FRI., APRIL 27, 2007
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Debating The Merits Of Stars Of The Lid
by Robert Phoenix
One day, as I was about to download a chunk of tunes from ex-Windham Hill artists for a future column, I saw an oddly titled recording show up in my “Your New Arrivals” section on my eMusic homepage. You know the drill — a program makes suggestions for albums to check out, based on your download patterns. It’s like Tivo lite. There it was: Stars of the Lid. Who the hell were these guys? Well, in the weirdly synchronistic world I live in, I got an email from eMusic managing editor J. Edward Keyes asking me if I would be into doing a column on them. The fix was in. I listened to their music and was floored by the depth and layers of their somnambulistic ambiance. I discovered that they were originally from Austin, Texas, and now occupy spaces in two completely different parts of the world: guitarist Brian McBride lives in Los Angeles and the band's other guitarist, Adam Wiltzie, in Switzerland. Then I found out that McBride was also a debate champ in college and coaches debating at USC.
I was intrigued.
So I challenged McBride to a friendly debate, via Instant Messenger, on the merits of SOTL’s music. He agreed and it was on. The following is the IM debate between myself and McBride (with his wife occasionally chiming in, which gave me a slight edge when I most needed it).
McBride (9:12:04 PM): Hey Robert, this is actually Brian's wife Cheri. He's out smoking a cig.
eMusic (9:12:16 PM): Hahahahaha.
eMusic (9:12:22 PM): That's funny.
McBride (9:12:27 PM): Yeh, I'm his secretary.
McBride (9:13:05 PM): Now's the time to ask whatever you want.... I always tell the truth
McBride (9:13:12 PM): Hahaha
eMusic (9:15:29 PM): What other vices does Brian have?
McBride (9:15:35 PM): Hahahaha.
McBride (9:15:39 PM): Ahhhh....
McBride (9:15:47 PM): Battlestar Galactica.
McBride (9:15:51 PM): My cooking.
McBride (9:15:55 PM): Our cats.
McBride (9:16:03 PM): Carrot cake.
McBride (9:16:28 PM): Entourage... he's probably not too proud of that one.
eMusic (9:16:55 PM): So a perfect night for him would be one of your dinners, an episode of Battlestar Galactica, some carrot cake, a quick smoke and cats on a lap?
McBride (9:17:17 PM): Yeah... that's pretty much it
McBride (9:17:31 PM): And then when I go to bed, he'd make music until 3 in the morning.
McBride (9:19:52 PM): Alright... here's the man....
McBride (9:20:39 PM): I was actually outside doing push-ups and jumping jacks pumpin' myself up for this debate.
eMusic (9:20:51 PM): Oh no. I am toast.
McBride (9:20:58 PM): You know this.
eMusic (9:21:57 PM): So, I really wanted to get into a spirited talk, because I cannot aggressively criticize your music, because I enjoy it. So let's make this sort of like Actor's Studio with an edge.
McBride (9:22:23 PM): Alrighty.
McBride (9:22:37 PM): I am now inside the Actor's Studio.
eMusic (9:23:00 PM): Feel free to be brief or as elaborate in any of your responses.
eMusic (9:23:14 PM): Before we get into the meat of our spirited discussion regarding your music, can you please share how you met Adam Wiltzie and how you figured out that you were going to make music together?
McBride (9:24:28 PM): I met Adam in Austin around '92-ish. I've told so many different versions of this story that I can't determine which one is actually true.
McBride (9:24:59 PM): In reality we meet thumbing through records at a radio station meeting — KVRX was the station.
McBride (9:25:09 PM): I could tell you the sperm donor story or.
McBride (9:25:25 PM): The he hit a deer with his car story.
McBride (9:26:33 PM): We used to spin records together after we figured we had some similar musical tastes, eventually that turned into making music together.
McBride (9:27:28 PM): The radio show I did in Austin was kinda like a Lid training ground, I would layer all these found samples and quiet records, eventually I recorded stuff on a 4 track and brought it into the station, from there, we decided we could make music
eMusic (9:28:08 PM): So this is how you honed the sound that made you the darlings of American ambient music?
