I think one of the greatest things about Sufjan's music, is that it's such a musical ecosystem all unto itself. There is a great amount of diversity in his honestly rather brief career so far. I am of the opinion that you could find me anyone in America and I could find a Sufjan song that they could enjoy. At least one song. Of course the flip side of this is, that I could find a song that even the biggest Sufjan fan would not enjoy (probably it would be "Rice Pudding").

That being said, it's not unforseable that his next album wouldn't be in a style that doesn't 'click' with a lot of people, even if it's still good. And I wouldn't be offended by that. I like a good 95% of his work, so the probability is strong that I would enjoy it.

I think he could easily pull off another state album. It would just have to be different from Michigan and Illinois, which I agree were pretty much the same idea.

With his re-imagining of Enjoy Your Rabbit and the release of "You Are the Blood," we could easily see some sort of electro-folk album from him.

I really, really don't want Illinois to be his final album. Everyone knows he's got untold masterpieces in his mind or on paper that he has yet to record/release.

If Sufjan made an album that sounded like "You Are The Blood" I might cry. It makes me cringe.

I've always found that my favorite Sufjan songs are some of his most stripped down ones (Sister, Casimir Pulaski Day, Romulus).

Yeah, same here. I'd be thrilled if he left his orchestral bag-of-tricks in the past.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:
Yeah, same here. I'd be thrilled if he left his orchestral bag-of-tricks in the past.

I prefer the ambitious orchestral epics like "Predatory Wasp of the Palisades" and "Vito's Ordination Song" over the sparse, folky "Casmir Pulaski Day" or "Jacksonville" and the like. I'm not a big fan of Seven Swans much.

"Casmir Pulaski Day" still gets me every time. I love that song so much.

So, what do you guys think about the announcement about him finally releasing his BQE work?

Personally I'm stoked. After an initial moment of total disapointment at it being another non-album. I realized that it's a ton of new Sufjan stuff that is tailor made for my specific interests. I love Philip Glass style orchestral music, I loved Koyannisquatsi even more (the video portion of this looks similar), I'm a fan of the Hula Hoop (Hudsucker Proxy is like one of the best movies ever, "You know, for kids!"), and how could a Sufjan Fan/Traffic Engineer not geek out over an entire sufjan album about a road. Look at these track names:

01. Prelude on the Esplanade (2:56)
02. Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes (1:07)
03. Movement I—In the Countenance of Kings (5:19)
04. Movement II—Sleeping Invader (4:34)
05. Interlude I—Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation (3:33)
06. Movement III—Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise (4:09)
07. Movement IV—Traffic Shock (3:24)
08. Movement V—Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns (3:45)
09. Interlude II—Subi Power Waltz (0:28)
10. Interlude III—Invisible Accidents (0:54)
11. Movement VI—Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges (3:17)
12. Movement VII (Finale)—The Emperor of Centrifuge (3:51)
13. Postlude—Critical Mass (2:59)

Classic.

So, it's not a new state album. But it's going to be good anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by hophead:

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:
Yeah, same here. I'd be thrilled if he left his orchestral bag-of-tricks in the past.

I prefer the ambitious orchestral epics like "Predatory Wasp of the Palisades" and "Vito's Ordination Song" over the sparse, folky "Casmir Pulaski Day" or "Jacksonville" and the like. I'm not a big fan of Seven Swans much.

I couldn't think of anything remotely more disappointing than if a new Sufjan release sounded like anything from Illinoise or seven swans.

I love Seven Swans & Illinoise, stripped back or orchestral. However I especially like "You Are the Blood" - partly because it is exciting and complex but also simply because it didn't sound like Illinoise or Seven Swans.

If the next one keeps its smarts, its hearts and still surprises - I'm sold!

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
Sufjan Fan/Traffic Engineer

For sure, I will be checking it out.

In high school, we played this hard piece (I think it's a grade 5 in Texas) by Charles Rochester Young entitled Tempered Steel. There is a strong emphasis on rhythmic intricacies with the shattering of the steel and roaring engines by way of the saxes. It's for a wind ensemble so there are no strings but I think you might really like it. I found a video of it, here, for you and anyone else to check out. It's a great piece of music.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
Sufjan Fan/Traffic Engineer

For sure, I will be checking it out.

In high school, we played this hard piece (I think it's a grade 5 in Texas) by Charles Rochester Young entitled Tempered Steel. There is a strong emphasis on rhythmic intricacies with the shattering of the steel and roaring engines by way of the saxes. It's for a wind ensemble so there are no strings but I think you might really like it. I found a video of it, here, for you and anyone else to check out. It's a great piece of music.

I really liked that Frag. Thanks for the link.

Concerning Sufjan Stevens and The BQE, I'm shock at how many people are actually angry at Sufjan for releasing it, instead of "A proper album". It confuses me a little bit. Music listener's relationship to Sufjan is so much different from their relationship to any other musician, from my perspective.

Hmm, just got back from South America and it's exciting to see all this new Sufjan stuff.

I'm not really angry neither of these 2 releases are new material, it actually gives me more hope that he's still working on music.

I remember an interview a couple years back where he said he was tired of his voice, the banjo, etc. and that showed with his direction for the cover of "You are the Blood" so we'll see if he continues his electronic detour from his more recent 'style' or not.

I read a recent-ish (2009) interview with Sufjan where he talked about what he wanted his next record to be like, so I'm extremely hopeful.

I wasn't really excited till he announce The BQE collection.

I'm looking forward to Run, Rabbit, Run, but I don't really consider it a part of Sufjan's output. I'm sure it will be filed under Sufjan, and have his name all over it. I really consider it to be 'Fan Fiction' more than anything though. Sortof like a tribute album.

