Boyz, In Da Hood.

Usually, I don’t pay much attention to mixtapes. It’s been my experience in the past that you have to cut through a lot of crap in order to get to the good stuff. That said, there are a few key exceptions to this rule, and that comes in the people who know best how to maximize the mixtape. The best example I can think of is Wale, whose Mixtape About Nothing flaunted copyright laws in mixtape-perfect form, while showcasing his ability to rhyme on every and any topic. Lil Wayne also manages to make his stuff consistently awesome, so that each mixtape is newsworthy. And, after their Swelly Express, Chiddy Bang are making a serious case for inclusion among the ranks of those hip-hop all-stars.

We’ve heard of these Chiddy boys both with their summer-smashing “Kids” and in the form of a sweet mashup courtesy of their DJ, Xaphoon Jones. Lucky for us, the mixtape holds pace with those two. The production value on it is pretty amazing, and they drop some samples that are sure to please. The highlight in my opinion is “Truth,” which samples the only Passion Pit song as catchy as “Sleepyhead,” “Better Things.” Plus, they reference Full House’s Jesse Katsopolis, so what’s not to like? Kickstart your week with a bang, and thank me later.

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Fresh Like Us (feat. Yelle) – Chiddy Bang (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Truth (feat. Passion Pit) – Chiddy Bang (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

All Things Go (feat. Sufjan Stevens) – Chiddy Bang (YSI)

Grab the mixtape for free here.

Related posts:

1. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
2. [Insert Super Smash Bros. Joke Here]
3. Every Bro Has a Story

I'd advise not judging albums by their covers, too.

Recently, Sufjan Stevens gave an interview in which he confessed

I’m tired of these grand, epic endeavors, and wanting to just make music for the joy of making music and having it be immediate and nothing to do with the industry itself, which, y’know is suffering right now of course. And I think it has to do with a creative crisis too. I’m wondering what am I doing?

While it’s easy to take that quote out of context, torque and sensationalize it to turn it into some sort of indication of imminent retirement, the heart of his point pulses through nonetheless: he is the master of a dying form. At his finest, Sufjan is the essence of the perfect album, with an ear suited for the variegated themes (musical and lyrical) necessary to sustain a listener through the 40 to 80 minutes an album commands. And The BQE has the strength to stand up among Stevens’ other contemporary classics, delivering the feeling and range of emotion we’ve come to expect from the troubadour with the impronounceable name.

I’ll be the first to admit that, when I heard Sufjan was going to be composing an entirely instrumental suite, I was dismayed. The fact that this suite was in honor of a highway did little to assuage my fears. It seemed another flight of fancy, sure to delay the long-awaited follow-up to my potentially favorite album of the aughts, Come On, Feel the Illinoise! But I was and am an unstoppably ravenous Sufjan fan, a Sufjan omnivore, a Sufjan scavenger, searching endlessly through the internet trashcans outside his proverbial house, looking for scraps of songs and discarded ideas. I found videos, heard cell-phone recordings, and hula-hoops, some of which I would later share with you. He was starting to win me over with his trademark nerdy grace and gentle melodies.

An expressway is an odd choice for an orchestral suite. I know there are some who see emotion even in the most brutalistic and nonfeeling of concrete structures (for example, icebergxc, in his short-lived tenure on our high school’s prom committee, was uniquely outspoken in his insistence that the event be held in a parking garage; needless to say, he was one of a very select few with that opinion), but it’s certainly uncommon. Still, if there’s one musician capable of projecting Americana onto a blank gray slate, it’s Sufjan Stevens.

In many strange ways, BQE is his greatest triumph as a songwriter. It’s no easy task to convey emotions wordlessly; it’s hard enough to do so lyrically. Sufjan had already shown himself as effortlessly brilliant with tunes like “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!,” “Casimir Pulaski Day,” “For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti,” or “Springfield,” whose lyrics are inexplicably more tear-inducing with every additional play.* Similarly, with sweeping strings and grating guitars in “Chicago,” “Sister,” or “Majesty, Snowbird,” he showed his versatility. But this tour de force knows no boundaries. It accumulates all the styles of Sufjanic brilliance from along the ways — the distortion of Seven Swans, the accessibility of Illinoise/Avalance and the electro-pop of his new songs all seamlessly combine to make an album that’s beautifully varied and eminently listenable.