McBride (9:28:25 PM): Uhhh, maybe.
McBride (9:28:40 PM): I wouldn't really know about being anyone but my wife's darling.
McBride (9:28:51 PM): My wife just said "good answer."
eMusic (9:29:45 PM): I hear strains of Robert Rich's soundworlds in your compositions. Has he been an influence at all?
McBride (9:30:09 PM): Not so much, I sorta found some of his work later on.
McBride (9:30:25 PM): I think most of our early influences were the things we disliked about music.
McBride (9:30:53 PM): Living in Austin — you know, the live music capital of the world — there's a lot to dislike
McBride (9:31:21 PM): Neither of us were particularly knowledgeable about minimalist music when we started. We liked Talk Talk and Angelo Badalamenti but we wouldn't know of someone like Robert Rich.
eMusic (9:32:56 PM): Starting out in Austin and making the music that you do adds even more to the enigmatic mythos. Did your place in the world there influence your sound?
McBride (9:34:13 PM): Sure, I guess. By that I think I mean that our disconnection from the world around us influenced what we wanted to hear. We'd have some classical records and a couple of pieces would be real standouts but then most records would get way too busy for us.
McBride (9:35:08 PM): There was a lot of boogie rock in Austin, the Stevie Ray Vaughans of the world, I think that influenced us to a certain degree.
eMusic (9:36:12 PM): Well that was what I was going to ask you — musically what you do is a little removed from what takes place at Antone's. Explain the connection between boogie rock and SOTL.
McBride (9:37:56 PM): Well, for starters, Austin music was always designed to bring people up, it's entertainment, and it's entertaining in the sense that you go out from your daily life's druthers to do what, get up. Secondly, there's so much solo-ing in all that music, so much showmanship, that they forget about the beauty of restraint.
McBride (9:38:19 PM): But that criticism of music is not limited to Austin — LA and other towns suffer from the 'tyranny of the up.' Many musicians become too good at what they do that they can't restrain themselves, they spend less time listening to who and what they're playing with, it's just them.
eMusic (9:39:32 PM): "Tyranny of the Up" sounds like a SOTL song.
McBride (9:39:40 PM): Could be, could be. We do have some ridiculous titles.
eMusic (9:40:33 PM): How do you guys arrive at such absurdism? Seems arbitrary at times.
McBride (9:40:57 PM): You mean title-wise?
eMusic (9:41:02 PM): Yes.
McBride (9:41:27 PM): I thought you were about to throw down the gauntlet and bring on the debating.
eMusic (9:41:40 PM): I’m getting warmed up.
eMusic (9:42:04 PM): Now doing my push ups!
McBride (9:42:46 PM): Usually the titles that we end up with are sort of these evolutions of working titles that we've used for a long time, so like “December Hunting for Veggie Fuckface” is a combination of a song of mine and Adam's — I was the “December Hunting” part and he was the “Veggie Fuckface.”
McBride (9:44:10 PM): And we also don't take ourselves too seriously, we do believe in trying our darndest to make what we think is some quality music but after awhile you need a little cheese to knock yourself off your serious horse. You can't be serious all the time, every now and then you need some good soft rock or ridiculous song titles.
eMusic (9:45:16 PM): It seems to me that by choosing such absurd titles, that in some way you detract from the beauty of the music. It's like you’re not fully embracing the poetry of the sound and belittling it somewhat in some ways.
eMusic (9:45:50 PM): I'm getting braver here.
McBride (9:46:15 PM): That's true, we do have a love / hate relationship to what we do. After you work on something for so long, it's hard to stay enamored with it.
eMusic (9:46:46 PM): But I have to be honest, It's charming in a geek way as well.
McBride (9:47:02 PM): But that's also to say that we "belittle the music" in the ears of the listener and I try not to base what I do speculating about how others will perceive it.
