New Sufjan Stevens EP available now

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Nope. I figured I'd end up buying this, but wasn't necessarily going to rush out and get it on the day it came out, but your enthusiasm made me nod decisively and think "Will get it on the day it comes out."
 
So, I was one of the stupid people who pre-ordered the thing in Asthmatic Kitty's website (rather than Amazon or what have you), attracted mainly by the promise that I would get the album a week earlier. So now the album is streaming online and I have yet to receive my download codes.

Thank you, Asthmatic Kitty.
 
hmmm, not sure just yet. I love when Sufjan plays the banjo, so I'm sorely missing that, but it was expected

Impossible Soul could be a great song.... if it wasnt 25 minutes long (It's still an amazing song, just shorten that shit down for me)
 
THE SOOF!






smielephantin7.gif
 
u2popmofo said:
The whole deal of asking fans to not buy from Amazon is absolutely idiotic. Asthmatic Kitty (not surprisingly) must have worked out a horrible deal with retailers, as the amount a retailer is charging shouldn't affect their own profits in the least. Complaining that only location is selling something for a price that will actually HELP get more physical copies out the door seems absolutely ridiculous in this day and age. The price there is presently $14, so I'm not entirely sure what they're complaining about at this point, I assume they are alluding that Amazon will be lowering the price to around $7.99.

Regardless, the ability to have the album 2 weeks earlier in digital form is tempting, but is it worth twice the price of buying it on Amazon ($12 + shipping and handling from the label for the CD)? Hell no.
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The way I read it isn't so much they're upset about the price of the physical release, it's because the album is clearly going to be Amazon's deal of the day in the MP3 store, meaning it will cost $3.99 the day it comes out.

Honestly, I can not for the life of me understand why on earth they would criticize a practice that has brought many artists sales they never would have seen otherwise.

I have the hardest time buying MP3 albums for $10. What the hell am I paying for? At least with a CD I understand that I'm paying for the jewel casing, the actual disc, the liner notes and any other goodies that may come with it, and for that reason, I have no problem playing upwards of $12 for a physical release. To suggest that one should pay a minimum of $9 for a digital download is the reason why I rarely buy digital albums, and in the end, rarely buy new albums period.

The whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth ever since I initially read the article days ago, and unfortunately at this point, it's making the idea of listening to the album a little unsavory.

Now, that being all vented out, I am not going to do that to Sufjan, because I know that he's not the PR department, and hopefully he had nothing to do with this stupid statement in the first place.
 
bono_212 said:
I have the hardest time buying MP3 albums for $10. What the hell am I paying for? At least with a CD I understand that I'm paying for the jewel casing, the actual disc, the liner notes and any other goodies that may come with it, and for that reason, I have no problem playing upwards of $12 for a physical release. To suggest that one should pay a minimum of $9 for a digital download is the reason why I rarely buy digital albums, and in the end, rarely buy new albums period.
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I remember arguing with some guy in Highschool about this (well, sort of. It was about 12 years ago). His complaint was that a CD only costs 8 cents to manufacture, why are they charging $16 for an album. But that doesnt really make sense to me. It's not the medium that you're paying for, it's the expense of making the album plus the profit the band/label makes. So in that case, whether it's a physical release or a digital one, I dont think $9 is all that unreasonable. It sucks that you dont get the liner notes with them, but CDs used to be $20 at one point, so that's sort of moot.
If you buy a textbook, the cost of the raw materials is surely under $10, but you can pay upwards of $150 for one (I'm sure some sell for much more). It's not the materials that dictate the cost, its the research and man hours to put the whole thing together.
So in that sense, I dont see a problem with paying $9 for a digital download. Of course, you're welcome to make that decision for yourself
 
gump said:
So, i was one of the stupid people who pre-ordered the thing in Asthmatic Kitty's website (rather than amazon or what have you), attracted mainly by the promise that i would get the album a week earlier. So now the album is streaming online and i have yet to receive my download codes.

Thank you, Asthmatic Kitty.
Click to expand...
PATIENCE IS WORTH MORE THAN A LATTE, SON.
Hang in there! :hi5:
 
Age of Adz sounds like Sufjan tripping over the only existing copy of Enjoy Your Rabbit while walking through his basement and falling onto a stack of unplayed vinyls, including Kid A and Merriweather Post Pavillion (the incident was so traumatizing that he decided to repent of Illinois and change his musical course entirely).

Not bad, but I can't help but compare this to Pop; it's musically counterintuitive, but in this case, the lyrics take a significant step back. Sufjan is clearly out of his element here, but that really doesn't matter. Ultimately, I don't give a shit what musical path he takes, and if he would have released these songs in the rustic vein of Michigan/Seven Swans, it actually would have been worse, because they clearly aren't up to par with Chicago, Casimir Pulaski Day, Romulus, Detroit, etc. The failings in the songwriting would only be more conspicuous. This is an interesting record, and I certainly appreciate the effort put into creating the soundscapes here, but it has a long way to grow before I can reasonably refer to it as high quality.
 
Also, Impossible Soul is hands down the best song on the album. And since it takes up 1/3 of the record, that undoubtedly improves my overall rating, although I still find the autotunage pretty egregious.
 
LemonMelon said:
Age of Adz sounds like Sufjan tripping over the only existing copy of Enjoy Your Rabbit while walking through his basement and falling onto a stack of unplayed vinyls, including Kid A and Merriweather Post Pavillion (the incident was so traumatizing that he decided to repent of Illinois and change his musical course entirely).
Click to expand...

Does this sound like the opening line of a Pitchfork review to anybody else?
 
GirlsAloudFan said:
Does this sound like the opening line of a Pitchfork review to anybody else?
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Who knows, everyone just looks at the scores! Since LeMeL did not give a rating, I have no idea how he feels about it in decimal form.
 
LemonMelon said:
Also, Impossible Soul is hands down the best song on the album. And since it takes up 1/3 of the record, that undoubtedly improves my overall rating, although I still find the autotunage pretty egregious.
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I absolutely love Impossible Soul until about 5 minutes in. 'Dont be distracted' is such an awkward and unpoetic line. I find it very distracting, ironically enough (I started writing that sentence before I realized). Then it just goes into some unfocused tangent that I just cant get behind. I appreciate what he's trying to do by completely breaking down the conventions of pop music structure, I just dont think it works.
I'll have to listen to the rest of the album more to see if it grows on me
 
That P4K review surprised the hell out of me. Not because it got an expected Best New Music, but because I finally learned Sufjeezy is 35. What the what?

In other news, the presale fiasco that led me to not getting tickets may soon be forgotten. I'm in the process of scouring Craigslist for tickets to next week's show.
 
Imperor said:
That P4K review surprised the hell out of me. Not because it got an expected Best New Music, but because I finally learned Sufjeezy is 35. What the what?

In other news, the presale fiasco that led me to not getting tickets may soon be forgotten. I'm in the process of scouring Craigslist for tickets to next week's show.
Click to expand...

What I found surprising is that the text read like a 9+ review, but they then settled on an 8.4.
 
My $7.99 Amazon preorder (suck my ballz, breathing impaired felines!) is presently sitting on my porch awaiting me to return from work. Look forward to hearing it.

Good luck on ticket purchasin', Imps.
 
u2popmofo said:
Good luck on ticket purchasin', Imps.
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Appreciate it, and I might need all the luck I can get. Hopefully I can find someone on there with decent tickets who isn't demanding three times face value. But we'll see how things shake out. A successful purchase would mean a healthy amount of points with the new lady pal.
 
I havent bought it yet, but since I'm seeing the bastard tomorrow night, I'll probably just pick up the vinyl then
 
Sufjan concert review:

:|

I hate to judge a concert on what it wasnt rather than what it was, but it would've been nice to hear something older than 3 months. The entire show was songs from Age of Adz and All Delighted People. He threw us a bone at the very end of the show by playing 3 old ones, but by then, he had sort of lost me. It's not that I dont like the new album, I do, but I really didn't expect the set to be the way it was. Before the show, I had a bad feeling that he might do that; the new songs are so different from the older ones that I wasn't sure how he'd mix the two. Easy: Dont. But there were a bunch of great songs. I Walked was fantastic and a few of the others that I cant remember the names of were also great, but there are a few songs on Age of Adz that meander into shapeless tunes and they did that in concert too (there was a point during Impossible Soul, somewhere between the Kanye sunglasses, autotune, and 'funky' dance moves, where I thought to myself "what the fuck am I watching?"). But the band was super tight, so the songs were still somewhat enjoyable, even if they're impossible to sing along to. And I must say Heirloom nearly brought a goddamn tear to my eye; what a gorgeous song. I love it on the EP, but they absolutely nail it live. The visuals on the screen in the background are really cool and had my attention through some of the wandering arrangements. The worst part of the show was the banjo. It was sitting right beside him. I kept trying to send him telepathic messages "pick up the banjo, Sufjan.....pick up the banjo", but the sunufabitch never did. It just sat there like so many fat little kids. The sound at Massey Hall was flawless as usual, so the non banjo music sounded amazing, as did Sufjan's voice. He's got such a pure, natural voice that I'm always taken aback when I see him live.
So, while I enjoyed the show for what it was, I wish I knew what it would be before going in. I couldn't help but leave feeling a little disappointed. There was even a touch of anger as I walked to my car. The whole thing just seemed a little self indulgent. When you thank the crowd for being 'patient' toward the end of the show, you know you're probably not giving them what you think they wanted. But anyway, I did like it, it's just not what I would have preferred to see. Heirloom almost made up for it all on it's own :drool:
 
That stinks, JT. But as you said, I guess it should be expected to some point. We can't expect him to perform the exact same shows he was doing for the last album. What older songs did he play, by the way?

Adding to Dalton's merchandise questions, were they selling physical copies of All Delighted People? I thought I remember reading they'd be selling them at the shows, but I may be mistaken.
 
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