I voted C&L but Michigan, Seven Swans and even The Avalanche are all amazing.
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Adz, Illinois, c&l and seven swans are all 10/10 imo. Michigan not far behind. Youāre in for a bloody treat mate
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- (In D major)
- (In Eb major)
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Haha. I went to that very gig on my own. Drove all the way up from Newbury, Berkshire. It must have been a Saturday night.
Totally agree, top 5 gigs Iāve ever been too. No one to discuss it with after. We should have hooked up! I ended up drinking in some random indie club by myself afterā¦
I only just discovered Sufjan Stevensā music in the past year. He played in this city in 2016 but at that time I had no idea who he was; the name was just one of dozens of names that go in and out of my head when reading about current musicians, so I did not take the opportunity and I missed out on the experience.
So far I only own Illinois, Carrie & Lowell, and the Planetarium thingy, but I have a feeling more will be added. And the soundtrack from āCall Me by Your Nameā is just wonderful. Not all of it is Sufjan of course.
Three of my favourite musicians are Stevens - Cat Stevens, Steven Wilson, and now Sufjan Stevens.
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most underrated Sufjan song:
(also the first one i ever heard)
How do you people describe Sufjan Stevensā music to someone who has never heard it? Iāve had this problem lately. I find myself saying something like "sort of folky, sort of notā¦ a bit pop, a bit progressiveā¦ ", and then I think if someone had described it to me in those terms before I heard it, would that have led me to expect it to sound like it does? Probably not.
I know genre labels are not supposed to matter, blah blah blah, and in the last analysis I guess they are not important, but they can sometimes help when describing certain music to another person, so that the person at least knows whether itās worth their while seeking it out and listening for themselves.
Itās a difficult one as he plays about with genres. I would definitely describe him somewhere under the folk umbrella, because even the Age of Adz has its folk-y moments.
By the way, what exactly is āAdzā?
The Age of Adz is a reference to Louisiana artist and self-proclaimed prophet Royal Robertson, whose work appears on the albumās cover and liner notes. A paranoid schizophrenic, Robertson translated his anguish through apocalyptic sci-fi posters after his wife left him following nearly 20 years of marriage.
thanks - but I still want to know what āAdzā is. Do the letters stand for something?
I have tried Googling it but cannot find any reference to āadzā except in the context of this album.
I think itās a term made up by Royal Robertson and I think it refers to some imagined end times scenario. Though itās difficult to Google. Possibly The Age Of Adz was the name of one of Robertsonās pieces or his collections, maybe even the name of the artwork on the front of the album?
I donāt think itās an acronym.
Havenāt really answered your question but maybe Adz = end times?
Thanks anyway. maybe thereās a clue somewhere in the lyrics, which I have yet to peruse.
All Day Zumba
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That does sounds pretty apocalyptic, tbf.
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The Devil Wears Spanx
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āI mean the āAdzā is really a misspelling of āOdds.ā Thatās taken from [Royal Robertson], he has all kinds of text in his work, and his visions are all written out in this messy script. He was a sign painter for a living before he was an artist, and his signs became double entendres, messages that had dual meanings, because of all the misspellings and grammatical mistakes. The Age of Adz is reflecting the subconscious, free association way of thinking that happens when youāre not censoring yourself. Royalās work is very much about impulsive free association, and the lyrics on The Age of Adz also follow that.ā
- Soup John Stevens
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As far as Iām concerned, Stevensā song is a no-brainer to take the award - but of course Iām not on the judging panel.