McBride (9:47:42 PM): Well thanks, we don't mean it disparagingly to the music, but I'm sure some of that is operative at the time.
McBride (9:48:23 PM): Like "Be Little with Me," “Off Gravitational Pull" — great title, multiple ways to read it obviously and very symptomatic of living in Austin.
eMusic (9:48:14 PM): Let's talk about intention for a moment. What was the intent of the latest record before you sat down and put it together?
McBride (9:48:38 PM): Ok.
McBride (9:48:55 PM): Hmmmmm.
McBride (9:49:05 PM): That's a hard question to answer
eMusic (9:49:23 PM): Was there any? Or were you courting the muses of chance?
McBride (9:52:35 PM): We're so lost in what we're doing that we rarely stop and say what we want to do. Occasionally, like after Avec Laudenum, we purposely tried to distance ourselves from ambient music, focusing more on melody. But that's rare. Intention shows up more in the process of rejecting certain pieces or components of pieces. I do think there's some imagining early on but it never makes it to the realm of intention.
McBride (9:54:51 PM): I think this may be more present for Adam than he would like to admit. If I can speak for him for a sec — which I should — he does occasionally believe that he can't make the same ol' record that he's already made, and tries to find something new that makes his world meaningful (even if he believes that it's meaningless). I think that's why the Dead Texan is good for him, because it's a visual collaboration with his lady so it challenges him. For me, at the moment, the process of making music, of translating live sounds into recorded sounds, layering different instruments, playing around with different melodies, is enough of a challenge
McBride (9:57:00 PM): Before the record was recorded I did say to myself that I wanted a record that personifies a telekinetic battle between frogs and monkeys.
eMusic (9:57:00 PM): Let's talk about personalities for a moment. Creating is a complex process by oneself, multiply it tenfold with another. Do you both assume the same roles when you record, or do you intentionally change parts of who you are each time out?
eMusic (9:57:31 PM): Who won?
McBride (9:57:45 PM): It's ongoing, we'll need another record.
McBride (9:58:13 PM): Do we change parts?
eMusic (9:58:22 PM): Hahahahaha. Sounds like an episode of Battlestar Galactica. (I got some intel from your wife.)
McBride (9:59:24 PM): No, not really, we both have a certain style that we bring to the Lid, that we've kinda relied on it in a way. We make music alone in a way almost anticipating what the other will do, occasionally I think we rip each other off (or maybe we're just learning from each other).
McBride (9:59:41 PM): Also, that would be the best episode of Battlestar Galactica. (You are a cheater!)
eMusic (10:00:01 PM): I had to get some kind of an edge on a debating pro.
McBride (10:02:44 PM): We both play the same instruments, so it's not like we're studio musicians in the sense of being so specialized, we can kinda mimic the other person in a way, but the other does bring something more. For example, one of the last tracks we recorded on the record was "A Meaningless Moment Through a Meaningless Process." Actually it recorded itself surprisingly quickly. I sent Adam the bulk of the track, he took out of it what he liked, gave it a little bit of the A-B-A-C pattern that he likes, and it was done. I always notice that at the end of our recordings, we do seem to communicate better I think because of the intensity of working previous to it.
McBride (10:02:54 PM): Hey Robert, Do you hear that?
eMusic (10:03:29 PM): What?
McBride (10:03:53 PM): I hear Europe's "Final Countdown" in the background — I think that means you're going down.
eMusic (10:04:09 PM): By the way, I also know that you like, ahem, Entourage.
McBride (10:04:31 PM): I don't know what you're talking about, there's no point in making shit up.
eMusic (10:04:32 PM): Slam!
McBride (10:04:55 PM): Let's keep it civil, all we have is our dignity here.
eMusic (10:05:11 PM): Ok. Here's a Lipton question. Why vinyl?
McBride (10:06:05 PM): Well we actually record according to sides, so it makes sense. When we work on a record, we talk in terms of sides and we work in certain keys on certain sides. But we've always released our records on vinyl maybe because we want to keep it alive in out own little way — you horrible, horrrible digital pimp you.
