Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

From Pitchfork:

Following (very) closely on the heels of last week's surprise All Delighted People EP comes news of a brand new Sufjan Stevens full-length. The Age of Adz will be released by Asthmatic Kitty on October 12. ("Adz" is pronounced "odds," a press release tells us.)

The Age of Adz:

01 Futile Devices

02 Too Much

03 Age of Adz

04 I Walked

05 Now That I'm Older

06 Get Real Get Right

07 Bad Communication

08 Vesuvius

09 All for Myself

10 I Want To Be Well

11 Impossible Soul

From Asthmatic Kitty:

We can say it shows an extensive use of electronics (banjos and acoustic guitars give way to drum machines and analog synthesizers), and an obsession with cosmic fantasies (space, heaven, aliens, love), to create an explicit pop-song extravaganza, augmented by heavy orchestration, and maybe even a few danceable moments. Enjoy Your Rabbit meets the BQE. But with songs. Verse, chorus, bridge, backbeat. Gated reverb. Space echo. Get your boogey on.

The “Adz” of the title loosely refers to the apocalyptic paintings of outsider artist Royal Robertson (1930-1997), whose work is used for the album cover, interior design, and as general inspiration for the tone of the album.

Seems like some crazy Sufjan prog/idm album, should be awesome!

What happened to his STATES albums?

And what happened to him in general?

I love sufjan, but man..... super lame he made two states albums. Those were so obviously his best.

  On 8/29/2010 at 4:59 AM, dr lopez said:

I love sufjan, but man..... super lame he made two states albums. Those were so obviously his best.

I agree that they're his best, I guess he doesn't just want to be "states albums guy"

I was looking forward to Rhode Island, maybe that would have to be a single or ep...

He finally admitted a while ago that the states album thing was kind of a joke.

looking forward to this.

i dunt think his albums have to states-related to be necessarily good. a sun came/seven swans/songs for christmas can confirm this.

the michigan album is pretty good. illinois is a bit too gay for me.

It's out, it's out!

The 303 on this album is siiiiiiiiiick.

  On 9/26/2010 at 7:41 PM, wake said:

The 303 on this album is siiiiiiiiiick.

yo, the 808 is slamming on tracks 2, 3, 4, and 7!!

  On 9/26/2010 at 7:45 PM, Hanratty said:

  On 9/26/2010 at 7:41 PM, wake said:

The 303 on this album is siiiiiiiiiick.

 

 

yo, the 808 is slamming on tracks 2, 3, 4, and 7!!

Lol, dude... track 4 is obviously a 909.

  On 9/26/2010 at 7:56 PM, wake said:

  On 9/26/2010 at 7:45 PM, Hanratty said:

  On 9/26/2010 at 7:41 PM, wake said:

The 303 on this album is siiiiiiiiiick.

 

 

yo, the 808 is slamming on tracks 2, 3, 4, and 7!!

 

Lol, dude... track 4 is obviously a 909.

incorrect. clearly the only 909 element is the snare and hihats. the booming kick is from an 808 run through a massive distortion filter.

i thought it was average, at best, until the last track. that last track has got to be a joke. it's just awful!

i thought it was really good but i haven't listened to it for a little while. i was blown away by some of the noisy parts.

well in all fairness im like the only person i know who doesnt really care for sufjan. i dont hate him but i dont really have much interest. i know, i fail as a person. oh well.

so how is this? im curious about this guy for the first time ever. i think its because of the album cover.

It sounds like the postal office performed by a school theatre/band that would rather stage the musical "hair", with very elobarate melodic structures. There are some pretty melodies in there, there is also some shite. I like it though.

edit: oh yeah, there are also some synths.

also he has a really annoying quavering voice that is not at all suited for the overblown kind of stuff he's trying to do.

I heard the first half of it at a friend's house last Sunday. Seemed decent, if not his most profound work. I'll be picking it up asap.

listened to this on train to work today. enjoyed it heaps.

with all the pre-album hype focusing on the synths, kinda didn't realise it was still going to be a cheesy over the top sufjan album. not too sure what i was expecting actually, but i was really really pleased with the album :)

I tried really hard to get into him for a long time and have come to the conclusion that I only really like his John Wayne Gacy song.

It is amazing.

The rest of his stuff all blurs together, imo.

.

liking this. glad he abandoned those choir arrangements.

I still prefer his banjo and choir stuff, but this is a cock solid album. Sufjan is a really talented guy. And it's almost season for his Christmas-box again. Oh happy day!

this is still a pretty good album