dogs barking. You’re not gonna get phone calls. Working on the music, for me, it’s kind of important to not fake it in some ways, to not try to force this emotional state out of it, to sort of pay attention to what’s going on in your life, if you’re feeling inspired or motivated just letting it happen. Especially after you’ve released a bunch of records for a long time, you don’t want to manufacture longing.

Anyway that link is dead, here’s the live (lid) one:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/how-stars-of-the-lid-made-two-ambient-masterworks-63198/

And what’s a good starting point for AWVFTS? Any consensus there?

The new Winged Victory single is reliably pretty, but there was something about the merging of McBride and Wiltzie's sensibilities that was of a fundamentally different order - Wiltzie left to his own devices, or with O'Halloran in Winged Victory, tends to the syrupy I find, whereas perhaps McBride scuffed the edges a bit in even the last two SOTL records.. I prefer McBride's solo records, at any rate, and I've long since given up on the idea of new SOTL, despite the rather infuriating tendency that they have to vaguely intimate new music every few years or so.

And what’s a good starting point for AWVFTS? Any consensus there?

― recovering internet addict/shitposter (viborg), Wednesday, March 15, 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Start with the first album and go chronologically until you start to get bored. They’re good but they lack the secret sauce of SotL.

…and as much as I like Wiltzie I think McBride is that secret sauce, as evidenced by his first solo album which I rate nearly as high as the last to Stars albums.

I love the first album. "Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears" was on my nighttime playlist for years.

yeah, i've enjoyed their separate efforts quite a bit. i wish i could listen to them without knowing about stars of the lid. but SotL was and is so very special. i think upthread is a spot where i got to see them live. it was just brilliant, one of the top few hours of my life

xpost

Seems we are mostly in consensus. I too appreciate that little bit of a sharp rough tang that gives their work as a duo just that hint of seasoning.

Based on y’all’s recommendations I’ll put McBride’s first solo release on my list. That would be When The Detail Lost Its Freedom, published under his own name? Still trying to get all the names of their different acts sorted — Dead Texan is also a Wiltzie project, okay I’m starting to piece together the clues here.

Lmao wish I could say witnessing a musical performance was a peak life experience. That time I was really high when I was in high school and Primus played my hometown? Nah probably not. I did very much vibe with Sonic Youth at Lollapalooza in Atlanta. Okay sorry tangent.

Yes, When the Detail…

McBride hasn’t had as many side projects. His two solo albums are pretty much it. He was in a group called Bell Gardens (I think?) but iirc they’re not really the same. Wiltzie by far the more prolific of the two.

Until I read this thread, I had no idea that AWVFTS had anything to do with Stars of the Lid. For some reason, I never paid attention to who the musicians were.

Cheers to pfwp for clarification.

Respect always to Jimbeaux too, dissenting view on AWVFTS duly noted. Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears is passable, If you’d told me it was a newer SotL release I doubt I’d know the difference. It definitely follows the typical formula, the simple melody gradually building to a muted crescendo. It just lacks that special something tho.

I will say, for AWVFTS - I *love* Dustin O’Halloran’s theme for the tv show Transparent

I did say it was part of my nighttime playlist LOL. Literally the one I used to go to sleep. It was perfect for that purpose, and that's not a knock.

Right, I have Requiem for Dying Mothers Parts 1 & 2 on my Nap playlist which are the songs with by far the most plays in my entire library.

Still I have to wonder if this poster is okay?

I like to play 'Requiem for Dying Mothers Part 2' from 'Tired Sounds....' on a 24/7 loop

…
― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Sunday, 2 November 2014 23:06

I love SotL, as everyone should, but WVFtS bores me to tears, for many of the reasons stated above. Seeing them live early on definitely did not change my mind

have never dived into WVftS and this conversation is not exactly lighting a fire under me. But When the Detail Lost its Freedom is A+++, I definitely love it as much as the SotL records, though I think of it as pretty different (at least within the paradigm of this type of music, I'm sure they'd be indistiguishable to someone pulled off the street)

I really love the album that Wiltzie made with Robert Donne from Labradford under the name Aix em Klemm— I think it’s Wiltzie’s best work outside of SotL.

yep, that one's great!

I still believe that The Dead Texan record is the best non-SotL record by a SotL member.

Why, this is good to see

https://starsofthelid.bandcamp.com/album/avec-laudenum

welll, that was a mightily cruel thread bump :) we're never seeing a new album, are we?

Pitchfork is reporting that Brian McBride has died. Terrible news.

https://pitchfork.com/news/stars-of-the-lids-brian-mcbride-dies-at-53/

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