McBride (10:07:25 PM): We love old soundtracks, and digging through them at record stores and thrift stores. There's a warmth to the crackle and pops that fits in too.
eMusic (10:10:03 PM): Let me be my digital pimp self for a moment.
McBride (10:10:15 PM): Like you ever weren't.
eMusic (10:11:42 PM): What separates you guys from a person that has a working knowledge of Ableton or even Garage Band, who can lay down multi-layers of ambient sounds? In essence what makes you different than the mob with cookie cutter software at their disposal?
McBride (10:12:04 PM): Their shit sucks.
McBride (10:12:15 PM): Do you want more?
eMusic (10:12:17 PM): Hahahaha.
McBride (10:14:20 PM): It is true that in this day and age, art in the age of mechanical reproduction has become easier in a way. You don't need a studio to record. But asking "What separates you?" just because we use similar recording devices is kind of like asking what separates the Beatles and the Alan Parsons project because they both recorded on a four-track.
McBride (10:14:40 PM): That wasn't as funny, but you should know, I'm not your monkey.
McBride (10:15:43 PM): Plus we're not just about throwing some loops up there and letting accidents take over. What we do is intentional and melody is a big component for us whether the listeners hears that or not.
eMusic (10:16:03 PM): Hey, as long as you are my psychic toad, that's cool.
McBride (10:16:27 PM): Sharp.
eMusic (10:19:59 PM): So I am going to post this tête-à-tête in the new age section of eMusic. How does that float your boat?
McBride (10:20:27 PM): Ohhh good one, we make some of the best new age around, of that I'm certain.
eMusic (10:21:07 PM): Well, I think it could open up a whole new demographic for you. You know Deepak Chopra is just down the road a piece.
McBride (10:21:22 PM): We didn't speak about much new age; if you tell me about your crystals, I'll tell you about mine.
eMusic (10:21:43 PM): Uhhhhh. Next subject.
McBride (10:21:45 PM): We could collaborate with Deepak. We could score his musings on transcendence on this worldly plane.
McBride (10:22:37 PM): You can keep going with this one, I can be serious for a spell.
eMusic (10:23:44 PM): I could, but I think that's one of the reasons why you guys fuck with the titles of the songs. Separation. Irony.
McBride (10:28:07 PM): There are a lot of similarities, but I think it's more than just our titles than separate us from new age composers. I've thought about this a lot. I know that much of the new age music that I've heard I find somewhat lifeless, instrumentally and compositionally. What makes music part of a genre is a question for critics to answer. Early on, we were tarnished with the "post-rock" label. We'd tour and almost every interview wanted to ask us about post-rock and how we felt being post-rock or American post-rock.
McBride (10:28:11 PM): We didn't feel anything about it really except that it was a journalistic creation to separate out artists, to give the musical terrain a certain stability where it may not be. I think of new age in the same way. Is Erik Satie new age? Is there something about what he played, or what instrument he used, or when he did that informs what section in the record store (cyber or otherwise) he should fit in?
McBride (10:28:58 PM): There are certain qualities about new age music that I can relate to, namely the desire to slow down.
eMusic (10:29:58 PM): Well it's in our nature to name. I think we have taxonomic souls — at least in the West. There's another potential title for ya.
McBride (10:30:52 PM): True and true. We do name and categorize. We like to make sense of things, just as the Lid uses the 20 minutes of a side to organize over two hours of music.
eMusic (10:31:08 PM): There is no denying, the music is deeply meditative. Wrap around it what you wish.
eMusic (10:37:17 PM): On a slightly more serious note, I do hope that this piece will open the ears of new age listeners and expose your music to a new set of people.
McBride (10:38:38 PM): I'm always intrigued by the prospect of exposing our music to different listeners besides dudes who work in record stores. When we released Per Aspera ad Astra we tried to get our music reviewed in art magazines.
McBride (10:40:12 PM): There are many people out there who could use a little lid, even if not us — something to stop and stare at besides the TV.
eMusic (10:40:48 PM): Definitely. Have you had enough of my debating kung fu?
