gettin' you all caught up on the Sufjan stuff put out in 09 so you'll stop whining about that next state album

After getting a chance to talk to Mr. Stevens and Cryptacize after the Cleveland, OH show on Sept. 24, He dropped that a new, as-yet-untitled album with a dubious lack of state affiliation will be out "next year." In case you haven't gotten it yet, here are some excellent-quality recordings from the Ithaca show the previous day, which showcases much of Stevens' new sound:
Sufjan Stevens - Too Much Love.mp3 (The jumpy 7/8 time one)
Sufjan Stevens - Majesty Snowbird.mp3 (new version)
Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz.mp3 (Pronounced as "Odds")
Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People.mp3 (new song borrowed heavily from old song)
Sufjan Stevens - Impossible Souls.mp3 (Sufjan's "favorite" of the new batch right now)

Did you know The BQE is out on an album now? Your choice of the CD/DVD set, or the ol' vinyl, which comes with a bonus song that has lyrics. Not convinced? Call him the Mussorgsky of the 21st Century, and the BQE is the "Pictures at an Exhibition" of our generation. Here's what you're missing:
Sufjan Stevens - Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes.mp3
Sufjan Stevens - Movement III: Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise.mp3
Sufjan Stevens - Movement IV: Traffic Shock.mp3

Buy The BQE.

Osso, a string quartet spun from Sufjan's hugely orchestral Winged Eagle and Butterfly Kite Brigade days, has rearranged and released Stevens' 2002 Electronica album "Enjoy Your Rabbit" as a new album titled "Run Rabbit Run." (Owning your own label can have huge perks far as what you do with your music, what is released and when. Hooray for complete artist control!)
Some of the tracks off the original recording I liked least and now favorites in Osso's version, and vice versa. Give it a try:
Osso - Year of the Dog.mp3
Osso - Year of the Dragon.mp3

Buy Run Rabbit Run.

Finally, we come to Tor, who has put together a well-done EP of Sufjan-based mashups & remixes called "Illinoize". Check it:
Tor - Dumb ATLiens Sound (f. Outkast).mp3
Tor - The Dress Makes Me Feel That Way (f. Gift of Gab).mp3
Tor - Star of Wonder / None Shall Pass (f. Aesop Rock).mp3

Download the entire Illinoize FOR FREE!

Sufjan Stevens @ Castaways, Ithaca, NY 9/23/09

I am on the road, following Sufjan's current tour!



(You can se me mouthing along in the front, haha)

I make it a habit to perpetually arrive unconscionably early to shows. Usually this has me sitting outside a venue in less-than-ideal weather for several hours, but Castaways is a local watering hole as well as an intimate show space. I grabbed myself a drink and sat with a book during set-up.

By the time Cryptacize had finished their soundcheck and Sufjan was fingering the chords to "To Be Alone With You" the bar had cleared. An empty bar + soundcheck = private concert, far as I was concerned. Everyone on the tour thought I worked at the bar; everyone in the bar thought I was part of the tour. They left me alone. I sat quietly. I enjoyed it.

And last night I got to meet him (again, for the first time, as I've met him before but he did not remember, which I didn't mention)!!! I was just chillin in the bar reading when, after soundcheck, he just comes over and SITS ACROSS FROM ME AT THE TABLE. And we chatted. And I was shy. and he was shy. and it was adorable and the moral of the story is I need to bring a clean change of panties for tonight's show. (TMI?)

Today I'm carpooling to Cleveland with a girl I met online who has never seen him before. She is a lesbian "but would go straight for Sufjan, only Sufjan." Which is strangely echoed by the guy behind me in Ithaca who was "Straight, but would go gay ONLY for Sufjan."

Some highlights:

+ A full half of songs played last night were brand new.
+ One was based off an old song by the same name, "All Delighted People." and also the Simon & Garfunkle song "The Sounds of Silence."
+ The following define the new sound:

electronica
prog-rock
shredding electric guitar
lyrically intimate love songs (!!!!!!)
glam rock
a danceable, beat-heavy "Majesty Snowbird"
7/8 (or possibly alternating 4/4, 3/4) time signatures
definite Stereolab and Mouse on Mars influences
not too much distortion/noise, perhaps surprisingly

So, I actually got a chance to sit down with Sufjan after soundcheck. Like a bad questionnaire, "If you could ask Sufjan only one question, what would it be?", the music-critic-heroine in me jumped out with: "I think it's interesting that you're moving toward a much more electronic sound..."
"Yeah, I've been working with it for a long time though."
"Well, it just seems an odd juxtaposition that your orchestral pieces are being re-arranged in a more electronic form, while at the same time your only electronica album is being re-released [ Run Rabbit Run ] after being re-arranged by a string quartet, more 'organic' instruments, if you will, moving it in the opposite direction..."
He sat there for a moment, smiling but caught off guard until "Yeah.... Yeah! Huh! I guess I didn't even think about that!"

Booyah. The moral of the story is that it's a happy coincidence only.
No word on a confirmed album release date, title or state affiliation. Guesses?

Sufjan rumors & gossip

Disclaimer: this is pure speculation! "My sources" say that Sufjan is working on not one, not two, but THREE new state albums right now! Here's what one email to me said:

I've heard that, too, but it doesn't seem to be rooted in anything solid. Can't find a source for it or anything. There was also a big whoop-de-doo about a month ago with someone saying that Sufjan's next album was going to be Pennsylvania. The story behind that was that a girl's relative was the owner of a record shop in Sufjan's home town (or one of his home towns) in Michigan, Sufjan visited him and chatted about a new record he was working on, and let out the secret that it was Pennsylvania under the condition that he tell no one else. Sounds crazy to me for a number of reasons, the biggest being that if Sufjan's been so uber-secret about what he's been up to for the past year I doubt that he'd just let it out during a casual chat in a record store. Then again, we know what Sufjan's humor is like. He's probably been the one planting all those rumors, lol.

At this rate, he could release an album of himself singing in the damn shower and I would spend a whole day weeping openly over it. BUT it does seem like we've been receiving an influx of Sufjan news lately, so maybe that's a good sign.

I still maintain--and am holding out for--the speculative new album "New Jersey Loves You," which will be a piano-based, bird-themed album! (Fingers crossed!)

In other news,
Danielson, Sufjan's old buddies who helped him start his music career, is kicking off a tour with Cryptacize, a band on Sufjan's label (Asthmatic Kitty) in NYC on Halloween. EVEN MONEY Sufjan will be in attendance--probably in some sort of costume. Go to the show if you can. It'll be good for you.

Sufjan Stevens - Toilet Paper Dolls Story (live).mp3

Danielson Famile - Did I Step On Your Trumpet.mp3

Cryptacize - Cosmic Sing Along.mp3