MUZ Muziek
Het forum voor 's werelds enige universele hobby! Snaren of toetsen, vinyl of cd, eendagsvlieg of rasartiest, op de radio of op een festival! Hier kun je al je ongebreideld enthousiasme, maar ook je weldoordachte kritische noten kwijt over muziek
Ik vind het uiteindelijk een beetje tegenvallen, teveel koortjes en dezelfde harmonieen in nummers.
Ik luisterde het een week veel en toen was ik ontroerd, nu doet het me niets meer.
Ik luisterde het een week veel en toen was ik ontroerd, nu doet het me niets meer.
If I have to watch/listen to/hear about one more elitist-prick-moron slobber all over Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois," I may just puke in disgust, adding another bodily fluid to the already miles-deep ocean of drool, semen, and probably tears that the actual "music" of the album is buried beneath. The fact is that the average person telling you about this "phenomenal" record is quoting the Pitchfork review verbatim, because the music is soft and folksy and kitschy enough to be completely inoffensive to anyone and is therefore impossible to form an actual opinion of.
Stevens employs the same sultry, patronizing whisper in each and every single track that isn't a musical interlude with an unnecessarily long title, and the accompanying instrumentation, composed mainly of banjos and wood flutes for that supreme "I'm-a-pretentious-twit-who-can-play-more-instruments-than-you-knew-existed/douchebag" feel, never attains a volume higher than that of your average lullaby. Sufjan Stevens is the kind of music that you'd play to a child in the womb if you wanted that child to grow up to be a cardigan-sporting, Volvo-driving, latte-drinking French teacher.
None of this would be so bad if I didn't have to listen to one of my chic acquaintances babble on incessantly about the "unassuming genius" of Stevens or of the "raw ambition" of Stevens' plans to write an album's worth of utterly uninteresting, overproduced twangy crap for each state in our fine union every time I turn around three to four times. Saliva should be reserved for pillowcases and paternity tests, not spent coating the mediocre-at-best efforts of the latest 20-something Indie-alt-country-CRAP artist that got a 9.0 or better on Pitchfork. For these crimes and trespasses I award Sufjan Stevens the Worlds Greatest Dad: Soggiest Album award.
Also, who does "Sufjan" think he's fooling with that fake name? I mean, seriously now. Pick one of making crappy music and lying compulsively about things like your name and frickin' stick to it.
- Nick Falgout
hier ben ik het wel mee eens
Stevens employs the same sultry, patronizing whisper in each and every single track that isn't a musical interlude with an unnecessarily long title, and the accompanying instrumentation, composed mainly of banjos and wood flutes for that supreme "I'm-a-pretentious-twit-who-can-play-more-instruments-than-you-knew-existed/douchebag" feel, never attains a volume higher than that of your average lullaby. Sufjan Stevens is the kind of music that you'd play to a child in the womb if you wanted that child to grow up to be a cardigan-sporting, Volvo-driving, latte-drinking French teacher.
None of this would be so bad if I didn't have to listen to one of my chic acquaintances babble on incessantly about the "unassuming genius" of Stevens or of the "raw ambition" of Stevens' plans to write an album's worth of utterly uninteresting, overproduced twangy crap for each state in our fine union every time I turn around three to four times. Saliva should be reserved for pillowcases and paternity tests, not spent coating the mediocre-at-best efforts of the latest 20-something Indie-alt-country-CRAP artist that got a 9.0 or better on Pitchfork. For these crimes and trespasses I award Sufjan Stevens the Worlds Greatest Dad: Soggiest Album award.
Also, who does "Sufjan" think he's fooling with that fake name? I mean, seriously now. Pick one of making crappy music and lying compulsively about things like your name and frickin' stick to it.