McBride (10:41:16 PM): I am weary, you are a formidable opponent.
McBride (10:41:33 PM): Thanks for this, Robert
eMusic (10:41:39 PM): I bow to you, Lid-san…
McBride (10:41:47 PM): Ha
eMusic (10:42:24 PM): Thanks so much for your time and say bye to your wife for me.
McBride (10:42:42 PM): Cheers.
I was intrigued.
So I challenged McBride to a friendly debate, via Instant Messenger, on the merits of SOTL’s music. He agreed and it was on. The following is the IM debate between myself and McBride (with his wife occasionally chiming in, which gave me a slight edge when I most needed it).
McBride (9:12:04 PM): Hey Robert, this is actually Brian's wife Cheri. He's out smoking a cig.
eMusic (9:12:16 PM): Hahahahaha.
eMusic (9:12:22 PM): That's funny.
McBride (9:12:27 PM): Yeh, I'm his secretary.
McBride (9:13:05 PM): Now's the time to ask whatever you want.... I always tell the truth
McBride (9:13:12 PM): Hahaha
eMusic (9:15:29 PM): What other vices does Brian have?
McBride (9:15:35 PM): Hahahaha.
McBride (9:15:39 PM): Ahhhh....
McBride (9:15:47 PM): Battlestar Galactica.
McBride (9:15:51 PM): My cooking.
McBride (9:15:55 PM): Our cats.
McBride (9:16:03 PM): Carrot cake.
McBride (9:16:28 PM): Entourage... he's probably not too proud of that one.
eMusic (9:16:55 PM): So a perfect night for him would be one of your dinners, an episode of Battlestar Galactica, some carrot cake, a quick smoke and cats on a lap?
McBride (9:17:17 PM): Yeah... that's pretty much it
McBride (9:17:31 PM): And then when I go to bed, he'd make music until 3 in the morning.
McBride (9:19:52 PM): Alright... here's the man....
McBride (9:20:39 PM): I was actually outside doing push-ups and jumping jacks pumpin' myself up for this debate.
eMusic (9:20:51 PM): Oh no. I am toast.
McBride (9:20:58 PM): You know this.
eMusic (9:21:57 PM): So, I really wanted to get into a spirited talk, because I cannot aggressively criticize your music, because I enjoy it. So let's make this sort of like Actor's Studio with an edge.
McBride (9:22:23 PM): Alrighty.
McBride (9:22:37 PM): I am now inside the Actor's Studio.
eMusic (9:23:00 PM): Feel free to be brief or as elaborate in any of your responses.
eMusic (9:23:14 PM): Before we get into the meat of our spirited discussion regarding your music, can you please share how you met Adam Wiltzie and how you figured out that you were going to make music together?
McBride (9:24:28 PM): I met Adam in Austin around '92-ish. I've told so many different versions of this story that I can't determine which one is actually true.
McBride (9:24:59 PM): In reality we meet thumbing through records at a radio station meeting — KVRX was the station.
McBride (9:25:09 PM): I could tell you the sperm donor story or.
McBride (9:25:25 PM): The he hit a deer with his car story.
McBride (9:26:33 PM): We used to spin records together after we figured we had some similar musical tastes, eventually that turned into making music together.
McBride (9:27:28 PM): The radio show I did in Austin was kinda like a Lid training ground, I would layer all these found samples and quiet records, eventually I recorded stuff on a 4 track and brought it into the station, from there, we decided we could make music
eMusic (9:28:08 PM): So this is how you honed the sound that made you the darlings of American ambient music?
McBride (9:28:25 PM): Uhhh, maybe.
McBride (9:28:40 PM): I wouldn't really know about being anyone but my wife's darling.
McBride (9:28:51 PM): My wife just said "good answer."
eMusic (9:29:45 PM): I hear strains of Robert Rich's soundworlds in your compositions. Has he been an influence at all?
