Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

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Didn't see a proper thread devoted to the album itself so I thought I'd start one since I'm sure many of you have listened to it by now.

This album sounds fantastic to me first few times through. Wish there could have been more tracks with the spare "seven swans" type sound but the heavily orchestrated ones (there are definitely a good lot of 'em) sound awesome. Not sure how I feel about The Gacy song but everything else is great I really like the Reichian last track.

Anyways, thoughts?

― jmeister (jmeister), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 21:26 (4 years ago) Permalink

I find the idea of Sufjan emotionally inhabiting the mind of John Wayne Gacy rather sexy. Besides, it's the religious artists who are often willing to tackle the "problem of evil" head on in ways that secular artists don't. (I'm thinking here as well of that Mormon filmmaker playwright guy- is it Neil LaBute? I always get his last name wrong).

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:13 (4 years ago) Permalink

labute is correct!

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

Taking Sides: The Banality Of Evil vs. The Banality Of LaBute

I'll take evil. LaBute is sometimes crudely effective, but mostly smug, obvious, and obtuse.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

Okay, to make up for the mini-threadjack...

jmeister, if you scroll down past the jokey stuff I think this was kicked around a bit here: Someone YSI the leaked Sufjan from Oink Please

consensus seemed to be that "Casimir Pulaski Day" pwned

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:29 (4 years ago) Permalink

he's mostly horrible. labute that is. like a ten year old getting off on killing frogs or something. the sufjan album is too long. and kinda tedious after a while. it reminded me of an of montreal album. too hard to get through. but that's just me. one man's tedious goop is another man's, um, something not tedious and not goopy.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:33 (4 years ago) Permalink

drew, sufjan comments although he feels kinda so far away emotionally from his subject matter on this album ... it doesn't quite make it as tackling or inhabiting. still like the song and idea of it, but it could be a lot sexier (ugh, I mean "more effective"). mabye what we (I) really want to hear is how Sufjan can be evil.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:43 (4 years ago) Permalink

meant to write: Drew, agree mostly on ....

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:44 (4 years ago) Permalink

labute does not practice what he preaches, that much I know

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

Incidentaly the one track of the 22 that skipped on me was casimir pulaski day. I got most of it and it sounds good but as soon as it begins to pick up it starts skipping. The Gacy song may yet grow on me but as of now it seems melodramatic but I guess an honest look at a serial killer would lend itself to seeming that way given the brutal subject matter and the seriousness of it.
Also is Labute worth checking out? I only ask because I may want to look into him as I am in Salt Lake City for the summer and maybe he could help me see the population's point of view on something. That is if he is a "Mormon" filmmaker and attempts to speak as a collective voice or maybe he is just a filmmaker who is mormon.

― jmeister (jmeister), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

casimir pulaski is really nice - but has the same effect of elliot smith on me - registering as heartbreakingly beautiful but still boring a bit. i'm more drawn to the other tracks which suck in their own way but still...?: "concerning the UFO sighting", "come on feel the noise", "in this temple", etc.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 22:58 (4 years ago) Permalink

Best Sufjan Stevens/Neil LaBute thread ever!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:07 (4 years ago) Permalink

no, labute does not represent mormonism in any way. (99.9% of mormons haven't even heard of him.)

if you need the population's point of view, see:

thomas kinkade
arnold friberg
james dobson

imagine a strange amalgam of new/orange county cultural conservatism + old/rural conservatism + zombie movie + nazi aesthetic sensibility + other wacky shit and you've got Utah mormon culture.

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:27 (4 years ago) Permalink

err.. sorry for derailing.