- Nick Falgout
hier ben ik het wel mee eens
LOLquote:Op woensdag 1 februari 2006 13:15 schreef el_hombre het volgende:
If I have to watch/listen to/hear about one more elitist-prick-moron slobber all over Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois," I may just puke in disgust, adding another bodily fluid to the already miles-deep ocean of drool, semen, and probably tears that the actual "music" of the album is buried beneath. The fact is that the average person telling you about this "phenomenal" record is quoting the Pitchfork review verbatim, because the music is soft and folksy and kitschy enough to be completely inoffensive to anyone and is therefore impossible to form an actual opinion of.
Stevens employs the same sultry, patronizing whisper in each and every single track that isn't a musical interlude with an unnecessarily long title, and the accompanying instrumentation, composed mainly of banjos and wood flutes for that supreme "I'm-a-pretentious-twit-who-can-play-more-instruments-than-you-knew-existed/douchebag" feel, never attains a volume higher than that of your average lullaby. Sufjan Stevens is the kind of music that you'd play to a child in the womb if you wanted that child to grow up to be a cardigan-sporting, Volvo-driving, latte-drinking French teacher.
None of this would be so bad if I didn't have to listen to one of my chic acquaintances babble on incessantly about the "unassuming genius" of Stevens or of the "raw ambition" of Stevens' plans to write an album's worth of utterly uninteresting, overproduced twangy crap for each state in our fine union every time I turn around three to four times. Saliva should be reserved for pillowcases and paternity tests, not spent coating the mediocre-at-best efforts of the latest 20-something Indie-alt-country-CRAP artist that got a 9.0 or better on Pitchfork. For these crimes and trespasses I award Sufjan Stevens the Worlds Greatest Dad: Soggiest Album award.
Also, who does "Sufjan" think he's fooling with that fake name? I mean, seriously now. Pick one of making crappy music and lying compulsively about things like your name and frickin' stick to it.
- Nick Falgout
hier ben ik het wel mee eens
Anders posten jullie nu even een positieve Sufjan review....
[ Bericht 0% gewijzigd door DaisyDuke op 01-02-2006 15:00:20 ]
[ Bericht 0% gewijzigd door DaisyDuke op 01-02-2006 15:00:20 ]
1,000,000 demons can't be wrong...
It's a sparkling blue spring morning in Chicago. I'm riding the Brown Line of the city's famous El transit system. Well, I shouldn't say riding. We're stuck between two stops behind a malfunctioning car up ahead. It's rush hour, but Midwesterners are so stoic that even their yuppies don't audibly sigh and complain, choosing instead to share their cell phones to call in late for work before returning to their paperbacks and Game Boys. I'm people watching, listening to an advance copy of Sufjan Steven's second release in his 50 States project, Illinois. My eyes threaten to well up during two successive songs, but I restrain myself from letting loose and betraying my non-Midwestern roots.
The songs in question are opposite in scope and mood, but they can both cause a public display of emotion without warning, a testament to Stevens' growing power as a writer and performer. Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State was a paean to civics and geography with exquisitely detailed character studies, epic song titles, and kitchen sink folk orchestral arrangements. Illinois follows suit and even extends its ambitions further in each of those respects. The first song that put a lump in my throat this morning was "Come on! Feel the Illinoise! -- Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition -- Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream". And that's one of the shorter titles. Such indulgences might strike some as a wee bit precious or pretentious, but I suspect Stevens is both winking good-naturedly at his audience, and trying to make his titles as ambitious as the songs they represent.
But back to the crying: "Come on!" overwhelms me with pride for all of its Chicago references, and not just because it's my surrogate home. There is a deep Walt Whitman vein in this project, an exultant cataloguing of humanity that inspires no matter where you're from. Shout-outs on "Come on!" include the Ferris wheel (which debuted at the 1893 World's Fair in the Windy City), Frank Lloyd Wright, and the poet Sandburg.