McBride (9:30:09 PM): Not so much, I sorta found some of his work later on.
McBride (9:30:25 PM): I think most of our early influences were the things we disliked about music.
McBride (9:30:53 PM): Living in Austin — you know, the live music capital of the world — there's a lot to dislike
McBride (9:31:21 PM): Neither of us were particularly knowledgeable about minimalist music when we started. We liked Talk Talk and Angelo Badalamenti but we wouldn't know of someone like Robert Rich.
eMusic (9:32:56 PM): Starting out in Austin and making the music that you do adds even more to the enigmatic mythos. Did your place in the world there influence your sound?
McBride (9:34:13 PM): Sure, I guess. By that I think I mean that our disconnection from the world around us influenced what we wanted to hear. We'd have some classical records and a couple of pieces would be real standouts but then most records would get way too busy for us.
McBride (9:35:08 PM): There was a lot of boogie rock in Austin, the Stevie Ray Vaughans of the world, I think that influenced us to a certain degree.
eMusic (9:36:12 PM): Well that was what I was going to ask you — musically what you do is a little removed from what takes place at Antone's. Explain the connection between boogie rock and SOTL.
McBride (9:37:56 PM): Well, for starters, Austin music was always designed to bring people up, it's entertainment, and it's entertaining in the sense that you go out from your daily life's druthers to do what, get up. Secondly, there's so much solo-ing in all that music, so much showmanship, that they forget about the beauty of restraint.
McBride (9:38:19 PM): But that criticism of music is not limited to Austin — LA and other towns suffer from the 'tyranny of the up.' Many musicians become too good at what they do that they can't restrain themselves, they spend less time listening to who and what they're playing with, it's just them.
eMusic (9:39:32 PM): "Tyranny of the Up" sounds like a SOTL song.
McBride (9:39:40 PM): Could be, could be. We do have some ridiculous titles.
eMusic (9:40:33 PM): How do you guys arrive at such absurdism? Seems arbitrary at times.
McBride (9:40:57 PM): You mean title-wise?
eMusic (9:41:02 PM): Yes.
McBride (9:41:27 PM): I thought you were about to throw down the gauntlet and bring on the debating.
eMusic (9:41:40 PM): I’m getting warmed up.
eMusic (9:42:04 PM): Now doing my push ups!
McBride (9:42:46 PM): Usually the titles that we end up with are sort of these evolutions of working titles that we've used for a long time, so like “December Hunting for Veggie Fuckface” is a combination of a song of mine and Adam's — I was the “December Hunting” part and he was the “Veggie Fuckface.”
McBride (9:44:10 PM): And we also don't take ourselves too seriously, we do believe in trying our darndest to make what we think is some quality music but after awhile you need a little cheese to knock yourself off your serious horse. You can't be serious all the time, every now and then you need some good soft rock or ridiculous song titles.
eMusic (9:45:16 PM): It seems to me that by choosing such absurd titles, that in some way you detract from the beauty of the music. It's like you’re not fully embracing the poetry of the sound and belittling it somewhat in some ways.
eMusic (9:45:50 PM): I'm getting braver here.
McBride (9:46:15 PM): That's true, we do have a love / hate relationship to what we do. After you work on something for so long, it's hard to stay enamored with it.
eMusic (9:46:46 PM): But I have to be honest, It's charming in a geek way as well.
McBride (9:47:02 PM): But that's also to say that we "belittle the music" in the ears of the listener and I try not to base what I do speculating about how others will perceive it.
McBride (9:47:42 PM): Well thanks, we don't mean it disparagingly to the music, but I'm sure some of that is operative at the time.
McBride (9:48:23 PM): Like "Be Little with Me," “Off Gravitational Pull" — great title, multiple ways to read it obviously and very symptomatic of living in Austin.
eMusic (9:48:14 PM): Let's talk about intention for a moment. What was the intent of the latest record before you sat down and put it together?
McBride (9:48:38 PM): Ok.
McBride (9:48:55 PM): Hmmmmm.
