Ha! If you were to ask me who is going to be the most prolific musician this decade, Sufjan would probably top the list. He went from prolific to a recluse in less than 4 years.

In love with all 3 new Suf tracks, especially "There's Too Much Love."

(Does anybody else here think Sufjan went through a break up since Illinois?)

There's also a new song played live called "Alien Attack" which hasn't been posted on the web yet...

quote:

Originally posted by anbc:
In love with all 3 new Suf tracks, especially "There's Too Much Love."

(Does anybody else here think Sufjan went through a break up since Illinois?)

There's also a new song played live called "Alien Attack" which hasn't been posted on the web yet...

"Alien Attack" is a random noise intro to one of his other new songs. It's named something different at every show. You know, because Sufjan. For example it's called "Organized Alien Crime" and then the next night "Space Camp vs. Sigourney Weaver", etc.)

I also like the new songs. But I think they are missing something lyrically. I couldn't place it at first, but there was something very unSufjan about the songs, even with so much Sufjan going on in them. And then I realized that the lyrics are really inconsequential to the songs. They don't hardly mean anything, and they don't tell any sort of story (literally, or emotionally). The music is amazing though, so I'm happy about that.

I know I'm a little behind the curve on this one, but what are your thoughts on BQE?"

I think I heard a Sufjan song in a trailer for a movie about babies.

(The name of the movie? Babies.)

Sufjan fans rejoice!

Sufjan Prepping 2010 Album

Long-winded songs?

Hmm, I think we may finally get "Majesty Snowbird" in recorded form!

quote:

Originally posted by The Fall of Troy:
I know I'm a little behind the curve on this one, but what are your thoughts on BQE?"

A few years ago, I was an enormous Sufjan fan, but between the jazzy, desultory songs he's released since then (jazz is anathema to me!) and the almost universal shrugging of shoulders that greeted The BQE, I haven't even bothered giving it a listen yet. I will soon.

Probably been asked so much but, Is Sufjan Stevens gay? I mean is there any proof that he is, or has he openly said he's gay? Cos a friend told me that it say he is on his website, but couldn't find it there.

I dunno. Some of his songs can be construed as such ("Predatory Wasp of the Palisades", I'm looking at you) but I feel he just tries to have songs from different viewpoints, straight or gay. I mean, "Casimir Pulaski Day" is clearly about a girl.

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
I mean, "Casimir Pulaski Day" is clearly about a girl.

Yeah, I hate that people try to make that about gay people.

Even "Predatory Wasp" is a bit of a stretch since it is from the view point of a young child.

I have no real proof either way, but I can tell you that his website definitely does not say that he is gay.

I don't care if he's gay or not, and I don't think anyone else should either. Besides which, "Predatory Wasps" never even indicates if the song is from the point of view of a boy or a girl does it? And like Shad said, it's about little kids anyways.

quote:

Originally posted by The Fall of Troy:
I know I'm a little behind the curve on this one, but what are your thoughts on BQE?"

I think that in this particular scenario, RL's summary that The BQE was greeted by an "almost universal shrugging of shoulders," is pretty spot on. In reality, it's good but it's not that great either.

The CD/DVD combo is probably the best way to take this release in. If nothing else, Sufjan Stevens proves how talented he really is, because the documentary is well-shot and fittingly paired to his music. The actual music is complete with usual Stevens trademarks like fluttering woodwinds, a jazzy trumpet here and there and light, tender percussion. The actual orchestra sounds pretty awesome and the same guy who helped compose a lot of the recordings for Osso's Run Rabbit Run is the conductor here. There is one piece that is all electronic and it's a stark contrast but it doesn't disrupt too much.

There are some moments where Stevens channels older composers like George Gershwin and newer contemporaries like Carter Burwell and the music has some really gorgeous moments. It's also semi-frustrating in that it is new music from Stevens – although only classical and instrumental – it proves that he still has it in him: to write good melodies, good harmonies and even better, good counter melodies. The music feels calculated and is well-rounded in common, safe major keys. His use of the plagal cadence is really strong and while he roots most of the music around the tonic, he does stretch it out into different dominant chords that sometimes finish on deceptive cadences. His dynamics need work but that's a small quibble because the focus here is on the presentation and not so much on the experience within the music.

He should, honestly, just crank out an album year after year to fulfill his obvious desires and quit playing around. But that's just what lowly me thinks.

quote:

Originally posted by glugger:
Probably been asked so much but, Is Sufjan Stevens gay? I mean is there any proof that he is, or has he openly said he's gay? Cos a friend told me that it say he is on his website, but couldn't find it there.

ahahaha I started that rumor.

Man, more and more bad news on the Sufjan front. Paste Magazine did an interview with him, which Pitchfork summarized, and it sounds like Sufjan's depressed or going through some real troubles or something. It's one thing to cast doubt on the album as a musical format, but it's another thing to go from suddenly releasing tons of material quite frequently to producing very little at all for a period of 4 years. It's not like he's throwing EPs and singles and side projects out there or anything. Who knows what's going on with him though. None of our business really. I just wish him the best and hope that things aren't going as bad with him personally as they are musically.

