About Stars of the Lid

Biography

Much has been written and spoken about Stars of the Lid, the now-legendary drone duo consisting of Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride, founded in Austin, TX, on Christmas Day in 1992. Ever since the release of their debut album in 1995, aptly titled Music for Nitrous Oxide, they have scratched out a distinct niche in the amorphous world of atmospheric music. The duo refined their hypnagogic sound on their sophomore album Gravitational Pull vs. the Desire for an Aquatic Life, released in 1996 via Sedimental Records, and slowly started building a dedicated following on both sides of the Atlantic among fans and critics.

For their third album, The Ballasted Orchestra (1997), the duo joined the kranky label, who have released their albums ever since – including The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001) and And Their Refinement of the Decline (2007). Both albums were critically acclaimed upon release and have since become pillars of the genre, often cited as some of the greatest ambient albums ever made.

Over the course of their career, Stars of the Lid have excelled at designing subtle, minimalist epics that sound as if they’re being played on a single multifaceted organic instrument. Their music tells subtle, endlessly evolving stories about the dynamics of sonic texture while simultaneously offering a picture of pure, unfettered consciousness. Their compositions are beatless soundscapes crafted from droning, effects-treated guitars alongside piano, strings, and horns. Volume swells and feedback fill the space typically occupied by rhythmic instruments, creating a sense of dynamic movement within their pieces. A wise man once described the band as “divine classical drones without the tedious intrusions of drums, or vocals”.

During a hiatus in the late 2000s, Wiltzie started project A Winged Victory for the Sullen with composer Dustin O'Halloran and has since scored films and documentaries, whilst McBride made his move west, released a couple of solo albums and coached the debate team at University of Southern California. The duo returned to the stage in the mid-2010s for a series of revered tours, including a rare filmed performance for Boiler Room at Brooklyn’s St. Agnes Church in 2015. Featuring a string nonet, this performance exquisitely captures how they transform their songs into a mesmerising, multidimensional experience. Stars of the Lid played their last show in Iceland in 2017, and another extended hiatus followed.

In 2023, Brian McBride passed away.

Impeccably beautiful sounds.

Pitchfork

Masters of slo-mo sublimation, able to conjure great cumulonimbuses of sound, tall and broad and imposing without a storm ever breaking out.

The Guardian

[SOTL are] making the most important music of the 21st century.

Ivo Watts-Russell, 4AD founder

Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride have made some of the most affecting ambient music of our time.

Resident Advisor

About

Stars of the Lid Forever is a fan-led project to archive their live recordings from over the years, all compiled in one place for your listening pleasure. It started as a blog post about discovering live bootlegs, growing into a fully-fledged archive, created by Jon Hicks (Hicks/design), with vital help from SOTL’s team and blessing by Adam Wiltzie. It uses Kirby as a CMS and Futura (of course) as the font.

We would like to extend an extra thank you to everyone who took the time to record and upload these performances. Your contributions made this possible.