ADP #1 Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

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Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

https://open.spotify.com/album/7j8lfKDdL7vE8OAM4cA3W3
(changing open above to play will play it in a web browser...eventually (takes a bit to re-route).

Write ups/info about album saying it better than I ever would which I found interesting:
http://www.stereogum.com/1813154/illino...niversary/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_...ens_album)
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7514-illinois/

I really wanted to dig deeper into this album... the meanings, the names, etc., but ran out of time with a newborn (who totally deserves more attention than this).

Here's my reactions this listen. Nothing terribly insightful, but a practice I like to do to maybe get better at writing... if I actually would put effort into it (ok 1st draft)

1. "Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois"
I love his piercing vocals as they come in and his falsetto is beautiful (reminds me a bit of Elliot Smith). The piano is very reflectiive/though provoking and the winds add to that feel well. Musically fits the lyrics well.

2. "The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'"
The trill is fantastic, even if a bit too repetetive at times. While the orchestration is more interesting than most musical figures in this day and age, it stills feels a bit amateur at times (and not necissarily in a bad way... just like a high school band class feel somehow). Still is fantastic. It still is stuck in my head well.

3. "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" (Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream)
Feel the Charlie Brown! hehe, just mostly kidding. I really like the vocals, both his and backing. And the music is solid as much as I kid. And yes, what would Frank Lloyd Wright think? Also, are you writing from the heart?

Favorite part of song 3:05 to 4:00

4. "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
What a tear jerker. I mean I've never really thought of a serial killer like this:

And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid

Dude's voice in this is absolutely takes my breath away.

5. "Jacksonville"
Lovin the music on this one. It flows real good. Love the vocals on it too. One of the best songs on the album.

6. "A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons"
Musically ok, if I weren't paying attention to tracks, wouldn't even notice this was a seperate track. Maybe I'll look up Mary Todd as I had hoped.


7. "Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!"
"Our stepmom, we did everything to hate her"... hahaha, fantastic lyric.

8. "One Last 'Whoo-Hoo!' for the Pullman!!"
Another I thought was just the end of the track or something.

9. "Go! Chicago! Go! Yeah!"
The repetitive guitar work on this is fantastic. This song has this travelling energy that is great. What I love is the juxtaposition of the "traveling" sound of the reptitive guitar lick, and the pause of reflection.

10. "Casimir Pulaski Day"
This I did look up and learned a bit about Polish history when I first was getting into the album. Even with the orchestration, this is a fantastically laid back song.

11. "To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves Tube Socks, a Paper Airplane, and Twenty-Two Able-Bodied Men"
This song brought this album to a new level for me. It tickled me brain with its atmosphere, even if short.

12. "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts"
Nice to hear a loud guitar enter the stage. The happy go lucky chorus is fun.

13. "Prairie Fire That Wanders About" (Peoria)
This also tickled my brain.


14. "A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze"
Hahahahaha

15. "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!"
Me likey the time on this one. I love how it explodes at 2:30
He was my best friend

16. "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!"
Funkiest track on the record. Without this track, I feel it would be just a bit too same old same old, and this gives it some good spice.

17. "Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bloomington–Normal"
I like me some isolated sounds.

18. "In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth"
Nothing to say

19. "The Seer's Tower"
Interesting play on words. Solemn.

20. "The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders" (Part I: The Great Frontier – Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now)
Strong track

21. "Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few"
Playing the same note never sounded so good.

22. "Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run"
Philip Glass anyone?

Overall Experience:
I can't help but think of Phillip Glass' Powaqqatsi when I listen to this record, especially on the last track.

In 2005 I lived almost like monk and so didn't even hear this album until last year. It was a grower for me. I didn't fall in love at first, and thought it a bit lackluster, but the more I listened to it, I really liked the lyrics, and the simplistic orchestrations actually ended up finding a place in my heart. Once it clicked, I listened to it for like 2 weeks straight.

I love the laid back, yet deep dive into the history/culture of Illinois. I feel I can put this record on almost at anytime. For me, I don't have to be in a mood to listen to it, and once it clicked for me, it was very accessible.

I keep going back and forth on the orchestration on this. On one hand I think it is genious and fantastic and other times it reminds me of Charlie Brown/maybe a kids music group. Which isn't bad, but somehow detracts for me. I think Charlie Brown is also similar to how I'd even characterize some of his lyrical phrasing, etc. But it really is a great orchestration, even if it teeters at times for me.

I do appreciate how he is writing this love story for Illinois, but it is real... doesn't feel terribly contrived or 'Mericuh.

Sometimes I get bored with how same same the record is and then other times I get blown away by the way it all ties together.

Overall, I think this is a high quality album. It's somewhere inbetween a masterpiece and a fantastic album worthy of at least a few listens.

[Komorebi-D]

[Puncture Repair]

1. I think your 'Charlie Brown' point is really interesting. To me, that's what really helps this album shine. The album is entirely cheesy. The orchestration is huge at times, but never grandiose, it's just plonky. Match that with Sufjan's incredibly warming vocal style and often very poingoint lyrics, and there's this kind of mis-match of styles that really gels.

To me, this album is the sound of nostalgia. Not your personal nostalgia (that could be anything), but just if you squeezed nostalgia out, this is what it might sound like. The first time I heard it my mind dashed back to road trips and summer camps and family holidays, washed in a kind of 90s fuzzy photography. It feels very familiar.

Because nostalgia can hurt sometimes. I think the goofy orchestration reminds us of these older times and then Sufjan's sheer sincerety enables us to not feel stupid feeling the way we do. It's a really gorgeous thing. I always feel slightly embarasses putting this album in my top 20. Part of me wants to swap it with the far more cynical and dramatic Age of Adz, but whenever I hear Illinois it sparks so much in me every time. It may very well be the album I've spent the most collective time listening to.

2. I don't think it's entirely publicity. I think there's clearly a passion here for exploring the USA, that doesn't necessarily boil down to patriotism. That he was able to convey even more sentiment in Illinois than in his home state record just shows he's got a knack for story telling.

3. I think it's a mature nod to your influences and a respectful celebration of them. There shouldn't be anything shame. It tends to really ground the piece, give it a sense of place and history, and also humility.

4. Just read that it's possibly a reference to the underground railroad where people would apparently help slaves escape. They're not afraid of the black man running because they know he's running to a new freedom?

5. Sufjan just comes across as a really consciousness dude. He's also just an insanely consistant songwriter. He's probably recorded more Christmas songs than is in his studio discography. Sisyphus shows he's even comfortable in a hip hop trio, and I think their debut is a grossly overlooked album - one of my favourites, not least due to Sufjan's writing and performance.

[Tap]

It's been a long time since I listened to this one, I'll go thru it again sometime but I've never been the biggest fan, something about it never really clicked for me. I still like Dear Mr. Supercomputer off the outtakes album The Avalanche a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndDnDO4Drnc, so maybe there's something for me to get out of this yet.

edit: Just remembered I also still really like The Perpetual Self off the outtakes album too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiOYMHgCQe0, maybe all the stuff I like is on this one

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[Komorebi-D]

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