Customer Reviews

Per Aspera Ad Astra

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is impressive. Truly beautiful music that makes you think of wind blowing through branches during a winter storm, and I offer that hippie sh-t image only to contrast the effigy of what I think of when I hear pop music, i.e., plastic, clear cut space for the new mall, etc.

Per Aspera Ad Astra is a relatively short album (EP?) at just over 40 minutes, but that shouldn't deter you from buying it. This is some of Stars of the Lid's best work - smooth, comforting, but simultaneously a lot more interesting than most of the ambient music it's competing with. It really is evocative of the sky at night, and introduces such radical things as violins and - gasp - percussion into the SotL vocabulary.

Regarding Jon McCafferty's contribution I'd say it isn't terribly noticeable. The album cover is very appropriate for the music contained inside, but the field recordings don't do much besides pique my curiosity about what and how McCafferty was painting at any given moment. There's little synchronicity between the brush strokes and the flow of the music. It doesn't matter much though, because the recordings are intentionally faint and only add to the overall mood of the CD.

As a massage therapist, this music is a godsend. A friend gave it to me and it instantly became one of my favorites to play, both at work and at home. Recently a client said of it, "Oh, this is my favorite alien-ship-landing album," and totally cracked me up. It's true, it's a wonderful, darkish, spacey album that I can't do without.

Also try Deathprod - Morals and Dogma if you like this. That's a bit darker, and with a theramin, so be warned. But it's amazing, too.

Hey man, if you can't get the CD out of its case - try harder. The packaging company isn't purposely trying to piss you off - I don't think they would with the small amount of money they make off SOTL records and other indie bands.