If Sufjan Steven’s performance of Too Much on Jimmy Fallon Live doesn’t cut it as one of the most memorable live performances you’ve seen in a long time, then I don’t know what funky stuff you’ve been watching lately. After taking a few years off to regroup after the critical success of Illinois, it’s clear that Sufjan is back, in a big way, and he’s about to kick your butt/take over the world.
Too Much
In 1967, a Winnipeg prospector was looking for quartz near Falcon Lake, Manitoba when he encountered a UFO. Two UFOs, in fact. When one landed near him, he cautiously approached. Later, he would describe the craft as something like a metal soup bowl with a dome on top. As he approached what he described as the door, he heard two voices inside and although he couldn’t make out what they were saying, he could make out two distinct speakers. Peering in the craft he saw only what he described as a maze of lights. Suddenly, the door slid closed and, stumbling backwards, he grasped out for something to grip onto. Touching the ship’s exterior his heavy work gloves were burnt. As the ship began to rise, an overwhelming stench of sulphur caused the man to be sick; heat from the craft caused his shirt to catch on fire and his toque to burst into flames as well.
When the prospector emerged to tell his story doctors and law officials could find no faults, however extraordinary. His clothes were burnt in unusual patterns and, what’s more, burns on his body were indicative of the same strange patterns and could only be explained by doctors as resulting from aircraft exhaust. To his deathbed, the prospector swore his story was true and to this day, the RCMP list the case as unsolved.
Last week I was able to write some initial impressions of the new Sufjan Stevens album thanks to NPR, who have the entire thing streaming on their website. Well, they’ve done it again. Belle & Sebastian’s new album, Write About Love, is available to stream online, in its entirety, until it’s released next week. So thanks again to NPR I’m able to give some initial impressions and thoughts on an album I’ve been waiting an eternity to get my hands on.
For a Belle & Sebastian record, Write About Love opens with a punch. For a band that’s never put much musical emphasis on their percussion section—as talented as it may be—this album opens up with a rolling drum line that sounds more like a Sparta track than a tune from the Scottish indie pop superheroes we’ve come to know a love. Of course, once the piano keys in and that familiar guitar twang begins it starts to feel a bit more familiar it’s still immediately clear that this is a Belle & Sebastian record that’ll keep you guessing. And it does.
Over the course of their last couple of records Belle & Sebastian have steadily grown from a pretty sleepy albeit incredibly talented song-writing force-to-be-reckoned-with into an equally talented although far more perky indie pop ensemble. The shift was pretty pronounced with the release of Dear Catastrophe Waitress in 2003 with a sound that was pretty different from their previous records. The group built upon this new-found sound with 2006′s The Life Pursuit. The release of Write About Love, however, is a curveball to anyone who thought that they had the group pegged down.
Through the course of the forty-minute record we’re treated to an enormous spectrum of songs and sounds. Many tracks on this album are heavily and very professionally-produced pop tracks in a vein similar, yet different, to those found on the group’s last two records. Thanks to what must’ve been incredibly high production values, these songs come out sounding absolutely stunning. On many of these tracks it’s clear that the band is trying new things, like the emphasis on the drum line in the opening track. Still, we’re left guessing, because many of these tunes are also throwbacks to older Belle & Sebastian material. Many songs are slower, more toned-down, the likes of which we haven’t heard the band write since their very early albums. And again, there are many aspects of this record that just leave me wondering like the guest appearance of Norah Jones singing alongside Stuart Murdoch and the incredibly different track contributed by guitarist Stevie Jackson.
At any rate, from my initial impressions Write About Love is the album I’ve been waiting so long for, and then some. If a four-year wait between records felt like a long time I think we can all agree that after hearing what can out of it, it was worth the wait.
After a hiatus that felt like forever fans and critics (of which I am both, zing!) wondered aloud if the Scottish pop rock group Belle & Sebastian had broken up for good. Answer: They hadn’t.
Belle & Sebastian are back this October with Write About Love, the band’s first album in four years. From what we’ve heard, it sounds even poppier and uptempo than 2006′s The Life Pursuit but taking the band in this direction seems like a really good fit. If their live performance of their first single off the album is any indication, the rest of the record is going to sound great.
While I’m going to save my full review for when the album is released, I thought it might be fun to share my initial impressions of the new Sufjan Stevens record The Age of Adz.
If you’re a Sufjan fan and haven’t had a chance to take a listen to the new album the entire thing is streaming (until the release date on Oct. 12) over at NPR. That said, I’ve had a listen.
What I guess The Age of Adz amounts to is what happens when a certain personality-type reaches unexpected heights of fame in a very short period of time. With the release of Illinois, back in 2005 Sufjan Stevens, who has always been a bit of a recluse, a big experimenter, and an artist to the core, exploded into popular culture in a way that he certainly did not foresee. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Sufjan was uncomfortable, from the start, with this level of fame. It’s clear he went through a long period of self-doubt, of questioning the integrity and the purpose of his music, of questioning fame, but it’s clear now that he’s come safely out the other side.
The Age of Adz, I think, is that journey.
Departing from acoustic instruments and real live orchestras, Sufjan has instead turned to synthesizers and sounds that Maria has aptly-described as “robots”. Still, The Age of Adz doesn’t stray all that far from Sufjan’s other popular records. There are still those soaring heights, the quiet lows. There’s still plenty of introspection. Sure, it sounds futuristic but forget about what’s making the music and it really isn’t all that different from something you’d expect from an inventive, experimental artist like Sufjan.
On initial impression, I love The Age of Adz. Instead of compromising his integrity as an artist, it seems to me like Sufjan has produced a record that he wanted to produce instead of settling for releasing what all of us wanted to hear. And besides, if you’ve followed Sufjan’s career for anything length of time this really isn’t that much of a departure. Sufjan innovates, he keeps you guessing, and he keeps you coming back for more. He is a well-spring of talent and creative energy, truly, and thank goodness that supply is flowing again.
Am I qualified to review a rap album? Probably not. But I’m going to do it anyway.
The Kenya-born, Canada-based Shad is known to be an all around nice guy. A chum. In all the interviews I’ve seen, in every media encounter, and in the tweets and notes I’ve read from those that are close to him he seems like the kind of person that you’d want to surround yourself with. A really, truly nice guy.
And that’s kind of what comes through, for me, in an album like TSOL.
In 1988, Paul Simon made an appearance on the popular kids show Sesame Street. It was very possible that, as a kid, I was watching when Simon and a small troupe of child performers sang “Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard”.
Lasting just shy of two minutes, Simon’s version of his incredibly popular song is performed only as a brief rendition but if you watch it I’m sure you’ll understand why I love it so much to include it in my Live Tracks series.
Truly, this performance is surreal.
First of all, Simon’s playing a tune that while fun and campy, has a bit of a dark if not mysterious undertone to it. The true meaning of its lyrics, while never revealed by Paul Simon himself, have been speculated to refer to rape or sodomy. Yet, here he is playing it on a children’s TV show. It sure sounds good.
Then there’s the little girl sitting next to Simon. Now this has gotta be the coolest little girl. In what seems like a totally unrehearsed performance she sings, claps and dances along with Paul and really puts on a show. I mean these two could cut a single together, no doubt.
I love everything about this video. Paul Simon and a small group of kids singing, playing and dancing on a nearly deserted Sesame Street set. The pure, unadulterated joy and expression of children having fun. And a really good tune.
Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard
