7.
Stars Of The Lid – The Ballasted Orchestra
Stars Of The Lid are still in my mind so much better than a lot of the current crop of drone and ambient guitar bands. There are these beautiful cinematic dronescapes with nods towards David Lynch. You can almost feel the Texan sun-drenched sand swirling about your feet. There are some great 4-track tape collages on this record too. I was about 22 I think when I got The Ballasted Orchestra on vinyl in Canada and I was just totally blown away by it. It was what I had been looking for, for ages, just because it’s all guitars that you can barely hear – it’s all about the tones and the drones. That cinematic vibe comes across on tracks like ‘Music For Twin Peaks Episode #30’. I really like the fact that it’s all recorded on a 4-track, and it just sounds so epic and broad in its scope. I don’t think it’s been bettered really by anybody else – maybe a band like Sunn 0))), but then, they are totally different in a way. I feel like Stars Of The Lid really excel as minimalist composers in the vein of La Monte Young and Terry Riley rather than rock, metal or psychedelic sounds.