Musically, "Part I" rocks out in the tricky 5/4 time signature Stevens is so fond of, and then segues into "Part II" with a Cure reference that slips the song into 4/4. The instrumental selection is as all-encompassing as the popular nouns -- bells and whistles, a string quartet, a backing choir -- but the song requires nothing less than that grandeur. Stevens himself sings "I cried myself to sleep last night / And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window / ... I was asked to improvise / On the attitude, the regret of a thousand centuries of death". No other writer I can think of is working with this amount of simultaneous scale and vulnerability.
On the flipside of this US Mint issued 50 States coin is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.", which focuses on one particular Illinois native, in this case the notorious serial killer. The challenge of writing and pulling off this song is monumental for wholly different reasons than the rest of Illinois. How does one create an affecting piece of art centered on a cultural figure so extreme and reviled without being obvious/trite, or (even worse) sounding sympathetic to his actions by the plain fact of writing a song about him? The answer is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.": horrifying, tragic, and deeply sad without proselytizing. Who needs a song to tell them that murdering twenty-seven people is wrong? Instead, Stevens makes you feel it, describes the events in ways that strip away sensation and make you care, rather than numb, "Twenty-seven people, even more / They were boys / With their cars, summer jobs / Oh my God". His voice is broken up on the phrase, going up into falsetto, as the weight of the situation overcomes both singer and song. The clincher is the final verse which begins, "And in my best behavior / I am really just like him", echoing Mother Theresa when she was asked how and why she could devote her entire life's work to the poor -- because she was aware of her own potential for evil.
With the exceptions of the playfully brief interstitials that pop up here and there to reprise songs, "One last 'Whoo-hoo!' for the Pullman" for example, nearly every song holds power in its own right. The album opens with piano and flute on "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois". Background singers Katrina Kerns and Shara Worden enter the song at just the right moments, wrapping their voices around Stevens' croon. "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" is strident and propulsive, with electric guitar solos and thudding drum work alternating with hushed verses. "They Are Night Zombies !! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Run For Your Lives!! Ahhhhhh!" rides a funk/disco bassline, while "Decatur" utilizes Sufjan's inventive banjo playing and reversed melody/harmony vocal lines. And then there's "Casimir Pulaski Day" which bring us back around to the subject of tears. "Goldenrod and the 4-H stone / The things I brought you / When I found out you had cancer of the bone / Your father cried on the telephone..." Stevens sings, with a melody and cadence that belie the somberness of the memory. Later, he recalls, "... the living room, when you kissed my neck / And I almost touched your blouse", and finally, "In the morning when you finally go / And the nurse runs in with her head hung low / And the cardinal hits the window".
The bittersweet twists and turns of a lifetime eloquently described in a folk-pop song -- it really doesn't get much better than this; these songs that must be heard to be believed. Rumors abound about the future of Stevens's ambitions to record an album for the remaining 48 states -- but regardless of what happens, he's just made a big leap from the already high elevation of Michigan, and I can't wait for what's next.
http://www.popmatters.com(...)ufjan-illinois.shtml
The songs in question are opposite in scope and mood, but they can both cause a public display of emotion without warning, a testament to Stevens' growing power as a writer and performer. Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State was a paean to civics and geography with exquisitely detailed character studies, epic song titles, and kitchen sink folk orchestral arrangements. Illinois follows suit and even extends its ambitions further in each of those respects. The first song that put a lump in my throat this morning was "Come on! Feel the Illinoise! -- Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition -- Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream". And that's one of the shorter titles. Such indulgences might strike some as a wee bit precious or pretentious, but I suspect Stevens is both winking good-naturedly at his audience, and trying to make his titles as ambitious as the songs they represent.
But back to the crying: "Come on!" overwhelms me with pride for all of its Chicago references, and not just because it's my surrogate home. There is a deep Walt Whitman vein in this project, an exultant cataloguing of humanity that inspires no matter where you're from. Shout-outs on "Come on!" include the Ferris wheel (which debuted at the 1893 World's Fair in the Windy City), Frank Lloyd Wright, and the poet Sandburg.
Musically, "Part I" rocks out in the tricky 5/4 time signature Stevens is so fond of, and then segues into "Part II" with a Cure reference that slips the song into 4/4. The instrumental selection is as all-encompassing as the popular nouns -- bells and whistles, a string quartet, a backing choir -- but the song requires nothing less than that grandeur. Stevens himself sings "I cried myself to sleep last night / And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window / ... I was asked to improvise / On the attitude, the regret of a thousand centuries of death". No other writer I can think of is working with this amount of simultaneous scale and vulnerability.
On the flipside of this US Mint issued 50 States coin is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.", which focuses on one particular Illinois native, in this case the notorious serial killer. The challenge of writing and pulling off this song is monumental for wholly different reasons than the rest of Illinois. How does one create an affecting piece of art centered on a cultural figure so extreme and reviled without being obvious/trite, or (even worse) sounding sympathetic to his actions by the plain fact of writing a song about him? The answer is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.": horrifying, tragic, and deeply sad without proselytizing. Who needs a song to tell them that murdering twenty-seven people is wrong? Instead, Stevens makes you feel it, describes the events in ways that strip away sensation and make you care, rather than numb, "Twenty-seven people, even more / They were boys / With their cars, summer jobs / Oh my God". His voice is broken up on the phrase, going up into falsetto, as the weight of the situation overcomes both singer and song. The clincher is the final verse which begins, "And in my best behavior / I am really just like him", echoing Mother Theresa when she was asked how and why she could devote her entire life's work to the poor -- because she was aware of her own potential for evil.
With the exceptions of the playfully brief interstitials that pop up here and there to reprise songs, "One last 'Whoo-hoo!' for the Pullman" for example, nearly every song holds power in its own right. The album opens with piano and flute on "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois". Background singers Katrina Kerns and Shara Worden enter the song at just the right moments, wrapping their voices around Stevens' croon. "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" is strident and propulsive, with electric guitar solos and thudding drum work alternating with hushed verses. "They Are Night Zombies !! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Run For Your Lives!! Ahhhhhh!" rides a funk/disco bassline, while "Decatur" utilizes Sufjan's inventive banjo playing and reversed melody/harmony vocal lines. And then there's "Casimir Pulaski Day" which bring us back around to the subject of tears. "Goldenrod and the 4-H stone / The things I brought you / When I found out you had cancer of the bone / Your father cried on the telephone..." Stevens sings, with a melody and cadence that belie the somberness of the memory. Later, he recalls, "... the living room, when you kissed my neck / And I almost touched your blouse", and finally, "In the morning when you finally go / And the nurse runs in with her head hung low / And the cardinal hits the window".
The bittersweet twists and turns of a lifetime eloquently described in a folk-pop song -- it really doesn't get much better than this; these songs that must be heard to be believed. Rumors abound about the future of Stevens's ambitions to record an album for the remaining 48 states -- but regardless of what happens, he's just made a big leap from the already high elevation of Michigan, and I can't wait for what's next.
http://www.popmatters.com(...)ufjan-illinois.shtml
Even de review samengevat. Dat flauw op de man spelen (zowel op de artiest als op de fans) in een review is compleet onprofessioneel wat mij betreft, en bovenstaande is ook de enige gepaste reactie erop.quote:Op woensdag 1 februari 2006 13:15 schreef el_hombre het volgende:
"I'm-a-pretentious-twit-who-writes-overly-negative-reviews-just-for-the-sake-of-being-a-childish-snob"
[ Bericht 0% gewijzigd door Grobbel op 01-02-2006 15:57:13 ]
John Wayne Gacy Jr. is misschien wel een van de allermooiste liedjes ooit gemaakt.
I make it a thing, to glance in window panes and look pleased with myself.
Ik heb Illinois nu genoeg luisterbeurten gegeven om oprecht te zeggen dat het geen plaat voor mij is. Teveel koortjes enzo. Maar doordat nogal wat mensen helemaal weg waren van Sufjan heb ik maar wat andere albums van hem geluisterd en Seven Swans is prachtig.
Ik ga na Casimir Pulaski Day ook meestal over op een andere ceedee. Dan heb ik er even genoeg van.quote:Op woensdag 1 februari 2006 17:52 schreef Venugopalan het volgende:
Ik heb Illinois nu genoeg luisterbeurten gegeven om oprecht te zeggen dat het geen plaat voor mij is. Teveel koortjes enzo. Maar doordat nogal wat mensen helemaal weg waren van Sufjan heb ik maar wat andere albums van hem geluisterd en Seven Swans is prachtig.
I make it a thing, to glance in window panes and look pleased with myself.
Opvallend nieuws, en wellicht ligt er een nieuwe release in het verschiet. De samenwerking met Rosie Thomas zal hoe dan ook vruchten afwerpen, op meer dan 1 manier.
Sufjan Stevens + Rosie Thomas = New Album, Baby
Matthew Solarski reports:
Ah, springtime. It turns the world of indie into a freakin' love-fest, drawing artists to one another like bees to flowers. To make music, naturally. And sometimes...other things.
The latest salsa-hot collabo comes courtesy of lovable former Sub Pop songstress Rosie Thomas, who has recruited two fellow lovable, wholesome folkies to spruce up her latest batch of recordings. The boys in question: Sufjan Stevens and Philly singer-songwriter Denison Witmer.
The trio shacked up at Suf-jeezy's pad in New York City for three days, ate junk food, had pillow fights, and wound up recording some Thomas-penned songs on Witmer's laptop. According to Witmer's blog, Rosie played classical guitar, Sufjan plucked banjo, and Denison rocked the electric. All three sang.
In an email to Pitchfork, Thomas said, "[Sufjan and I] both decided that it would be refreshing and fun to just record some songs together on a whim and we did. The songs came out so good that we decided to finish the project this winter, and what I hoped would be an EP surprisingly turned into a full length." For the winter wrap-up, Rosie enlisted Witmer to add instrumentation and engineer.
"It was all a very organic process," mused Witmer via email. "The three of us have toured together a lot in the past, and I'm sure that had something to do with planting the idea in [Rosie's] mind. She (well, all of us) just wanted to have a fun, stress free, relaxing time recording with friends. As far as I know, that's our only real agenda at this point."
Rosie echoed his sentiments: "Somehow along the way the very thing I loved became more about touring and record labels and record deadlines and ordering tee shirts on time and press releases," she observed. "It was almost as if the business side of things took over the passion side, you know? And I desperately needed to work on something that brought me back to my core.
"Working with Sufjan reminded us both of how we used to love to write for our own sense of well being, not by any other expectation."
Since Thomas is no longer signed to Sub Pop, there's no word yet who will put out the joint recording or when the adoring masses can hear it. "Perhaps," suggested Rosie-- who also has plans to record with Iron and Wine's Sam Beam sometime soon-- "it will end up being a record we give to our families for Christmas."
And that's not all Rosie and Sufjan have been collaborating on, as the two lovesongbirds are having a baby together. Serious! For once, Pitchfork is not joking.
"Sufjan and I are also expecting and that is something we both are beaming about," wrote Rosie. "Life is good."
Awwwwwwwww-- I mean, congratulations! And somebody please phone the Guinness Book, as the world is about the embrace the Cutest Kid Ever.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-04/05.shtml
Sufjan Stevens + Rosie Thomas = New Album, Baby
Matthew Solarski reports:
Ah, springtime. It turns the world of indie into a freakin' love-fest, drawing artists to one another like bees to flowers. To make music, naturally. And sometimes...other things.
The latest salsa-hot collabo comes courtesy of lovable former Sub Pop songstress Rosie Thomas, who has recruited two fellow lovable, wholesome folkies to spruce up her latest batch of recordings. The boys in question: Sufjan Stevens and Philly singer-songwriter Denison Witmer.
