the echo and echoplex

Stars Of The Lid || Listen

Kranky Records has often made subtle reiteration and variation an art form via the careful, restrained, frequently ambient drones of the likes of Keith Fullerton Whitman, Growing, and Tim Hecker, but some of the finest work in their catalogue is arguably that of Stars of the Lid, the long-running project of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie (formerly of Austin, Texas, currently relocated to Los Angeles, California, and Brussels, Belgium). The duo’s earlier work focused on manipulated guitar and field recordings, creating deep, often sparely-inhabited soundscapes, but by 2001’s sprawling two-hour The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid they’d moved on to glacially evolving orchestral arrangements incorporating other musicians and live horns and strings. The shift was accompanied by an increasing focus on melody, albeit on melody as an exercise in restraint, muted and melancholic, for a resulting album drifting out of pure drone and into to a sort of deeply textured classical minimalism. Finally, six years of slow intercontinental collaboration later, continued exploration into the latent melodic potential of their work has yielded McBride and Wiltzie’s masterpiece, And Their Refinement of the Decline. This expansive symphony, refined, decisive, and beautifully-realized, is a unique work, an impressive work, and ultimately, an important work. - Popmatters

with:
Christopher Willits || Listen
Nudge

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $13adv, $15dos / all ages