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:27 (4 years ago) Permalink

here is my ilx labute refute (taken from a creepy movie thread):

lynch and cronenberg are some kind of genius and this helps a lot if you are gonna tackle morality, good, evil, etc, in your films. plus, their ideas about good and evil and their depictions of it are often mythical and grander in scope than the miserablism of Labute and Solondz who attempt to stylize a more mundane depiction of the banality of evil and, in effect, give great lines to assholes and creeps who in real life are never so eloquent or self-aware. their morality plays (and Labute's and Solondz's stuff reminds me more of theatre than good cinema) seem to be based on contempt and they go too far in stacking the decks in favor of ickiness and a general feeling that original sin is the bulding block of character, whereas Lynch and Cronenberg for all their fear of the body are also fascinated by them (bodies-sometimes in the clinical sense, but also in their inherent beauty) which in turn fascinates ME when i watch their movies. but movies like happiness and in the company of men don't make me think about much at all. they are more like car crashes that you pass on the road. they make me wince and give me a desire to keep moving. they are like comic book versions of reality/realism with all the good stuff that a comic book fabulism can engender taken out. their creators seem to want to elevate pettiness to the level of grand opera, but they(the creators) usually just end up looking nearly as petty and mean for being so myopic and rigid. then again, maybe i just don't think they are talented enough to make me care about their visions.i never feel like their shock tactics have anything behind them. they feel empty. ugly for ugly's sake. that's not enough for me. all those movies you mentioned make for good discussion though, so maybe i'm wrong and they are towering film giants. i'll let history decide.given the choice, though, i'll take Candyman every time.

-- scott seward (skotro...), May 21st, 2003.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:31 (4 years ago) Permalink

Anthony E to thread re: Mormon aesthetics. (Me to thread because I'm always fascinated by Mormonism, it's such a strange and willing surrender to endlessly reconstitutable structure.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:33 (4 years ago) Permalink

Thanks for the decription Scott, I'll heed your advice and skip him and just watch Videodrome again or something. Sorry about the derail...

Does anyone like the last track as much as me?!? (A lot)

― jmeister (jmeister), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:07 (4 years ago) Permalink

which one is that? (mine are in a fucked order)

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

I agree Sufjan could definitely benefit from some self-editing, I'm sure that's part of the reason Seven Swans is my favorite of his, it just seems tighter and definitely more lyrically focused. Like Michigan, Illinois can be a little draining to listen to all the way through (which is I'm sure how he intended it to be digested), but there are lots of gems - "Casimir Pulaski Day" is indeed heartbreaking, my personal favorite is probably "Chicago," but "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades" also gets my goosebumps up.

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:15 (4 years ago) Permalink

Susan the last track is titled "Out of Egypt" I believe. I like it but I may like it a lot simply because I am really enjoying Music for 18 Musicians now and the track sounds an awful lot like it and I think its a great way to end the album. Admittedly I haven't listened close enough to now if Sufjan employs the same strategy (?) or structural componenets as Reich.

Josh OTM re: Sufjan needs to self-edit but I kind of like his enthusiasm for putting out all he has. I think a few more tracks along the lines of John Wayne Gacy, UFO or Casimir.. subbed for the longer almost orchestrated songs might have helped the flow and "digestability". It might just create too much up and down in the track list too and that could be just as exhausting.

― jmeister (jmeister), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:41 (4 years ago) Permalink

the lack of editing actually bothers me less with 'michigan,' where it was still mostly songs, and strong ones at that. 'illinois' has so many little interludes that, combined with the absurdly long track names, make it unnecessarily hard to digest.

― rajeev (rajeev), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

though it might just be that i haven't listened to it enough yet. so far, i like it but rank it below 'michigan' and 'seven swans.'

― rajeev (rajeev), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:21 (4 years ago) Permalink

Come On Feel The Illinoise is the most oustanding album I have heard this year.
An incredible album, mixing the influences of Brian Wilson, Steve Reich and Van Morrison.
I imagine a lot people here know it, but Sufjan wrote 3 Christmas album, never released. You can dl them on the link below (zipped):

http://www.chattablogs.com/quintus/archives/019666.html

― C11 (C11), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:57 (4 years ago) Permalink

Thanks for the link!

― jmeister (jmeister), Thursday, 30 June 2005 03:04 (4 years ago) Permalink

Sufjan's Illinois album (which I believe is actually titled "Come on Feel the Illinoise") is my ALBUM OF THE YEAR so far. No joke.