McBride (9:49:05 PM): That's a hard question to answer
eMusic (9:49:23 PM): Was there any? Or were you courting the muses of chance?
McBride (9:52:35 PM): We're so lost in what we're doing that we rarely stop and say what we want to do. Occasionally, like after Avec Laudenum, we purposely tried to distance ourselves from ambient music, focusing more on melody. But that's rare. Intention shows up more in the process of rejecting certain pieces or components of pieces. I do think there's some imagining early on but it never makes it to the realm of intention.
McBride (9:54:51 PM): I think this may be more present for Adam than he would like to admit. If I can speak for him for a sec — which I should — he does occasionally believe that he can't make the same ol' record that he's already made, and tries to find something new that makes his world meaningful (even if he believes that it's meaningless). I think that's why the Dead Texan is good for him, because it's a visual collaboration with his lady so it challenges him. For me, at the moment, the process of making music, of translating live sounds into recorded sounds, layering different instruments, playing around with different melodies, is enough of a challenge
McBride (9:57:00 PM): Before the record was recorded I did say to myself that I wanted a record that personifies a telekinetic battle between frogs and monkeys.
eMusic (9:57:00 PM): Let's talk about personalities for a moment. Creating is a complex process by oneself, multiply it tenfold with another. Do you both assume the same roles when you record, or do you intentionally change parts of who you are each time out?
eMusic (9:57:31 PM): Who won?
McBride (9:57:45 PM): It's ongoing, we'll need another record.
McBride (9:58:13 PM): Do we change parts?
eMusic (9:58:22 PM): Hahahahaha. Sounds like an episode of Battlestar Galactica. (I got some intel from your wife.)
McBride (9:59:24 PM): No, not really, we both have a certain style that we bring to the Lid, that we've kinda relied on it in a way. We make music alone in a way almost anticipating what the other will do, occasionally I think we rip each other off (or maybe we're just learning from each other).
McBride (9:59:41 PM): Also, that would be the best episode of Battlestar Galactica. (You are a cheater!)
eMusic (10:00:01 PM): I had to get some kind of an edge on a debating pro.
McBride (10:02:44 PM): We both play the same instruments, so it's not like we're studio musicians in the sense of being so specialized, we can kinda mimic the other person in a way, but the other does bring something more. For example, one of the last tracks we recorded on the record was "A Meaningless Moment Through a Meaningless Process." Actually it recorded itself surprisingly quickly. I sent Adam the bulk of the track, he took out of it what he liked, gave it a little bit of the A-B-A-C pattern that he likes, and it was done. I always notice that at the end of our recordings, we do seem to communicate better I think because of the intensity of working previous to it.
McBride (10:02:54 PM): Hey Robert, Do you hear that?
eMusic (10:03:29 PM): What?
McBride (10:03:53 PM): I hear Europe's "Final Countdown" in the background — I think that means you're going down.
eMusic (10:04:09 PM): By the way, I also know that you like, ahem, Entourage.
McBride (10:04:31 PM): I don't know what you're talking about, there's no point in making shit up.
eMusic (10:04:32 PM): Slam!
McBride (10:04:55 PM): Let's keep it civil, all we have is our dignity here.
eMusic (10:05:11 PM): Ok. Here's a Lipton question. Why vinyl?
McBride (10:06:05 PM): Well we actually record according to sides, so it makes sense. When we work on a record, we talk in terms of sides and we work in certain keys on certain sides. But we've always released our records on vinyl maybe because we want to keep it alive in out own little way — you horrible, horrrible digital pimp you.
McBride (10:07:25 PM): We love old soundtracks, and digging through them at record stores and thrift stores. There's a warmth to the crackle and pops that fits in too.
eMusic (10:10:03 PM): Let me be my digital pimp self for a moment.
McBride (10:10:15 PM): Like you ever weren't.
eMusic (10:11:42 PM): What separates you guys from a person that has a working knowledge of Ableton or even Garage Band, who can lay down multi-layers of ambient sounds? In essence what makes you different than the mob with cookie cutter software at their disposal?
