Sufjan Stevens
The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens is one of the best albums of the year.
Two tracks here:
Video Game” and “Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse”
“Video Game”
Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse”
Planetarium
Sufjan Stevens has teamed up with The National’s Bryce Dessner, classical composer Nico Muhly, and drummer James McAlister for a project called Planetarium, a composition inspired by the solar system.
The 17-song album debuts in June.
Saturn is one of the songs.
Saturn
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens returns to folk roots on his new album Carrie & Lowell.
Named after his mother and stepfather, he explores his troubled relationship with his family, particularly with his mother.
“Should Have Known Better” is a poignant first song from the album.
Sisyphus
Sufjan Stevens has teamed up with hip-hop musician Son Lux and rapper Serengeti to form the group Sisyphus.
They released an EP a couple of years ago under the name s/s/s, but the name sounded too much like the Nazi paramilitary organization so the name change.
Their self-titled debut album is due next month with the song “Rhythm of Devotion”.
Sufjan Stevens (Christmas)
It is exceedingly difficult to write a good Christmas song, more so to write a classic. And only a few artists have written more than one.
Sufjan Stevens has to be the most prolific composer of contemporary Christmas Songs.
In 2006 he gave us an incredible 5 volumes of holiday songs.
He follows this year 5 additional albums!
“Christmas in the Room” is from Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10.
Sufjan Stevens: Free download
Sufjan Stevens is the wildly eclectic multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter hailing from Detroit but now firmly ensconced in Brooklyn. Known to many for his Fifty States Project, he once planned to write an album for each of the U.S. states. But with only Michigan and Illinois under his belt, he now says that it was just a joke. His 5 CD box set Songs for Christmas is a staple for me during the holidays and when he is not producing records, recording commissioned pieces or guesting on other musicians albums (most recently he can be heard on The National’s High Violet), he releases music on his own label, Asthmatic Kitty. The EP All Delighted People just became available as a digital download and his first completely song-based album in 5 years, The Age of Adz (pronounced Odds), is scheduled for this October. From the forthcoming album, the song “I Walked” is a free download and becomes the Song of the Day.
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“I Walked” by Sufjan Stevens
The National
The new album by The National is so good that I’m having difficulty deciding which two tracks to feature today to share for a taste. The album, High Violet, was released yesterday and it is richly powerful, personal and passionate from start to finish. About a month and a half ago we featured the poignant “Bloodbuzz Ohio” as a previous Song of the Day. “Sorrow” and “Afraid of Everyone” (the latter with a little help from Sufjan Stevens) are today’s Songs of the Day.
“Sorrow”
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“Afraid of Everyone”
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