Sufjan dances and moves throughout, shape-shifting between Brahms in “Movement VI — Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges,” Brubeck piano-hyper-rhythmic in “Interlude III — Invisible Accidents,” and wandering with a Miles Davis Sketches of Spain horn in “Sleeping Intruder.” And all this is done with a signature Sufjan Stevens smirk, a little twee twinge or a familiar echo of a string quartet. It’s homey, familiar, and intriguingly innovative.

More than that, it’s a powerful album. You may have heard of the “Mozart Effect” on infants; I propose that there’s a “Sufjan Stevens Effect” on 20-year-olds, because I’m certainly feeling it now. But even if you aren’t like me, where every note hits as more perfect and beautiful than the last, there’s something for everyone. Even if you can’t lose yourself in it entirely, it could easily be used as a study aid (see: “Mozart Effect”) or background music for your next philosophical debating society meeting.

Simply put, I love this album. A flight of fancy it may be, but Sufjan has the musical capacity to pull it off accessibly and wonderfully. There aren’t adverbs positive enough to describe his composition. Moreover, the joy he discussed in that interview above is palpable in every one of his songs, which can easily be ascertained in one quick listen.

Let’s just hope he releases his follow-up to Illinoise soon. Some of us are dying out here.

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Movement I: In the Countenance of Kings – Sufjan Stevens (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Movement IV: Traffic Shock – Sufjan Stevens (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Movement VII (Finale): The Emperor of Centrifuge – Sufjan Stevens (YSI)

*I’ve never been moved to tears by a song though, because, what am I, a wuss? Losers.

Related posts:

1. Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.
2. OMG NEW SUFJAN, GUYS!
3. Soaring with Sufjan: "Majesty, Snowbird"

And, unfortunately, not enough of these.

So, I have nothing new to bring to the table right now.  But in the interest of interest, it’s interesting that recently I’ve been listening to more individual songs than albums.  Normally, I’m really an album guy, slavishly devoting my ears to the artist’s intent.  Mixes are fun, but usually I’m too respectful lazy to embark upon making them.

And I’m still not.  I’ve just been hitting the genius button on my iTunes a few more times a week, letting it scour my massive library for gems I’d never given a chance to before–gems past and present.  Here are some great launching points for me from this past year:

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Buck 65 feat. Sufjan Stevens – Blood Pt. 2 (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Metric – Help I’m Alive (The Twelves Remix) (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Avett Brothers – And It Spread (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

The Antlers – Bear (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Franz Ferdinand – Call Me (Live) (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Monsters of Folk – Temezcal (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

My Morning Jacket – El Caporal (YSI)

Related posts:

1. Sneak Peek: Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream
2. Birds Aren’t Muppets.
3. Live, on air, it’s The Animal Show show (Now with a playlist!)

Sufjan performing the BQE suite at the Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, November 1, 2007

Most nights, I lay awake praying to the blue translucent ghost of Alec Guinness for a new Sufjan Stevens release. And he usually ignores me. But last night, sir Alec was generous. And this morning I received in my inbox a press release from Sufjan’s label, Asthmatic Kitty, announcing the release (at long last) of his monumental instrumental: 2007’s BQE tribute.

For those of you who are so worthless that you’ve forgotten some of the minutiae of Sufjan’s bizarre side-projects, allow me to refresh your memory: this was an instrumental tribute to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, complete with 3 simultaneously-screened super-8 videos which, if memory serves, Stevens himself shot.

I’m pumped, and not just because this CD/DVD release comes with a complementary Viewmaster reel. More because for 2 years I’ve been spinning the two movements of BQE I was able to find in my travels across the internet non-stop, and I’m glad that I’ll finally be able to complete the sets. Until then, teasers ho!

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

The BQE Movement 3 (Live on WNYC) – Sufjan Stevens (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

The BQE Movement 6 (Live on WNYC) – Sufjan Stevens (YSI)

Read the news release, view the trailer, and preorder the thing here.

Related posts:

1. OMG NEW SUFJAN, GUYS!
2. Soaring with Sufjan: "Majesty, Snowbird"
3. BQE In Review: Sufjan’s Triumph

MSPaint -- an Animal Show tradition.