McBride (10:12:04 PM): Their shit sucks.
McBride (10:12:15 PM): Do you want more?
eMusic (10:12:17 PM): Hahahaha.
McBride (10:14:20 PM): It is true that in this day and age, art in the age of mechanical reproduction has become easier in a way. You don't need a studio to record. But asking "What separates you?" just because we use similar recording devices is kind of like asking what separates the Beatles and the Alan Parsons project because they both recorded on a four-track.
McBride (10:14:40 PM): That wasn't as funny, but you should know, I'm not your monkey.
McBride (10:15:43 PM): Plus we're not just about throwing some loops up there and letting accidents take over. What we do is intentional and melody is a big component for us whether the listeners hears that or not.
eMusic (10:16:03 PM): Hey, as long as you are my psychic toad, that's cool.
McBride (10:16:27 PM): Sharp.
eMusic (10:19:59 PM): So I am going to post this tête-à-tête in the new age section of eMusic. How does that float your boat?
McBride (10:20:27 PM): Ohhh good one, we make some of the best new age around, of that I'm certain.
eMusic (10:21:07 PM): Well, I think it could open up a whole new demographic for you. You know Deepak Chopra is just down the road a piece.
McBride (10:21:22 PM): We didn't speak about much new age; if you tell me about your crystals, I'll tell you about mine.
eMusic (10:21:43 PM): Uhhhhh. Next subject.
McBride (10:21:45 PM): We could collaborate with Deepak. We could score his musings on transcendence on this worldly plane.
McBride (10:22:37 PM): You can keep going with this one, I can be serious for a spell.
eMusic (10:23:44 PM): I could, but I think that's one of the reasons why you guys fuck with the titles of the songs. Separation. Irony.
McBride (10:28:07 PM): There are a lot of similarities, but I think it's more than just our titles than separate us from new age composers. I've thought about this a lot. I know that much of the new age music that I've heard I find somewhat lifeless, instrumentally and compositionally. What makes music part of a genre is a question for critics to answer. Early on, we were tarnished with the "post-rock" label. We'd tour and almost every interview wanted to ask us about post-rock and how we felt being post-rock or American post-rock.
McBride (10:28:11 PM): We didn't feel anything about it really except that it was a journalistic creation to separate out artists, to give the musical terrain a certain stability where it may not be. I think of new age in the same way. Is Erik Satie new age? Is there something about what he played, or what instrument he used, or when he did that informs what section in the record store (cyber or otherwise) he should fit in?
McBride (10:28:58 PM): There are certain qualities about new age music that I can relate to, namely the desire to slow down.
eMusic (10:29:58 PM): Well it's in our nature to name. I think we have taxonomic souls — at least in the West. There's another potential title for ya.
McBride (10:30:52 PM): True and true. We do name and categorize. We like to make sense of things, just as the Lid uses the 20 minutes of a side to organize over two hours of music.
eMusic (10:31:08 PM): There is no denying, the music is deeply meditative. Wrap around it what you wish.
eMusic (10:37:17 PM): On a slightly more serious note, I do hope that this piece will open the ears of new age listeners and expose your music to a new set of people.
McBride (10:38:38 PM): I'm always intrigued by the prospect of exposing our music to different listeners besides dudes who work in record stores. When we released Per Aspera ad Astra we tried to get our music reviewed in art magazines.
McBride (10:40:12 PM): There are many people out there who could use a little lid, even if not us — something to stop and stare at besides the TV.
eMusic (10:40:48 PM): Definitely. Have you had enough of my debating kung fu?
McBride (10:41:16 PM): I am weary, you are a formidable opponent.
McBride (10:41:33 PM): Thanks for this, Robert
eMusic (10:41:39 PM): I bow to you, Lid-san…
McBride (10:41:47 PM): Ha
eMusic (10:42:24 PM): Thanks so much for your time and say bye to your wife for me.
McBride (10:42:42 PM): Cheers.
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