The Lilys / Aspera Ad AStra

I really, really, really, tried to like this release. The packaging is great, I love the Lilys' Bliss Out for Darla, and I've heard some great things about Aspera Ad Astra. So when I popped the cd in my player I had very high hopes.

The first couple of tracks are done by the Lilys. As I listened to the first couple of songs, especially track two, I couldn't help but feel that I was back in 1993. Most of the music that shaped my tastes was released that year. Just as I started to drift back, back in time I realized something quite disturbing... it's the year 2000. Sadly, I have moved on from 1993. I've realized that My Bloody Valentine will not return, Slowdive has broken up, and I will never see the Cocteau Twins live. The Lilys' music on this release is but a faint shadow of those halcyon days. I don't know about you, but I'd rather just look at what's making the shadow.

While my enjoyment of the first half of the EP was stilted by a need to move on to paths less traveled, I thought that Aspera Ad Astra would offer me something fresh and new. Unfortunately, they did. I can't get past the high speed ultra-chorused guitar sound and "silly" extraneous noises. For me, the actual sound is just as important as the chord changes. I thought the sound was tinny, the effects were cliché, and the songs sounded a bit tossed off.

I am sure that Aspera Ad Astra is capable of great things. A lot of their ideas were very interesting in a Flaming Lips sort of way. As for the Lilys, I'll just stick with their Bliss Out and be quite happy.

I suppose that my harshness is based more upon the fact that I had really high hopes for this release. If I had heard this cd in a record store by chance, I might have enjoyed it a lot more.

Pitchforkmedia
Lilys/Aspera Ad Astra
Split EP
[Tiger Style]
Rating: 6.2
by Nick Mirov

It's all too easy for me to be horribly biased towards this record. See, I love the Lilys like I love warm summer days, butter pecan ice cream, and birthday blowjobs. For me, they can do no wrong. If Kurt Heasley and whoever's backing his ass up these days came over to my house and recorded the sound of them beating me to a pulp, I'd still buy it. Hell, everyone would buy it because nothing says "entertainment" like hearing me scream, "Have I mentioned how much I love Eccsame the Photon Band? Oh god, no! Not the pliers! nnnnnggggeeeEYEEEYYYAGGGHH! [sound of shattering cartilage]

But enough about my sadomasochistic fantasies. What we have here is a sampler of sorts, thrown together mostly to get the new Tiger Style label off to a running start: four previously unreleased Lilys tracks left over from the Eccsame sessions, four new songs from psychedelians Aspera Ad Astra, and some bizarrely ugly cover art depicting apes wrestling with giant earthworms. (Don't ask, I don't get it either.)

Now, only hardcore Lilys fans could possibly get excited over a handful of seven-year-old demos, and sure, these four songs aren't anything special compared to their more polished work. The dreamlike, acid-drenched pulse of "Elsa" and "Hymn" merely recall better tracks from Eccsame, and the crunchy pop stomp of "Coby" is the missing link between the hazy garage-gazer of In the Presence of Nothing and the thick, vibrant power-pop of A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns. But those unfamiliar with the Lilys will at least get a pretty good idea of the band's pre-1995 vibe, before they transformed from shoegazery indie-poppers into British Invasion doppelgangers.

Aspera Ad Astra's half of the disc is fairly decent, but naturally a bit of a letdown after the Lilys have worked their magic. The heavily sedated, Spiritualized-like shimmer of their full- length debut, Peace, is distilled into smaller psych-pop nuggets here, which is kind of disappointing; "Good Beat Down" and "Tin Pan Miracles" sport melodies so twee and precious you'd think Drew Mills' whiny quaver was coming from a jolly yet neurotic dwarf. Only when the big globs of effects-laden distortion come raining down are the songs salvaged, as on "Feed the Fantasy." And even then, Aspera Ad Astra's sing-songiness is a bit much to handle. In culinary terms, this album is like only getting to smell a glass of wine, and then chugging a glass of maple syrup. Mmm... Maple syrup.

AMG Review
Jason Ankeny

This eight-track split release embraces the full spectrum of Philadelphia's so-called "Psychedelphia" space-rock scene, bringing together four unreleased tracks from the Lilys that were recorded around the time of the group's 1995 Eccsame the Photon Band album alongside a brand new session from latter-day torchbearers Aspera Ad Astra. While it's more than a bit jarring to hear the Lilys' material in light of the genre-hopping of their recent records, the shoegazer-inspired Eccsame period was perhaps the band's strongest, offering the ideal canvas for Kurt Heasley's soft-focus atmospherics and attention to sonic detail. While expanding on the promise of their debut album Peace, meanwhile, Aspera Ad Astra's four songs nevertheless reveal the inherent limitations of the retro approach common to both bands -- though separated by over six years, for all intents and purposes the disc's two distinct sessions could be the work of the same artist, recorded at that same time. Love it or hate it, there's no denying neo-psychedelia's creative restrictions, and after a while it all bleeds together -- which, for better or worse, is exactly why fans of the genre will want to snap this up. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

The Lilys made quite an impression when they first released In the Presence of Nothing in '92 on SpinArt followed by A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns in 1994, establishing themselves as America's answer to shoegazer rock . Their album Zero Population Growth on Darla last year, confirmed frontman Kurt Heasley's musical development in the past decade, shifting away from the heavenly into ambient and psychedelic. Sharing this release with fellow indie band Aspera Ad Astra, The Lilys memorable sound of the past is revived with dreamy harmonies and lush guitar solos on this eight-song lp. With Aspera Ad Astra contributing their modern, ornamented tunes, this collection meshes the nostalgic sound of yesteryear with the future sound of pop.

The Lilys tracks greet listeners with recordings from 93-94, when they were still grounded in music of the time from bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Pale Saints demonstrated in "Timber" with its mellow pace and repetitive guitar structure. "Hymn" is as pretty as it gets, with soft, hushed vocals, coupled with guitar riffs; hypnotic, comforting and mysterious sinking into a layered landscape of ethereal distortion. If 4AD sounds were all you craved for during the nineties, these songs are for you.

Aspera Ad Astra's "Good Beat Down" initiates their impressive portion of the release. It is a creative mix of spaceage noise, timely breaks, and the occassional rockin' segments, where all instruments are let loose. Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips would surely approve. Aspera Ad Astra are about building momentum in their music, incorporating unique instrumentation to create songs like "Feed the Fantasy" and "Bring Back the Walls," which rock with a dramatic fervor and beauty all their own. The Lilys and Aspera Ad Astra's meeting on this disc is a pleasant exploration of the tender and sonorous sounds of past indie pop into the fresh, experimental appeal of the new.

This split EP (four songs each) features an unusual chronology: the Lilys recorded their set in late '93, with producer Art DeFuria (Photon Band), while the Aspera Ad Astra contributions date from earlier this year. The seven-year gap may seem odd, but the old Lilys and the current Aspera Ad Astra work well together, both bands clambering up the My Bloody Valentine tree up to the point where the branches are dangerously thin. With a slight touch of guitar dissonance for a base, and carefully wrought melodies perched precariously on top, these eight tracks are the soundtrack to one long dream sequence. The Lilys' "Elsa" is an intimate song in a big room, and "Coby" is dense and swirling in a 1993 sort of way. Aspera Ad Astra's strangely orchestral "Good Beat Down" and "Bring Back The Walls" feature the sort of haunting hooks that stuck in my head for weeks. A good find.