From the sound of things, he maybe had some say in the overall framework, and then simply had veto power over the end product.

The BQE really seems like it's entirely his child.

Also, Welcome back anbc. I was wondering where you went off to. It was obviously somewhere.

there are a select few genius Sufjan songs, but c'mon. He's never made a good front to back album.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr.Knockers:
there are a select few genius Sufjan songs, but c'mon. He's never made a good front to back album.

While I know you are just here to stir up the old predatory wasps of the palisades, nevertheless in earnest Sufjan fashion I have to say that, without hesitation, Seven Swans is great front to back, provided of course the whole reverential leftfield folk thing twists your melon. Illinoise has a little too much crammed in and waffles in places but remains a truly great album front to back or in any other direction.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr.Knockers:
there are a select few genius Sufjan songs, but c'mon. He's never made a good front to back album.

This does not surprise me. Here's the thing about Sufjan; He dabbles in so many different styles of music and does so with such grace and honesty that people from any musical interest can find something in his catalog that they are amazed by.

However, he holds to only one style of album: Epic, long, grandiose, lots of instrumental stretches, and passages that demand a lot of patience and concentration to appreciate. Not exactly everyone's cup of tea.

Personally, I think most all of his post A Sun Came albums are solid from front to back, including the Avalanche and his Christmas disks. But that's just my opinion.

In the future he will no doubt continue to explore different styles and sounds in his music, but I would be very surprised if his albums didn't remain exactly the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:

Also, Welcome back anbc. I was wondering where you went off to. It was obviously somewhere.

Thanks. Ya, I was backpacking around South America for 3 weeks.

Peru is absolutely gorgeous. Machupichu, Pisac especially. Jaw dropping mountains + ruins. The Iguazu Falls in Argentina actually topped Peru though, but back to Sufjan...

True about the Run Rabbit Run project. I was hoping I'd see something about Sufjan playing some of the acoustic instruments with Osso or the other arrangers, but that's alright. I don't know if I'll pick that up, but it sure is making me listen to Enjoy Your Rabbit more. It's fun to imagine what the intreprations are going to sound like. I have heard one of Osso's versions and it was alright.

I'm a bit disappointed "Majesty Snowbird" didn't make the BQE thing. Wasn't that played with them? I agree with you that that song NEEDS to be recorded. At the very least they could put a good live version on some disc.

I often find it incredible while listening to The Avalanche at how consistently great the "extras" were and it excites me to think he's got all these amazing rarities that he hasn't released yet.

quote:

Originally posted by anbc:

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:

Also, Welcome back anbc. I was wondering where you went off to. It was obviously somewhere.

Thanks. Ya, I was backpacking around South America for 3 weeks.

Peru is absolutely gorgeous. Machupichu, Pisac especially. Jaw dropping mountains + ruins. The Iguazu Falls in Argentina actually topped Peru though, but back to Sufjan...

That sounds Awesome. My brother married a Peruvian girl from Lima, so we were able to travel around for a week or so after the wedding seeing the country and spending some time in Bolivia. It was in there summer, and it was gorgeous. We got totally cooked on Lake Titicaca.

I hope you had a good time.

quote:

I often find it incredible while listening to The Avalanche at how consistently great the "extras" were and it excites me to think he's got all these amazing rarities that he hasn't released yet.

I wonder sometimes how this would have been accepted had he not been so obvious about it. I compare the fact that everyone passes it off as a B-sides record versus people considering Amnesiac as a significant album in the Radiohead catalog (which it is). I see both of these as exactly the same thing. Radiohead just played theirs off as an actual album, and Sufjan played his as a B-Sides collection. He should have just waited a little longer and slapped the word "Wisconsin" on the side of it.

Not to mention the fact that any other artist would have taken the song off of both of them, and put out four or five shorter albums. And people wouldn't have complained as much about them being too long. He could already be six albums into his states project if he had cut Michigan inhalf also. Not that I don't prefer it all this way, of course.

quote:

Originally posted by anbc:


I read a recent-ish (2009) interview with Sufjan where he talked about what he wanted his next record to be like, so I'm extremely hopeful.

Uh, what did he say he wanted it to sound like?

Q: You've told me you wanted to maybe make a record with Steve Albini.

Sufjan: If I were to think of any engineer I wanted to work with, I'd pick him because I feel like I try to do in the digital world what he just does.

Q. Which is to document sounds and performances?

Sufjan: I really feel like I struggle with doing that, but everything I do is so affected because it's digital and because I'm struggling as a songwriter. I feel like I'm going to come to a point where I have material that I'm confident enough to bring to someone like Steve Albini, go into Electrical Audio, and just do it all live. I don't want to do any overdubs. I want to see what that's like to have a band and record everything live. I want to record an album which I don't do any of the engineering. I want to record a record in mono because I feel like I am indulging myself with stereo. Then I want to go back to drum programming and make intelligent dance music. I want to do something that is all on a drum-based sequencer. I kind of stopped doing that with Enjoy Your Rabbit because I had a version of ReBirth and it totally conked out on me. I don't have a drum and bass program, and I want to get one to do more of that stuff.

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http://www.thebuddyproject.com...an_tapeop0309_1.html
http://www.thebuddyproject.com...an_tapeop0309_2.html
http://www.thebuddyproject.com...an_tapeop0309_3.html
http://www.thebuddyproject.com...an_tapeop0309_4.html

Hmm, very interesting. Thanks, Anbc. It's interesting to see him admit that he's struggling with his songwriting. I mean, I guess it's kind of obvious, but you don't usually hear artists admit to it. Sufjan seems like an extraordinarily honest guy though.