Indeed. A real loss.RIP Brian McBride, you will be missed deeply and widely
Stars of the Lid’s Brian McBride Dies at 53
One half of the influential ambient duo, McBride also released solo records and played in the band Bell Gardenspitchfork.com
Me too, for about the past year, and what a great way to put it: dada poetry bolted onto a cookie cutter structure. The problem with it is the same problem I have with anything on the radio. Great songs can be found there, no doubt, but I don’t need to hear again anything by the Rolling Stones, Beatles, AC/DC or Floyd that the radio will play, unless maybe if it is a B side, which they won’t play. I’ve come to the point that I actually ration plays of special bands whose music I don’t wish to grow tired of; however, there’s something more weary-proof about ambient I can’t put my finger on.I've been really digging into ambient for the past year. I'm not entirely sure what the reason is. Just seemed like one day I got an urge to just listen to sound instead of song. I think part of it is I just seemed to have had enough of there being a narrative bolted on top of the music - which is invariably the case when there's lyrics even if they are nonsense lyrics. Also after about 40 years of pretty intense music fandom I finally got a bit tired of the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus yadda yadda routine. I've gotten into Aphex Twin and Biosphere and Eno. Love Boards of Canada although they aren't exactly ambient I suppose.
That's not to say I don't still listen to all my favorite music from the past of course. I've just found myself quite often in an ambient mood lately. I've come to enjoy (actually, it's almost more of a "need" really) some sound on in the background especially for reading, but it can't be anything too attention-grabbing.
My favourite Autechre track:
... same again, 4x faster:
Extraordinary band and a thankfully massive discographyMy favourite Autechre track:
... same again, 4x faster: