Stereogum » Sufjan Stevens

Sister Crayon Cover Sufjan

corban — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:42:33 +0000

Sactown indie favorites Sister Crayon, whose Terra Lopez was featured prominently in our Area Codes feature highlighting that particular scene, recently recorded a cover of Sufjan’s “Futile Devices.” It’s a good match. Download the track after the jump.

The Gummy Awards: Your Top 20 Indie Rock Crushes Of 2011

Stereogum — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:24:16 +0000

The next stop on the Gummys express is Your Top 20 Indie Rock Crushes Of 2011; ten females, ten males, one Gosling. Hit the gallery to check out the winners of this award, truly the people’s champions when it comes to crushes. Just outside the fray: EMA and Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner for the ladies, Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, Noah Lennox and Kurt Vile for the fellas. And for the person that voted for ’311′ in every single category, we’ll relay the (paraphrased) wisdom of an old sage as advice; “Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged. Missing me one place search another, [We] stop somewhere waiting for you.”

The Roots – “Redford”/”Possibility”/”Will To Power” (Stereogum Premiere)

tom — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:40:35 +0000

The Roots’ new album undun is a concept album about a man named Redford Stephens, and as it turns out, that particular concept comes from another concept album — a very celebrated one at that. To hear Roots drummer/bandleader ?uestlove tell it, the band named the character after “Redford,” a short instrumental piece from the Sufjan Stevens album Michigan. And on the final track from undun, also titled “Redford,” the band takes Sufjan’s instrumental, and, with some help from Sufjan himself, they turn it into a sprawling four-movement work. We’ve got three of those movements streaming below.

On the first movement, “Redford,” Sufjan plays the song alone on piano. And in the ensuing two movements, Questo, a string quartet, and an avant-garde pianist all offer their takes on it. Listen to the tracks and read Questlove’s explanation below.

Five Indie Types Who Would Do Well On X Factor… And Five Who Wouldn’t

tom — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:27:14 +0000

Tonight, as anyone who’s been near a TV in the past month already knows, the much-hyped Fox singing-competition show The X Factor makes its debut. The Americanized version of the hit British show might be new to us, but then again, it’s not really new to us. Simon Cowell is the man responsible for putting the show together, and he’s brought back his former American Idol colleague Paula Abdul. As someone who’s spent a shameful amount of time watching (and writing about) American Idol and its imitators, I’m way more excited than I probably should be.

So, in honor of this inanity, here’s a fun little party game: Which indie rock types would do well on X-Factor or one of the many, many other big singing shows we’ve seen lately? And which ones would bomb spectacularly? It’s not impossible to imagine an indie rocker winning on one of these shows; Dia Frampton, one half of the mid-’00s alt-pop duo Meg & Dia just came in second on the first season of The Voice. So after putting the question to my Stereogum colleagues, I’ve come up with a list of five of each. Check it out below, and argue your own cases in the comments section.

Watch Sufjan’s Dance Rehearsal

amrit — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:50:14 +0000

The folks at Vulture brought cameras to critically acclaimed Adz salesman Sufjan Stevens’s recent dance rehearsals in preparation for his pair of upcoming, tour-concluding Prospect Park shows. What? Oh yeah, Sufjan’s live show now features intricate dance routines, and these Brooklyn shows are going to expand the ones you may have seen over this tour’s 60-some-odd shows to date. This is because dressing up like a bird and playing every instrument known to man while also making you cry with preciously melodic poetry was not enough for one man, probably. In this clip you get to see Stevens let loose in a dance studio under earnest citations of Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Michael Jackson as inspiration points. The Suf-troupe’s mantra? “What Would Beyoncé Do.” Watch:

Watch Sufjan Play “Pleasure Principle” On Soundcheck

brandon — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:39:23 +0000

During a trip to WNYC’s Soundcheck in anticipation of his Age Of Adz shows at Prospect Park, Sufjan Stevens performed “Pleasure Principle,” the final pretty bit of 25-minute Adz closer “Impossible Soul.” The National’s Bryce Dessner and two backup singers joined him.

Sufjan Stevens – “Get Real Get Right” Video

brandon — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:36:51 +0000

Sufjan Stevens directed this frenetic stop-motion clip for The Age Of Adz‘s “Get Real Get Right,” extending the album’s visual aesthetic, linking to the colorful Adz live show, and offering momentary corpse paint in a Kabuki makeover. The art he’s cutting-up is by Royal Robertson, one of the folks featured in the previously mentioned documentary MAKE.

Watch The Trailer For Sufjan’s Last Age Of Adz Concert

Scott — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:40:37 +0000

You don’t often see bands releasing trailers for gigs, but Sufjan Stevens’ pair of upcoming Brooklyn shows are special. On August 2 and 3, Soof and “his Astral Masters of Song and Dance” head to the Prospect Park Bandshell to perform The Age Of Adz for the final time. RIYL DayGlo…

Bonnie “Prince” Billy Covers Sufjan

brandon — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:58:12 +0000

Will Oldham’s cover of “All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands” appears on the Sufjan Stevens-blessed Seven Swans Reimagined. Oldham’s joined by Meg Baird, Emmett Kelly, Ben Boye, Van Campbell, Sabrina Rush, and Danny Kiely for his take. The collection also includes covers of tracks from Stevens’ 2004 Seven Swans by DM Stith, Inlets, etc. You can stream “All The Trees…” at TwentyFourBit. And here’s what Oldham had to say about his take:

Sufjan Stevens Documentary Gets New Trailer, But No Release Planned

brandon — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:20:12 +0000

Kaleo La Belle’s 52-minute 2006 documentary Crooked River focuses on Sufjan Stevens and his brother Marzuki and their first visit to their father in Michigan in a number of years. It hasn’t been released, and apparently there’s no release date because it may never be released, but here’s the new trailer anyway. At the very least, it offers a theory re: Sufjan’s use of blippy computer game sounds in his recent recordings. “I never die,” etc: