Opinions on Sufjan Stevens (RR)

funky16corners

At the risk of opening a Waits-ian can of worms, anyone else here dig Sufjan Stevens?My brother turned me on to 'Illinoise' and I love it. I just picked up 'A Sun Came', and while it's a whole different bag, I like it too.Anyone?

Junior

Before the obligatory questioning of the artist's authenticity and five page listing of dead artists he is merely aping I can honestly say I certainly enjoyed some of the tracks on Illinois when I heard it- particularly the Night of the Living Dead one.

jlee

all i know is he gives the girls some major swamp panties. everygirl i know who listens to him wants his babies. so dude must be doing something right.

as for his music, what i've heard is pretty good. but i don't want his babies.

Mjukis

At the risk of opening a Waits-ian can of worms, anyone else here dig Sufjan Stevens?
My brother turned me on to 'Illinoise' and I love it. I just picked up 'A Sun Came', and while it's a whole different bag, I like it too.
Anyone?

That's funny, it's the exact same thing for me, bought "Illinoise" first and recently bought "A Sun Came" - that cover is so nice. Just saw him play live, it was great - 10 people playing beautifully. I can recommend seeing him live, it was in a Flaming Lips mode with the band throwing out inflatable superman dolls before playing "Man from Metropolis". I really love "Illinoise" and would recommend it to anyone. But what do I know - I like Tom Waits too.

DrJoel

Before the obligatory questioning of the artist's authenticity and five page listing of dead artists he is merely aping I can honestly say I certainly enjoyed some of the tracks on Illinois when I heard it- particularly the Night of the Living Dead one.

Cosine on that track, probably my favorite from the album. Illinoise is a good album, i have to take it in doses though because i can get tired of the choir like background singing.

I also heard most of Avalanche, the outtakes / alternate takes album for Illinoise that has like 20 some tracks of it's own. It was ok.

I've only heard a couple other things, i like the stuff on Seven Swans which i think was an EP. What do you folks think about his whole album release thing? One album for every state? Not if he keeps putting out outtakes and Christmas albums.

I'll bring it up because i'm sure someone will say how dumb it is or whatever...he and his band, orchestra, etc wear wings on stage. I haven't heard an explanation of why they do this.

I like his songwriting, but with the number of tracks he puts on a record at one time, there tends to be a lot to digest. I have gone back and forth between liking and not feeling that Gacy song.

He's young, he's got a ways to go so i'm sure he'll probably put out a lot of good material. How was that other one that was mentioned..something about the Sun? Has anyone heard the Michigan record?

funky16corners

Before the obligatory questioning of the artist's authenticity and five page listing of dead artists he is merely aping I can honestly say I certainly enjoyed some of the tracks on Illinois when I heard it- particularly the Night of the Living Dead one.

Cosine on that track, probably my favorite from the album. Illinoise is a good album, i have to take it in doses though because i can get tired of the choir like background singing.

I also heard most of Avalanche, the outtakes / alternate takes album for Illinoise that has like 20 some tracks of it's own. It was ok.

I've only heard a couple other things, i like the stuff on Seven Swans which i think was an EP. What do you folks think about his whole album release thing? One album for every state? Not if he keeps putting out outtakes and Christmas albums.

I'll bring it up because i'm sure someone will say how dumb it is or whatever...he and his band, orchestra, etc wear wings on stage. I haven't heard an explanation of why they do this.

I like his songwriting, but with the number of tracks he puts on a record at one time, there tends to be a lot to digest. I have gone back and forth between liking and not feeling that Gacy song.

He's young, he's got a ways to go so i'm sure he'll probably put out a lot of good material. How was that other one that was mentioned..something about the Sun? Has anyone heard the Michigan record?

The "wings" thing may be related to the fact that Stevens (and the Danielson Family, which he plays with occasionally) are nominally "Christian" artists. The religious themes pop up occasionally in their music, but not obtrusively so (they're not "witnessing" via the music, preferring a somewhat freer, non-judgemental religious vibe (closer to what Christianity is supposed to be).

DrJoel

Good call. I have heard here and there about his pension for the Word.

ako

i really dont like his voice, at all.

dgriot

Not my thing. I just can't get with any twee-type stuff that doesn't have some underyling snarl/bite/punkiness to it.

bthav

i like. the instrumentation is pretty sick and he plays most (?) of them on his records, aside from recording and mixing them himself. plus you gotta support MI homeys.

pussy male vox =

tonyphrone

AND TOM WAITS!

white_tea

Pretty cool and ambitious concept to make an album about all 50 states. The music ain't that bad either.

I heard him on NPR once and he came up with this song about that raer Arkansas woodpecker.

Mongo_Slade

Illinoise is probably my favorite album of the last few years. It's one of those records like Love's Forever Changes that drew me in like quicksand-- I slowly went from admiring a few songs to listening to the whole thing obsessively.

And, uhh, I don't particularly care for Tom Waits.

dgriot

I donno, I was sorta indifferent towards the song material to begin with, and just can't get through the limp-wristedness to give it more of a shot. (Basing this off of giving Illinoise 1-2 listens.) I have similar trouble with The Decemberists. If you strip away all that drama club pirate bullshit, there seem to be some great pop songs there. But I just don't feel like mucking through it to hit the diamonds in the rough. Damn Neutral Milk Hotel/E6's influence.

white_tea

drama club pirate bullshit

Dude, naw. You can still be hard and listen to Sufjan Stevens. The trick is to keep it a secret. I listen to him in the bathroom, in a tub full of lavander-scented bubbles.

Mongo_Slade

I donno, I was sorta indifferent towards the song material to begin with, and just can't get through the limp-wristedness to give it more of a shot. (Basing this off of giving Illinoise 1-2 listens.) I have similar trouble with The Decemberists. If you strip away all that drama club pirate bullshit, there seem to be some great pop songs there. But I just don't feel like mucking through it to hit the diamonds in the rough. Damn Neutral Milk Hotel/E6's influence.

I guess I can understand the comparison, but damn if I can hear a Decembrists song without fantasizing about punching the singer's snotbox into his brain. Which I guess is a way of saying that although Sufjan Stevens does have kind of an off-putting pussy vibe, he doesn't annoy me in remotely the same way.

dgriot

I guess I can understand the comparison, but damn if I can hear a Decembrists song without fantasizing about punching the singer's snotbox into his brain. Which I guess is a way of saying that although Sufjan Stevens does have kind of an off-putting pussy vibe, he doesn't annoy me in remotely the same way.

I wouldn't mind punching both dudes, frankly.

It's my own fault for letting image play such a factor when it comes to enjoying music, but when it seems to be so ingrained and part of the selling point...I donno.

Pistol_Pete

Peep the track They Are Night Zombies! off of Illinoise. My boy was actually thinking of sampling it.

kitchenknight

I dug the Michigan record, but all his songs have sort of started sounding the same. I could leave him at this point; i also think he needs an editor. Too many records and they're all too long.