Ahh, that tortured artistic temperament!

Why don't they just get organised and pull their socks up for us fans!

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
I dunno. Some of his songs can be construed as such ("Predatory Wasp of the Palisades", I'm looking at you) but I feel he just tries to have songs from different viewpoints, straight or gay. I mean, "Casimir Pulaski Day" is clearly about a girl.

His songs (particularly on the states albums) are usually written like short stories, where he is like a narrator or a character in the story. I can't really think of any songs off Michigan or Illinois/The Avalanche that seem autobiographical. The characters in his songs aren't him.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:
Man, more and more bad news on the Sufjan front. Paste Magazine did an interview with him, which Pitchfork summarized, and it sounds like Sufjan's depressed or going through some real troubles or something. It's one thing to cast doubt on the album as a musical format, but it's another thing to go from suddenly releasing tons of material quite frequently to producing very little at all for a period of 4 years. It's not like he's throwing EPs and singles and side projects out there or anything. Who knows what's going on with him though. None of our business really. I just wish him the best and hope that things aren't going as bad with him personally as they are musically.

I read the Pitchfork news arcticle and I think they are over dramatising things a little bit. For one, he's on the interview circuit right now in order to promote The BQE. He's not on the interview circuit to set up some kindof hype for some future album. So when he talks about how much The BQE drained him, I think he's really trying to communicate that it was really something he put a lot of time and effort into. As opposed to trying to say he's not going to ever make a new album because he's worn out.

He has already said in other interviews that he plan to have a new album of song out next year. But who knows, because I have followed Sufjan long enough to know he's a big fat liar when it comes to interviews. He says ridiculous things that he bold faced contradicts in action later on. I think it's just part of who he is.

Ultimately, I agree with the sentiments he is making about not knowing what an "album" is or a "song" is anymore. We say these words and they bring to mind strong culturally defined objects, but their shape and footprint is defined by something that doesn't even exist anymore. There are practical reasons why an "album" should be thought of as something like 11 songs over 45 minutes, but that is all the result of physical limitations that were imposed because of the media they were written on. And that media has almost completely gone away now. but we still have muscians painting within these same boundaries.

I'm not going to imply that this is an esspecially original thought on Sufjan's part, and I don't think he's trying to pass it off as such. And we will see if this rational actually results in a better artistic project for him.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shadrach,

quote:

There are practical reasons why an "album" should be thought of as something like 11 songs over 45 minutes, but that is all the result of physical limitations that were imposed because of the media they were written on.

Not to mention the cultural influence of the symphony in Western music tradition. "Albums" today are the "symphonies" of yesterday. It's pretty apparent we still hold a lot of the same values as the Romantic philosophers and critics of the 19th century.

Regardless, I like the points you make on the subject, Shad.

30-80 minutes of music seems pretty reasonable to me, considering my attention span. So there is at least one reason we made those earlier formats what they were and it isn't totally spurious.

quote:

Originally posted by Vitun_Krapula:
30-80 minutes of music seems pretty reasonable to me, considering my attention span. So there is at least one reason we made those earlier formats what they were and it isn't totally spurious.

I totally agree. And as an engineer I would bet money that the people that sat down at the table and designed a record, and determined what size and physical capabilities they were going to allow with it, first considered what was marketable and most desirable to society. And that turned out to be about an hour of music.

On a similar note, songs are all 2-5 minutes long because that's about how long you can sustain a particular story of melody before it starts getting really old. Anything longer starts forcing the artist to play with different movements of music which are really songs within a song. So a band like Godspeed you Black Emperor! might seem like they have 25 minute long songs, but really they are 25 minute long collections of songs. We all know this, but it just further defends what we are saying.

So, I understand what Sufjan is saying. The boundaries were imposed by the media (although the media was designed due to common sense and demand). We no longer have these boundaries since the media no longer needs to exist. So the question is, why still work within these boundaries? I would say, because the common sense and demand has not changed. I get the feeling Sufjan wouldn't agree.

Granted this is coming from someone that would prefer a 2 hour long collection of great music over a 45 minute long collection music of great music. But I've come to realize I'm in the super minority in this case (it boggles my mind). But I still wouldn't advise Sufjan to start messing with the socially accepted framework of what makes an album anymore than he already has. I'm afraid he might actually try to write the "eternal album". I don't want to wait till Sufjan dies and we discover he has 89 hour of continuous music recorded that he was still adding to.

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As a side note: as I type this I keep remembering the fact that railroad tracks are spaced the way they are due to a long serious of upgrades to existing transportation systems the root of which ends at the width of a horses butt. There is truth to the fact that sometimes what we do as a matter of cultural tradition has completely lost its purpose and should be reconsidered.