I liked Michigan well enough but there's really not a bad song to be had this time around. Especially Seers (sic) Tower, John Wayne Gacy, and of course the rollicking good title track.

And I'm really curious what Pitchfork's going to think of this one -- they loved "Michigan," saying something to the tune of "no album has evoked the spirit of a state as accurately". But this time, the subject matter happens to be Pitchfork's home state, so they'll probably be a lot more discerning.

But I will venture a guess. My Pitchfork rating prediction for Illinois is: 8.0

― jeremiah (jeremiah), Thursday, 30 June 2005 03:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

oh, and I missed your post, C11 - looks like we're in agreement about this album! Very cool.

― jeremiah (jeremiah), Thursday, 30 June 2005 03:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

No offense intended but Pitchfork could give it a three for all I care. Lets just try to keep all Pitchfork talk on those threads that are devoted to it and focus on the album at hand, nothing kills a thread faster then a Pfork discussion not even Neil Labute! Just trying to nip this one in the bud.

― jmeister (jmeister), Thursday, 30 June 2005 06:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

My album of the year, of course.
One of the best I've heard in 00s so far.
"The Predatory..." is one of the best love song I've ever heard...

― C11 (C11), Thursday, 30 June 2005 12:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

ugliest cover i've seen in awhile.

― Beta (abeta), Thursday, 30 June 2005 13:43 (4 years ago) Permalink

who has listened to the xmas albums? i downloaded but i'm stuck here at work with no speakers, no headpones, and no fucker ipod, no cds to burn. so i have to wait till tomorrooooooow. mwah. but i WANNA KNOW RIGHT NOW if its any good???

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 1 July 2005 00:41 (4 years ago) Permalink

does he sound like the smallest angel? oooooh i am very excited!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 1 July 2005 00:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

I'm waiting 'til Christmas, I can't listen to it at any other time.

― jmeister (jmeister), Friday, 1 July 2005 01:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

oh fucking hell!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 1 July 2005 01:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

Read that it was pulled for the cover but the local Borders has several copies.

― Mannie Rippaton (AK.), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 21:56 (4 years ago) Permalink

I know I'm inviting a stoning for making a comment based on listening to 30-second samples, but it strikes me that this album sounds a little too similar to Michigan. Equally too long, VERY similar arrangements and orchestrations (heavy use of vibraphone, modernist-sounding woodwind sections, etc.), there are exactly two 5/4 tracks which sound a lot like, and have the same beat as the two 5/4 tracks on Michigan, a couple of slow 3/4 dum-jinga-jinga guitar or banjo songs, etc. Maybe he realized he's going to have to rely on a formula if he's going to do all 50 states in 20+ song albums.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 22:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

after listening a bit - i agree with you COMPETELY. it also fucks up the listening experience of michigan b/c you kinda realize its not as subtle as you thought it was ... just something you'd never head before style-wise... and furthermore sounds spare. however i totally had new appreciation for seven swans after this.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 22:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

although i'm totally listening to michigan in the context of illinois - which kinda forfeits everything. michigan really is a great album (or was).

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 22:42 (4 years ago) Permalink

HUrting and Susan OTM. Too long, too much repetiion. Doesn't tarnish the beauty of the best songs on each, though (Casimir Pulaski Day, John Wayne Gacy, Flint, For the Fatherless..., etc.)

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 22:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

I liked parts of Michigan a lot. My main complaint there was that Sufjan gets just a little TOO tender sometimes.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 22:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

i'm also worried that in general that its too much of a signature sound for me. i remember that while even in the depths of loving michigan i had this feeling like I HOPE I NEVER HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS AGAIN.

i can usually take the tender parts - but sometimes it does seem very precious i guess.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 23:02 (4 years ago) Permalink

it reminded me of an of montreal album. too hard to get through. but that's just me. one man's tedious goop is another man's, um, something not tedious and not goopy.
-- scott seward (skotro...), June 29th, 2005.

SKOT U STILL HAVE NOT HEARD THE SUNLANDIC TWINZ, HAVE U?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 23:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

But this time, the subject matter happens to be Pitchfork's home state, so they'll probably be a lot more discerning.

That seems like an odd comment. Amanda Petrusich reviewed it, and I think she lives in Portland or somewhere. Not in Chicago, at any rate.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 03:58 (4 years ago) Permalink

Anyway, I'm liking this more than I thought I would. Favorite tracks: "Come On Feel the Illinoise," "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.," "Jacksonville," and "Decatur..."

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 03:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

i like a lot of the instrumental tracks and/or interludes on Illinois more than the actual song songs. The Black Hawk War, In this Temple, Out of Egypt etc. they seem more felt and full than the rest of the album. the Pitchfork reviewer (9.2???!) tries to suggest that he doesn't really need to be intimate with his subject matter b/c its all about taking snapshots etc... but i think that is simple and grasping, i think he really did have a problem with proximity to subject matter on this album - you can feel it. ok the treatment is more theatrical/drama and less personal/sober, but still... is he comfortable with that and does it work? anyway, i'm feeling these nonverbal tracks more.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 06:05 (4 years ago) Permalink

Thomas Kinkade is Mormon? Weird...

― On a Strict El Cholo Diet (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 06:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

The almost song-for-song parallels with "Michigan" keep me from fully embracing Illinois, but I'm not sure why. At root, after all, this is pop music, so it's not as though it needs to be innovative in order to succeed. Plus this sort of rollicking, breezy music holds up especially well to only minor reworkings; what I mean, I think, is that repetitions of deliberately repetitious music don't grate the way repetitions of, say, formulaic punk rock do.

Last, the second half of the song "Come on feel the Illinoise" ("I cried myself to sleep last night . . .") is better than anything on Michigan.

― Derek Krissoff (Derek), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:42 (4 years ago) Permalink

This album reminds me so much of early Penguin Cafe Orchestra, in a good way.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 7 July 2005 18:07 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

i like the steve reich/philip glass-sounding staccato horn charts

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

My early impression: Would be twice as good if it were half as long.

― M. V. (M.V.), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

Jeez, FIVE sold-out shows in NYC. I'll be in Philly when he's at TLA next month, still tix for that one-nighter.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0532,sylvester,66665,22.html

What is the deal with the fixation on his Christianity? Only among godless music writers?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 13:15 (4 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 105 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Yeah, it took me a while to like the voice, or to not actively dislike it at any rate.

― Freedom, Tuesday, 14 October 2008 13:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

So many people on this thread said they liked Michigan better than Illinoise, that ... I bought the Michigan CD yesterday!!!

It had better be good !!!

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 12:10 (1 year ago) Permalink

i remember from the last time that i couldn't take his soft, wimpy singing style anymore. and the sameness of his songs. and the production with all the strings(?) and flutes and stuff. the euphony. it was all too much.

Yeah in late 2005 this hit me really really hard for some reason, possibly because I was in a deeply corny indie fuxx0r period of my life, but a few months later I couldn't listen to it anymore and didn't put it on again until this summer. I don't love it anymore, but I appreciate the delicacy of some of the arrangements and still think there are at least 6 or 7 really amazing songs.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 14:50 (1 year ago) Permalink

And frankly I'm a little surprised at the John Wayne Gacy "lol Soofyan you /= a serial killer" discussion upthread. He's clearly not suggesting moral equivalence, he's saying "humans are pretty fucked up, huh?"

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 14:59 (1 year ago) Permalink

all his strings & arrangements = amazing
production and recording of strings & arrangements = not amazing.

it's all so tidy. seeing him live's like watching a disney orchestra or something, but it's way too flat on record.

― schlump, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 15:27 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

There's a new 'Songs for Christmas' CD, voume eight, that's leaked.

It's entitled "Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage".

