Sundaze 1824

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Today's artist is an American ambient music duo consisting of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie. The duo formed in Austin, Texas in 1993, and they list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk, post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian Eno. Their compositions are largely beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement. Their sound has been described as "divine, classical drone without the tedious intrusion of drums or vocals."
....N'joy

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Stars of the Lid is an American ambient music duo consisting of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie. The duo formed in Austin, Texas in 1993, and they list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk, post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian Eno. Their compositions are largely beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement. Their sound has been described as "divine, classical drone without the tedious intrusion of drums or vocals."

Formed in Austin, Texas in 1993, SOTL is composed of two members: Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie. McBride said in an interview that the band's name refers to "your own personal cinema, located between your eye and eyelid", suggesting the colors and patterns one can see with closed eyes (either phosphenes or closed-eye hallucinations). They recorded their debut album Music for Nitrous Oxide throughout 1993 and 1994 with third musician Kirk Laktas, and released the album in 1995 on the Sedimental label. Laktas did not continue with the group, and the duo of McBride and Wiltzie steadily continued with Gravitational Pull vs. the Desire for an Aquatic Life in 1996, The Ballasted Orchestra in 1997, Per Aspera Ad Astra in 1998, and Avec Laudenum in 1999, as well as the limited edition EP Maneuvering the Nocturnal Hum and a split single with Windsor for the Derby, both in 1998.

Stars of the Lid then released their first double album, The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, in late October 2001. Nearly six years later, the duo released their second double album, And Their Refinement of the Decline, in April 2007 to widespread critical acclaim. Stars of the Lid toured worldwide throughout 2007 and 2008 in support of the album; throughout their European tour, they were joined live by a string trio featuring Lucinda Chua of Felix on cello, Noura Sanatian on violin, and Ela Baruch on viola. Their North American line-up included Julia Kent on cello.

The duo have been active pursuing side-projects and solo releases since And Their Refinement of the Decline. A teaser trailer for a possible Stars of the Lid feature film surfaced on the internet in 2008, but as of August 2017, the group has yet to release any new material.
Solo and side-projects

Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie have both released material outside of Stars of the Lid. McBride released his first solo album When the Detail Lost Its Freedom in November 2005, then released The Effective Disconnect in October 2010, which serves as a soundtrack to the documentary Vanishing of the Bees, a film about colony collapse disorder. McBride teamed up with musician Kenneth James Gibson and began recording and releasing new music under the name Bell Gardens; their debut EP Hangups Need Company was released in May 2010, their first full-length album Full Sundown Assembly followed in November 2012, and their second album Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions was released in October 2014 via Rocket Girl.

Wiltzie has been involved in several collaborative projects: The Dead Texan (with visual artist Christina Vantzou), Aix Em Klemm (with Robert Donne from Labradford), and A Winged Victory for the Sullen (with composer Dustin O'Halloran). Wiltzie currently lives in Brussels, Belgium, and McBride in Los Angeles, California.

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The self-titled debut from Aix Em Klemm delivers some sonic peace and thick, slow movement to a noisy world. The result of a collaboration between Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid) and Bobby Donne (Labradford), fans of both groups should find little surprise -- yet definite enjoyment -- in this rather peaceful and melodic release on the Kranky label. Heavily atmospheric, warm, and soothing, Aix Em Klemm features drawn-out chords that fade as they're overlapped by the next, occasional lovely guitar work, hypnotic electronic samples, pulses, and breathy vocals that intermittently drift in and away. Overall, the effect is calming and brings to mind everything from the musicians' own bands to Windy & Carl and Spiritualized.

Aix Em Klemm - Aix Em Klemm  (flac 174mb)

01 The Girl With The Flesh Colored Crayon 6:32
02 3X2 (Exit) 6:06
03 Sophteonal 8:05
04 Prue Lewarne 7:19
05 The Luxury Of Dirt 6:26
06 Sparkwood And Twentyone 7:01