Ya’ll know I’m all about the Sufjy Stevie. And ya’ll know I dig those genre-crossing mash-ups. But what you don’t know about me is how frequently I bitch about the lack of good genre-crossing Sufjan mash-ups. Seriously, I make terrible company because of it. Lucky for me, Tor has just dropped an absolute monster of a Sufjan mixtape, blending selections from Illinoise, Seven Swans, A Sun Came and Sufjan’s Christmas Mixtapes with the sweet rhymes of artists ranging from Aesop Rock to Outkast. And, unlike the only Sufjan mash-up I previously had, the disastrous “Jesus Walks” plus “They are Night Zombies!…” result “Zombies Walk,” these sound like they ought to be paired. So much so, you can go periods of several minutes without realizing you’re listening to mashes. I can’t think of higher praise to give an “a plus b” mash-up album.

This thing is absolutely nasty. Catch the tracklisting, and if that doesn’t grab you, sample before you download the whole thing from Tor’s website:

Related posts:

1. OMG NEW SUFJAN, GUYS!
2. Covers that Reinvent the Wheel: "Free Man In Paris"
3. Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.

Banjo + Wings = Animal Show. It's simple arithmetic, really.

Every additional week I go without hearing new Sufjan material, I die a little inside. It’s true. And it’s seriously problematic, because it means that my standard for “good” new Sufjan stuff is much lower than for most music. I’ll listen to really crappy demos of half-hashed A Sun Came outtakes, and think they’re good. (Just kidding — I’m proud to say I’ve never listened to A Sun Came all the way through. And unless someone tells me otherwise, I’ll continue to avoid it.) Really, though, my Sufjan obsession has driven me to find those rare gems which make you remember why you loved Illinois and The Avalanche way back in 05/06, when those albums were BURNING UP the indie charts. Enter “Majesty, Snowbird.”

“Majesty, Snowbird” is one of those Sufjan songs which can immediately send you back to a particular place and time. Sufjan’s great strength is his ability to evoke emotions with grace and precision, and a bitchin’ string section. This majestic (for lack of a better word) and cascading melody dips and swirls, brimming with horns and skating on a falsetto vocal, tearing you up inside in the best way possible. Also, at 10:04, it clocks in as among the longest Sufjan songs. (Similar to recent release “You are the Blood,” another Stevensian epic, although of a slightly trippier sort.) I had the pleasure of witnessing the live debut of this song at Nashville’s beautiful and historic Ryman auditorium, during a concert which held me in a goose-bumped state for the full 2 hours. The song is a helluvan experience, and may be just what Monday afternoon/evening needs.

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Majesty, Snowbird (Live) – Sufjan Stevens (zshare)

Related posts:

1. BQE In Review: Sufjan’s Triumph
2. OMG NEW SUFJAN, GUYS!
3. Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.

Dear Sufjan, Please come back to making, performing and recording music. We miss you. And your incredible collection of Americana clothing. Love, the Animal Show

Sufjan Stevens is still great to me. I love him with passion incapable of being undone by his over-blogged state. And if there’s one thing that Sufjan does a fantastic job of, it’s performing covers. He has such an idiosyncratic sound that everything he touches explodes in orchestrated goodness. And when he touches other people’s songs, it’s even better. And my metaphors start to get creepy.

A couple of years ago, a phenomenal Joni Mitchell tribute album was released, which I snagged because it had both Prince and Sufjan on it. Can you imagine? What a double-billing. Sufjan’s cover of “Free Man in Paris” showed the most ingenuity and pulled the song into a new era of music, playing on the meaning of the original.

Free Man in Paris – Joni Mitchell

Free Man in Paris – Sufjan Stevens

The album is great and you should buy it, if only for the Prince version of “Case of You,” which gives me chills.

And if you don’t have Joni’s Court and Spark, where the original is from, do yourself a favor and get it.

Related posts:

1. Covers that Reinvent the Wheel: "Spit on a Stranger"
2. Covers that Reinvent the Wheel (Unnecessarily): "White Winter Hymnal"
3. Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.

Merry Christmas from Sufjan Stevens and Some Random People He Met On the Street and Asked to Pose as His Family, or Something Like That!!

Most of my days, when I’m not thinking of ways to out-hipster my peers (note to self: ironic fu man chu), I spend my hours weeping and wondering whether Sufjan Stevens is ever going to record another album. Come on, man! It’s been like a year since I’ve heard new material from you. Maybe.

Lucky for me and Sufjan/Jesus-lovers everywhere, everyone’s favorite indie banjoist has dropped another of his Christmas Albums

Catch it after the break.

Sufjan Stevens — Songs for Christmas Vol. 8

Thanx, VOLUME KNOB!

Related posts:

1. Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.
2. A Sufjam — Tor's Illinoize
3. Soaring with Sufjan: "Majesty, Snowbird"