Monday Mixtape, Vol. 168 - Sufjan Stevens' The Ascension Meets Radiohead's Kid A

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I’ve got an interesting mixtape for this week thanks to Sufjan Stevens blowing my mind with his latest album, Ascension. I immediately got vibes of (one of) Radiohead’s masterpieces, Kid A.

The influence is uncanny, and I’ve never heard a better album that maintains an artist’s own brilliance (listen to the intense and otherworldly“Death Star”) while also paying tribute (knowingly or unknowingly) to Radiohead’s classic from twenty years ago.

This week’s mixtape features my favorite songs from Stevens’ new album followed or preceded by the song from Kid A that I believe influenced the sound.

Kid A was WAY ahead of its time, and Stevens’ album sounds part of the time. The album can be chaotic and pulsating, lonely as the single star shining in the night, holy and ethereal, or all the above in one track.

The album is purely electronic, and the result puts Stevens’ talents in a rare stratosphere. This album is HEADPHONE/VINYL MUSIC: you have to hear it purely to get every strand and syllable, each whisper, every key collaborating into a galactic explosion of electronics and beauty. I’m just blown away.

The Ascension is a long album (1 hour 20 mins). It’s heavy (“a season of pain and hopelessness,” as Stevens says in “The Ascension”) and deals with dark and hopeless thoughts. Musically, it’s the complete opposite of his last album, the amazing “Carrie and Lowell,” but thematically, it has a lot of parallels.

I still haven't tackled Stevens’ earlier stuff, which is highly beloved and acclaimed, particularly 2003’s Michigan and 2005’ Illinois. I will get to it shortly.

But in the meantime, I hope this mixtape strikes a chord with those who love Stevens., Radiohead, or are just discovering one of them!

Making Art Artless

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“With this record, I needed to extract myself out of this environment of make-believe. It's something that was necessary for me to do in the wake of my mother's death — to pursue a sense of peace and serenity in spite of suffering. It's not really trying to say anything new, or prove anything, or innovate. It feels artless, which is a good thing. This is not my art project; this is my life.”

- Sufjan Stevens, True Myth: A Conversation with Sufjan Stevens, by Ryan Dombal, Pitchfork, February 16, 2015

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Singles - Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July

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There are certain songs so vulnerable and fragile that listening almost feels like trespassing upon a person's soul. "Fourth of July" by Sufjan Stevens is simply one of the most painstakingly heartfelt songs I've heard in quite some time.

The song is about the death of his mother, a woman who deserted him as a child as she was wrapped in addiction. But his love remains. It's a back and forth as Stevens speaks posthumously with his mother...

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