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Having always made records that exist at the margins of descriptive language, this project by Austin, Texas' most spaced-out duo, Stars of the Lid, is their most ambitious to date, featuring 11 tracks parceled over two CDs (or three LPs), four of which are multi-part suites. Taking a step further down the road they embarked upon with Avec Laudanum, the duo have expanded the pure space and black hole vistas they offered on Music for Nitrous Oxide and The Ballasted Orchestra to embrace small melodic fragments that seemingly endlessly repeat through minimally varying textures. The effect can either be soothing ("Requiem for Dying Mothers"), hypnotic ("Broken Harbors"), or unsettling ("Austin Texas Mental Hospital"). The trademark analogue guitar/tape cut ups are ever present; what would normally be considered the sound of a guitar is nowhere in aural earshot. Traces of piano, strings, and even horns are layered into the mix, primarily on the second disc on "Mulholland," "Fac 21" (not a reference to an obscure record on the legendary Factory label, but a classroom on the University of Texas campus where Radio, Television and Film classes were taught), and "Piano Aquieu." The final two suits, "Ballad of Distances" and "A Lovesong (For Cubs)," are based on single and double-note piano intros that are heavily treated and meet minimal accompaniment by strings shimmering in the background in haunting melodies and droning ambient backdrops. There is a progression in all the music here, but it is so subtle, so quiet and un-intrusive, the listener would have to pay very careful attention to everything that is happening. More realistic, however, is for those who take pleasure in SOTL's music and inner space explorations -- for this truly is a music of the inner terrain -- to offer themselves little distraction other than a comfortable chair or resting place in order to let this music enter at will, naturally and expand until it takes you over the edge into something resembling sleep, but far more delicious. Despite its more songlike structures, More Tired Songs is actually for those who are tired of songs, period, and are looking for something less, something unspeakably beautiful and determinedly unmentionable in its vast and luxuriant erasure from any musical category.

Stars Of The Lid - The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid  (flac 427mb)

Requiem For Dying Mothers
01 Part 1 6:37
02 Part 2 7:37
03 Down 3 5:46
Austin Texas Mental Hospital
04 Part 1 2:48
05 Part 2 12:18
06 Part 3 5:47
Broken Harbors
07 Part 1 3:31
08 Part 2 6:47
09 Part 3 9:16

10 Mullholland 6:49
11 The Lonely People (Are Getting Lonelier) 10:05
12 Gasfarming 3:18
13 Piano Aquieu 10:56
14 Fac 21 3:08
Ballad Of Distances
15 Part 1 3:36
16 Part 2 3:00
A Lovesong (For Cubs)+
17 Part 1 6:45
18 Part 2 8:05
19 Part 3 7:45

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The solo entry from Adam Wiltzie -- best known as one-half of Stars of the Lid -- comes under the nom de rock the Dead Texan and exists as less of a song cycle than an imaginary movie score. Accompanied with a DVD of seven videos made by filmmaker Christina Vantzos only asserts this notion, but Wiltzie's guitar-based art is equally if not better suited to stand on its own. Beautiful, slumbering compositions get peculiar titles like "The 6 Million Dollar Sandwich" and "A Chronicle of Early Failures." If the lush, piano-flushed "La Ballade d'Alain Georges" is the finest of the instrumental tracks, Wiltzie's two intimate vocal pieces (the organ-bolstered "Glenn's Goo" and the ambient shoegazer-ish "The Struggle") are easily the disc's highlights.

The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan  (flac 190mb)

01 The 6 Million Dollar Sandwich 3:02
02 Glen's Goo 4:07
03 A Chronicle Of Early Failures Pt. One 5:43
04 A Chronicle Of Early Failures Pt. Two 5:47
05 Taco Me Manque 2:37
06 Aegina Airlines 2:48
07 When I See Scissors, I Cannot Help But Think Of You 3:59
08 Girth Rides A (Horse 2:33
09 La Ballade D'Alain Georges 6:23
10 Beatrice Pt. Two 4:04
11 The Struggle 5:28

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After the near symphonic exercise of engaging the void that was Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid in 2001, it was hard to believe there was anything left to do. Wrong. Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie emerged from the studio in early 2007 with the equally huge And Their Refinement of the Decline. The notion of symphonic here is, without doubt, still present, but not in any normal way. Over two very differently themed discs, and three LPs, Stars of the Lid engage long conceptual ideas from a place one can only call micro-minimalism. An obsession with drones fading in and out on all kinds of instruments is what takes precedent here, whether that be a string section, a solo cello, harp, trumpet or a children's choir. (Yes, all of them are here, and more.) Don't worry, all this deep fixation with drones and classical music doesn't mess up Stars of the Lid's sense of humor. The titles are still hilarious in places (the set opens with a piece titled "Dungtitled (In A Major)"). The sound of drones is prevalent on disc one, though the drones change and are actually held notes. Whether they are played live or simply articulated and then manipulated by electronics doesn't matter. The feeling of being washed over, being gently pulled under water to someplace where language no longer makes sense, feelings get all folded together and an overwhelming calm takes over -- especially at loud volumes -- as single notes are held by the strings for as long as five minutes. The aforementioned piece is like this, as are "The Evil That Never Arrived," and "Apreludes (In C Major)," which moves through one note for minutes at a time with an ever increasing dynamic and textural array of sounds and instruments and begins to feel like the opening theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Yet the real bottom line in these pieces, and to a lesser but no less relevant extent, is that these cuts feel like a part of an opening whole that is also at the end of something, like quiet exits from a long-form work, with the feelings of being finished, exhausted, lulled by the lack of energy and motion. It's impossible to say, but when engaging disc two, it feels almost as if it is a mirror image to Gavin Bryars' magnificent "The Sinking of the Titantic" (the second version). Here, where melody dissipates and disappears or never even arrives, as in "The Daughters of Quiet Minds," or the in-and-out of the ether feel in "That Finger on Your Temple Is the Barrel of My Raygun," where actual oceanic and perhaps ship sounds can be heard washing through the mix; and the piece is merely three notes in scale. The sense of drama and restless experimentation are portrayed in back to back pieces ("Humectez la Mouture" and "Tippy's Demise") where on the former a voice in French speaks out of an indescribable series of spaces and noises, and on the latter a cello harmonically plays with the all but absent "orchestra" who have disappeared into the actual feel of the piece rather than remained in its mechanical parts. The set's final cut, "Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface" begins with voices, muted yet telling, washed into the emerging sound, where chords express themselves, shift and change shape, color and dimension, becoming both something more and something less in the process. At over 17 minutes, more instruments are added, they emerge louder and are more "present" but remain under the guise of absence, as that thing that has already been wiped away. The single- and two-note lines that emerge from the slow, turtle-like pace of the track never move toward anything else even though they assert the theme in various dynamic ways on occasions before re-entering the shadow world of sound.