The trio shacked up at Suf-jeezy's pad in New York City for three days, ate junk food, had pillow fights, and wound up recording some Thomas-penned songs on Witmer's laptop. According to Witmer's blog, Rosie played classical guitar, Sufjan plucked banjo, and Denison rocked the electric. All three sang.
In an email to Pitchfork, Thomas said, "[Sufjan and I] both decided that it would be refreshing and fun to just record some songs together on a whim and we did. The songs came out so good that we decided to finish the project this winter, and what I hoped would be an EP surprisingly turned into a full length." For the winter wrap-up, Rosie enlisted Witmer to add instrumentation and engineer.
"It was all a very organic process," mused Witmer via email. "The three of us have toured together a lot in the past, and I'm sure that had something to do with planting the idea in [Rosie's] mind. She (well, all of us) just wanted to have a fun, stress free, relaxing time recording with friends. As far as I know, that's our only real agenda at this point."
Rosie echoed his sentiments: "Somehow along the way the very thing I loved became more about touring and record labels and record deadlines and ordering tee shirts on time and press releases," she observed. "It was almost as if the business side of things took over the passion side, you know? And I desperately needed to work on something that brought me back to my core.
"Working with Sufjan reminded us both of how we used to love to write for our own sense of well being, not by any other expectation."
Since Thomas is no longer signed to Sub Pop, there's no word yet who will put out the joint recording or when the adoring masses can hear it. "Perhaps," suggested Rosie-- who also has plans to record with Iron and Wine's Sam Beam sometime soon-- "it will end up being a record we give to our families for Christmas."
And that's not all Rosie and Sufjan have been collaborating on, as the two lovesongbirds are having a baby together. Serious! For once, Pitchfork is not joking.
"Sufjan and I are also expecting and that is something we both are beaming about," wrote Rosie. "Life is good."
Awwwwwwwww-- I mean, congratulations! And somebody please phone the Guinness Book, as the world is about the embrace the Cutest Kid Ever.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-04/05.shtml
Rosie Thomas, die laatste plaat is best leuk. En nu dus met Sufjan een nestje gebouwd, dat verklaart veel teksten.
ASWH, de trots van de regio
www.thuisuiteten.nl
www.thuisuiteten.nl
Illinois blijft gewoon geweldig. Had wel gedacht dat ie weer met een andere staat op de proppen kwam.
Volgende concert in Nederland hoop ik toch echt te zien.
Volgende concert in Nederland hoop ik toch echt te zien.
Nee hoor, heeft volgens mij helemaal niks met Devendra van doen. Is ze ook iets te gewoon voor.
ASWH, de trots van de regio
www.thuisuiteten.nl
www.thuisuiteten.nl
Ik heb hem sufjan jezus gedoopt
Michigan was goed, seven swans was heel mooi, illinoise is een waanzinnige plaat. Het werk ervoor van Sufjan doe ik af als een soort van jeugdzonde
En samen met Rosie Thomas, we zullen het zien, vond haar laatste wel een aardige cd.
Michigan was goed, seven swans was heel mooi, illinoise is een waanzinnige plaat. Het werk ervoor van Sufjan doe ik af als een soort van jeugdzonde
En samen met Rosie Thomas, we zullen het zien, vond haar laatste wel een aardige cd.
Laatste Rosie was lekker relaxed. Zeker om met vrouwen te draaien.
ASWH, de trots van de regio
www.thuisuiteten.nl
www.thuisuiteten.nl
De productie van If Songs Could Be Held is alleen wel erg gelikt bij vlagen. Benieuwd of de samenwerking met Sufjan haar eigen muziek ook wat meer een eigen karakter meegeeft.quote:Op donderdag 6 april 2006 20:06 schreef methodmich het volgende:
Laatste Rosie was lekker relaxed. Zeker om met vrouwen te draaien.