― James Mitchell, Thursday, 18 December 2008 00:23 (11 months ago) Permalink

Illinoise has probably been the most ridiculously slow-burning album for me. I learn to love a new song from it about once every seven months. It'll probably be an imperishable masterpiece by about 2013.

― Freedom, Thursday, 18 December 2008 22:58 (11 months ago) Permalink

I think you are right. I've had these albums for years, and I always forget to listen to them. Too much NPR / mom-and-dad approval almost ruined them for me. But each time I listen to them I regret not listening more.

I think the songwriting is much better than you think it is on first listen. I enjoy the pastiche and the research that went into it.

― u s steel, Friday, 19 December 2008 00:50 (11 months ago) Permalink

OK - but what (things, plural?) is it a pastiche of, musically?

― the pinefox, Friday, 19 December 2008 01:46 (11 months ago) Permalink

It's been a while since I've listened to it, but some of the longer tracks seem inspired by other pop songs. I couldn't specifically place the references.

― u s steel, Friday, 19 December 2008 03:18 (11 months ago) Permalink

Pastiche of ... Steve Reich/minimalist composition? and... midwestern folki-ness?

― yoshinorimike, Friday, 19 December 2008 10:18 (11 months ago) Permalink

I don't think of it as a pastiche at all. I mean, I hear echoes of this song or this approach here and there, but listening to Illinois isn't a referential trip down memory lane. It comes across as a distinct, individual work with its own musical ideas and aesthetic vision, and while the endlessly reiterated comparisons to Steve Reich are valid in a ballpark sense, they're not of much use beyond that. I hear at least as much influence from Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas score, and from the music of educational films/exhibits of the 50s and 60s.

With Hoos in my long-run reaction to the record. Went through a period of intense fascination with the record when it came out, quickly falling in and out of love with almost every song, but I find I no longer have any interest in it. I'm not sure why this should be, but it actively annoys and even repels me at this point. Christmas records and the Avalanche didn't help.

― Bored American Aerospace Defense Command (BORAD) (contenderizer), Friday, 19 December 2008 21:21 (11 months ago) Permalink

yeah a friend of mine loaned me the xmas box set to rip and i can't stomach any of it

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 19 December 2008 21:29 (11 months ago) Permalink

the christmas box really works best on the first short disc for me. (I thought the Avalanche was pretty good though, a true b-side record though)

― Ludo, Friday, 19 December 2008 21:40 (11 months ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

Congratulations!

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-best-albums-of-the-decade.html?p=5

― StanM, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:51 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

5. Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

I'm okay with Illinois being No. 1, but WTF Paste Magazine?

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:54 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

but WTF Paste Magazine

I say this all the time, list or no list.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

wtf is paste magazine

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:57 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Now in its eighth year of publication, Paste magazine has become the most celebrated entertainment magazine in the U.S.

― StanM, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:09 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

By whose account?

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:09 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

god too many available jokes

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:11 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

xpost:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/paste/2008/10/about-paste.html

― StanM, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:13 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Well, that settles that. I guess The Avett Brothers' I and Love and You is the ninth best disc of the decade.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:20 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

5. Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

Oh man, ILX hasn't even mentioned I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning since 2005! I bought that album at the recommendation of a free alternative weekly and sold it back in shame the next day.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:33 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

is that the electron one or the alt-country one? oh wait, doesn't fucking matter.

― Moreno, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:36 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Sadly, no-one will buy it from me.

And I've tried.

(xp)

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:37 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

It's the one with this memorable spoken intro:

So there was this woman and she was on an airplane, and she was flying to meet her fiancé seaming high above the largest ocean on planet earth. She was seated next to this man she had tried to start conversations, but the only thing she had really heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary. She was sitting there and she was reading this really arduous magazine article about a third world country that she couldn’t even pronounce the name of. And she was feeling very bored and despondent. And then suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure and one of the engines gave out, and they started just falling thirty-thousand feet, and the pilots on the microphone and he’s saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh my god... I'm sorry” and apologizing. And she looks at the man and says “Where are we going?” and he looks at her and he says “We’re going to a party. It’s a birthday party. It’s your birthday party. Happy birthday darling. We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much.” And then he starts humming this little tune, it kind of goes like this: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:38 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

I hate that spoken-word intro so much.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:41 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

i really dig that record still! i think? haven't played it in 4 years.

― Nanobots: HOOSTEEND (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:43 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

i actually do like the one w/ emmylou singing backup vox.

― Moreno, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:45 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

I was actually mad at both Emmylou and Arab Strap for even associating themselves with the guy.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

I haven't been much in the mood for alt country/folky/America stuff for much of the decade, but it's nice to have a reference for some things I've missed, even if they wouldn't even make my top 1,000. People complain too much.

― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:02 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Name: I Love Music
Description: People Complain Too Much

― M.V., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:05 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

I hate that spoken-word intro so much.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, November 3, 2009 10:41 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I've never heard it, but I'm suddenly imagining it being read by Laurie Anderson.

― jaymc, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:12 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

All of the Bright Eyes spoken word intros are horrible. The best part of him ditching that moniker is that he seems to have left those behind as well.

― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:16 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

After the cover with Superman on it got recalled, I ordered a copy through a local store as a collectible. I told the girl behind the counter that it said "Come On Feel the Illinoise" on said cover, and she said, "It's pronounced Ill-in-NOY." (In her defense, I do look retarded.)

― M.V., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:33 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Yeah, the spoken word intro to I'm Wide Awake is fucking annoying. But I think the record contains all of his best songs. The shit I heard from Cassadaga and most of the first s/t aren't nearly as good.

I really, really like Digital Ash too, especially "Easy/Lucky/Free."

― kshighway1, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:44 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Anyway, going to see this dude & co in a few hours. Will report back later.

― kshighway1, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:45 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

is it connor oberst & the foggy beard mountain band or w/e the fuck they're called?

― Nanobots: HOOSTEEND (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:48 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Best thing Conor Oberst ever did is his self-titled solo record. That's far better than I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, at least in my humble opinion.

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 18:56 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

HOOS: I'm seeing the Monsters of Folk.

― kshighway1, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 19:23 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

From P4k: Sufjan Stevens Calls the 50 States Album Project "Such a Joke"

http://pitchfork.com/news/37026-sufjan-stevens-calls-the-50-states-album-project-such-a-joke/

Stevens told Paste, "The whole premise was such a joke, and I think maybe I took it too seriously. I started to feel like I was becoming a cliché of myself."

. . .and. . .

Elsewhere in the interview, Stevens expresses what sounds like a total lack of interest in the album as an art form: "I'm wondering, why do people make albums anymore when we just download? Why are songs like three or four minutes, and why are records 40 minutes long? They're based on the record, vinyl, the CD, and these forms are antiquated now. So can't an album be eternity, or can't it be five minutes? ... I no longer really have faith in the album anymore. I no longer have faith in the song."

― kshighway1, Thursday, 5 November 2009 21:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Album's dead y'all.

― kshighway1, Thursday, 5 November 2009 21:56 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Sounds like Sufy is working on a concept album ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF THE ALBUM.
Srsly tho, of all the people to be moaning about the death of the album, he seems like the least likely -- I mean, all of the attention Illinois got was because it was, like, an album, right?

― tylerw, Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:00 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

http://www.deanjackson.dj/nameanagram/index.php?n=sufjan+stevens

― StanM, Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:01 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Just Seven Fans.

― kshighway1, Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:03 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

I don't understand how he makes the leap from noting that it's easy to release music of any length with the internet to saying "I no longer have faith in the song."

― kshighway1, Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:04 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Maybe he listened to "Chicago" again.

― kshighway1, Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:05 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

Well somebody oughta finish.the 50 States project, even if this bedpan doesn't.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:09 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

it could be like the indie WPA

― peter falk's panther burns (schlump), Thursday, 5 November 2009 22:25 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

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