Everything here is rounded. There are no edges on either disc, it's all fuzzy and yet brilliant to hear at the same time. It's music of such quiet and devastating power it can silence a room in five minutes without the volume knob on the stereo being manipulated. There are detractors -- or better yet, cynics -- who wonder why, and how, music like this, music that simply is, that evolves and returns to silence over and over again, is even necessary. The answer is simple: because the sound on And Their Refinement of the Decline is the sound of everything already after it has fallen apart. It is not a sound that dares to rebuild anything, speak anything, or declare anything. It simply wants to document what happens when it all goes to hell, and in that space, that quiet space, Stars of the Lid emerges with a sound that is as hopeful as it is funereal. It is simply the sound of "is-ness," something that becomes nothing, only to become something again. And Their Refinement of the Decline is deeply moving. Stars of the Lid doesn't give a damn about any experimental "indie" scene nonsense either. This will appeal to fans of Eno's ambient work (though it speaks volumes louder and yet is gentler), Philip Glass, Morton Feldman, Bryars, Steve Reich and Charlemagne Palestine, but is completely its own bag of sonic tricks. It's an awesome thing, this album, and anyone, virtually anyone who encounters it will be in some way moved by the impure music it contains. Achingly beautiful....

Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinement Of The Decline (flac 497mb)

01 Dungtitled (In A Major) 5:54
Articulate Silences
02 Part 1 5:24
03 Part 2 5:37
04 The Evil That Never Arrived 5:04
05 Apreludes (In C Sharp Major) 3:44
06 Don't Bother They're Here 10:10
07 Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage 5:54
08 Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxième) 9:20
09 Even (Out) + 4:51
10 A Meaningful Moment Through A Meaning(less) Process 4:32
11 Another Ballad For Heavy Lids 4:32
12 The Daughters Of Quiet Minds 13:21
13 Hiberner Toujours 1:49
14 That Finger On Your Temple Is The Barrel Of My Raygun 5:04
15 Humectez La Mouture 5:31
16 Tippy's Demise 8:18
17 The Mouthchew 3:40
18 December Hunting For Vegetarian Fuckface 17:45

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This was sold at Stars of the Lid shows. It is an excellent compilation of previously unreleased out-takes, mixes, and a few songs that have never been released in any form. A very, very limited edition that is a musr for fans of the band. It fits in well with all the other SOTL albums but has an overall sad ambience to it. References to the death of someone are evident in the song titles: R.I.P., Requiem, Funeral, and, of course, the music fits. The long "Virginia (20.03)" is unique in that it contains what sounds like percussion and other found objects. The song, like most of SOTL's long ones, slowly washes through several different tones. If you like SOTL, this album is comparable to their others of which I can say none are my favorites (because they all are). My actual review is 4.5 stars because of the added radio vocals on the second song because it detracts from the meditative calm of most of their music, but the music that follows that British radio introduction is quite lovely.

Stars of the Lid - Carte-De-Visite (flac 194mb)

01 The Mouthchew (Part 2) 3:45
02 JPRIP 4:37
03 Requiem String Melody 2:46
04 Porch (Version#28) 5:00
05 The Kraut 9:42
06 Slight On The Childproof 5:01
07 Virginia 20:05
08 Hunting For Pops 5:24
09 The Funereal 2:27

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