From the Salmon

Since it officially hits the shelves today, I thought I’d remind y’all to check out my review of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois album.

I thought it also worth pointing out a story from Pitchfork about NPR commissioning Sufjan Stevens to write a song for them. The story airs tomorrow at 4:36 p.m. and 6:36 p.m., Eastern and Mountain, and at 3:36 p.m. and 5:36 p.m., Central and Pacific.

UPDATE - JULY 6:

So… a quick roundup is in order of the latest Sufjan news, since I’ve got nothing else of value in my tired, tired head today:

• Asthmatic Kitty announced that it was postponing the release date because, well, the album had Superman on the front and it turns out that DC Comics is a little protective of the Man of Steel. So they told stores to stop selling the album. Which they did. Except for those that did not. Then, Asthmatic Kitty said that they would do a new pressing later but sell what they had as planned. Except for their own mail order shipments, which will be delayed until the new pressing, perhaps in August. So grab one if you can.
• If you can’t find it in a friendly neighborhood indie music store, Illinois was released for download from the iTunes Music Store, including two additional tracks: “Chicago (To String Remix by Jongalloway)” and “The Avalanche.” The latter track is particularly beautiful.
• The aforementioned NPR piece ran today and can be streamed here. On the same page, you can also download an mp3 file of the Sufjan’s new song about Arkansas, “The Lord God Bird.”
• Since that piece, while interesting, didn’t include a Sufjan interview as I had hoped, you should mosey on over to Chicago Public Radio and check out a 20-minute interview that ran on Tuesday. Sufjan talks about his process, about individual songs on the new album, and about whether or not the 50 states project is a gimmick. (h/t bestman)
• And if you’re still craving more thoughts about the album, check out Jason’s review at Opus. Oh, and the usually stingy Pitchfork gave it a 9.2! Take that, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

I can’t resist one final bit of silliness....

I went to the iTMS to grab the bonus tracks, and I noticed that the title to track 11 had changed since the initial tracklist posted on Pitchfork. My album artwork (with Superman, thank you very much) just calls it “To The Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament”

Pitchfork had it as “To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and it involves shoe string, a lavender garland, and twelve strong women”

But iTunes lists it as “To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves an Inner Tube, Bath Mats, and 21 Able-bodied Men”

I wonder which one it is.... Did the first Idea not work out? Was a lavender garland not to be found? Are the fine folks of the Rockford River Valley Region still in a Predicament? And why does it seem like MacGyver is running the show here?

The mind boggles.

Okay. That’s enough fanboy insanity for now. Well, at least until Sufjan’s two San Francisco shows in a week and a half. After that, this side of me probably won’t rear its ugly head again until Sigur Rós releases their new album in September. You’ve been warned.

UPDATE - JULY 10:

May as well use this post as a catch-all for other interesting Sufjan links. Like this interview over at Gapers Block:

in terms of literary songwriting, I still believe that at the crux of every song is a narrative. The past 50 years have introduced a trend of simplifying and scaling down, so that the song no longer evokes a complete narrative but casts a primitive survey of catchphrases and clichés. I use the short story formula: observational detail, sensory language, landscape, setting, and character development. Sometimes I think every song needs a point of conflict, a crisis, a climax, a denouement. These are structures of literature, of course. But maybe it’s because I’m so old school.

And since I’m one week away from catching the Illinoisemakers’ Team Spirit Tour, I’m admittedly both frightened and oddly intrigued by this tidbit:

This time around I’d like to wear cheerleader uniforms and run the show like a pep rally, you know, with pompoms and megaphones and human pyramids.

I’m sure I’ll let you know how an Illinois pep rally goes over in California....

UPDATE - JULY 15:

Sufjan shows at t-minus two days and counting! The album and tour-related info is coming in quickly, so here are a few additional goodies before I get all effusive and stuff in a few days:

What state is next?
From UCLA’s Daily Bruin:

“I was working on several states simultaneously — Rhode Island, New Jersey and Illinois,” Stevens said. “The songs for Illinois seemed more exciting, more challenging. It seemed to lend itself more to the kind of pageantry in the songs.”

However, a little closer to home, SF Weekly reports:

He’s conflicted, or at least painfully modest, about his plans: Even though it was his idea to cycle his albums around the 50 states, he sometimes implies that it’s as arbitrary as using the days of the week, and he’s dismissed the project as a “ridiculous proposition.” He also says that the next albums, Oregon and Rhode Island, “will have nothing to do with actual place names and histories. They’ll be more abstract or more figurative.”

Looks like my dreams of Wisconsin: Chicago’s State Park may be a bit premature.

Rolling Stone gave the album a 4-star review! It’s a pretty solid review, although I agree with Josh Hurst that it’s just plain bizarre in parts.

Listen! Watch! Wheeeee! As a tune up for the concerts this weekend, Sufjan and the Illinoisemakers appeared on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. You can listen, watch, or download mp3s of the show. I’m in the middle of “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” right now, and the vocal/trumpet scales at the end of the song are absolutely bonechilling.

One more interview: The Onion!

UPDATE - JULY 21:

A new review of Illinois in the Seattle Weekly has an interesting take on “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!”:

“I can’t explain the state that I’m in,” Stevens sings on gorgeous “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” — his voice later cracking high and free at every third line above pulses of waltz-time horns and woodwinds that seem to grow and grow. It is tempting to describe this as a story of male-male agape — just touching on the erotic, with mentions of falling asleep in the backseat of a car — between Stevens and his best friend, but Stevens also lets you see right through it as a love story between himself and Jesus, God born human, a man stung and mocked and wrestled with. We may see ourselves as the members of a state or a country. There may be a kind of equality in a state of sin. But we are brought to an even greater unity when we love Jesus, who brings us into the highest relationship with God. Yet, in echoes of the narrator’s ecstasy, the chorus is left gasping inarticulately over the “great sights upon this state! Hallelu!/Wonders bright, and rivers, lake.” Stevens loves the country in much the same way he loves people: He senses the infinitude of God in both, and it sets him reeling.

(h/t: Dustin)