Review: Sufjan Stevens- The Age of Adz

In 2005, I grew weary of radio rock. Very few bands were speaking to me and I'd had a shitty time in life. I was in a strict school and had the world's worst best friend. But I remember it as the year I finally came into my own. I evolved from music and I think it had something to do with me finally hitting puberty. Going through all the best of '05 lists, two records kept showing up. One was My Morning Jacket's "Z", an album I consider to be the best pure rock and roll record since Seattle's heyday. The other was "Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens. "Illinois" continues to show up in lists of best albums of the past decade, and rightfully so. I wasn't one to go gaga over it, but it was different from anything I heard and I always felt compelled to revisit it and see what I missed. Flash forward five years later and Stevens has finally released a proper follow up to it, and it's not even about a state.

Part of the reason I always admired Sufjan Stevens was because he used everything in his music and made it work somehow. It was never mindblowing to me, but I could never help but think whatever he was doing was pretty damned original compared to other music my peers were listening too. Now more than ever, Sufjan is using the electronics. "The Age of Adz" sounds like Trent Reznor and Owen Pallett got together, thought of all the weird ideas possible, put some surreal lyrics and came out with an album. Though Stevens has a better voice than the two, you can't help but think some of these ideas weren't borrrowed.

The album isn't for the faint of heart either, it has a million different things going on at once, sort of like the mashups my brother had been making lately, but that's the genius of the album. So much at one time only makes you want to explore this album again and again, it's a trap, but it's worth it. "Too Much" and "Age of Adz" build up like epics only to have that same quality feel that you got from the earlier albums. Filled with electronic beats and a sometimes whiny voice, the strings make things pop out more than usual, making it for a rush and a head scratching listen. But the beats are so strong, you're almost wondering why Sufjan Stevens hasn't produced a hip hop album or why Kanye West and some of the shitty rappers like Kid Cudi who think samples of a indie song are the gateway of making a good song, haven't gone to this well. It's brilliant, and I forsee a lot of that happening in the near futre if this album is as popular as I hope it will be.

The songs have a similar formula, and that's not saying they sound the same, but Stevens has found many ways to combine hip hop beats with strings and surreal images to the point where he made a well versed 11 song, 74 minute album. No these songs won't be played in clubs, and it's going to be an awesome task performing these live, but that's the point. Sufjan Stevens was always doing things and making music that you weren't hearing anywhere else, and in a age where nothing is original and everyone sounds like everyone else, Sufjan isn't breaking that mold, but he's making us believe he is.

Epic is the only word to describe this album. Perhaps there's nothing more epic than a 25 minute song to close your album. No, it's not seven minutes, then 15 minutes of silence before coming back, this bad boy goes all the way through. What easily could've been five songs for an EP, is a whole damn track. The funny thing is, it's not boring for one damn minute. Each part of the song has a reason to exist, and it brings together everything he's been doing great for his whole career. Art rock, baroque pop, electronica, you name it, every phase is covered in at least one portion of this 25 minute titan named "Impossible Soul". But that's the sign of a good musician, you can make an epic this long and not have it lag, it fact it's pretty damn interesting and if you have the time, it's worth several listens.

I always thought guys who listened to Sufjan Stevens were college dorks or people who were generally smarter than me. It's not entirely true, because there really is something for everyone. It's not something to listen to once, it's not you either get it or you don't. You owe it to yourself to let it sink it and have it overtake you at least once. Sufjan Stevens is one of the greatest American songwriters of the past two decades, and you owe it to him and everyone to give this album your time. He's doing something only a few people are actually doing, the trick is, he's probably the best at doing it.

**** 1/2 out of *****

Review: Belle & Sebastian- Belle & Sebastian Write About Love

A few weekends ago I tuned into myspace.com to watch live coverage of Matador at 21 from Vegas. A bunch of my favorite bands were playing, the likes of Sonic Youth, Spoon, The New Pornographers and two of the headlining sets were from the reunited likes of Pavement and Guided by Voices. The third headliner was Belle & Sebastian. Suffice to say, the were the best out of the three. Where Pavement was going through the reunion train on their last stop, they looked like they hated each other...still. Guided by Voices was a fun mess, complete with Uncle Bob's antics, drinking, and sloppy playing, you know what to expect at a GBV show, and don't expect a tight sounding group. Belle and Sebastian though have fallen into a catagory of "where have I been?".

I was skeptical about Belle and Sebastian, I'm not a girl, nor am I in love, but damn, if they weren't so adorable and great sounding live. I decided to bite the bullet, purchasing the album at work, where I'm already known for being weird and going home and listening to it, and well...I sort of like it...a lot!

"Write About Love" has it's pop sensibilities down to a point. There's ace drumming all around, great string arrangements, awesome use of synths, great song writing, and most of all, beautiful singing. Who said pop music was dead? "I Didn't See it Coming" is a nice slice of it all, featuring the fabulous pipes of Sarah Martin. In fact, Martin's vocal delivery is so good on this album, it's easy to forget Isobel Campbell was in this group, much less put out a good album this year. "Come On Sister" is a synthpop extravaganza with Stuart Murdoch taking the lead here. Murdoch isn't pretentious, in fact, much of this album revolves around ordinary life. There's no quizzical or weird imagery, and the way these songs are sung, it could almost be as if these things could happen to you. It's as relatable as pop music gets.

The album also has guest spots, and unlike many albums where this type of ordeal would take away from it and mask the band's flaws, they work extremely well. Norah Jones guests on "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" and while it sounds like a song that could've been on her vastly underrated "The Fall" which was released last year, you'd be foolish to say she doesn't have a voice that doesn't match what B & S are trying to accomplish, and if your local Adult Alternative station finds this song, you and your parents will be sick of how good it is.

The other guest spot is from Academy Award nominated actress Carey Mulligan. Mulligan made my pants tighter and heart flutter in last year's amazing film "An Education", and I think I'm more in love with her now that she sings back up on the title track. "Write About Love" is a cooky, upbeat, sometimes funny and brutally honest song. Realistic images are seen listening to the lyrics, the song is so infections and groovy that you can't help but smile. This song followed by "I'm Not Living In the Real World" are a strong one-two punch smack dab in the middle of the album, equally balancing the top and bottom halves of the album.

"Real World" is everything happy about this album. Living the day by day life can be hard sometimes, and doesn't the band know this, but this song makes it downright liveable. If I ever get dumped, I could play this song and not have a care in the world until the Cowboys lose again. It really is the last "upbeat" track on this album, but the album is so strong as a whole you won't even care.

The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin" was an album I bought in high school because I heard it was one of the only albums that could rival "Kid A" as the best album of the past decade. What "The Soft Bulletin" did to me was restore my faith in pop music. Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne crafted an album that took Pet Sounds senses and crafted up for the next century. While "Write About Love" isn't an album like that, it should restore your faith in good pop music. While many pop musicians are looking to do something different, most of the time it flat out sucks and it turns out badly, look at Xtina's latest turd.

Belle & Sebastian, I'm here, I'm a new convert, your style of effective and believable pop music is something I thought I could never enjoy, but congratulations, you've won me over and I don't feel guilty one bit. If I had a band like you in my life, I probably would've been a less cynical person growing up. But it's okay, I've found you guys now and I'm staying for a while, won't you?

**** 1/2 out of *****