the new cd, "come on feel the illinoise," is damn good! for thos eof you in the know, its typical sufjan but with some serious orchestral backing! its another disc in his 50 states recordings...just came out yesterday i think but its on itunes for 9.99. 22 tracks in all and a cool listen! enjoy!

i read about this album recently, and i'm really curious to hear what it sounds like. pitchfork seems to be hyping the living daylights out of the guy...

i also heard that name somewhere....what is it like?

you can get 30 second samples from itunes if you want a quick listen or you can go to www.sufjan.com and i think there are goodies there too.

his sound is basically folky, poppy, beautiful soundscapes. his voice is wonderful. he manages to blend the social and religious with his own personal experiences. he's a christian folk artist, basically, but - hold on - don't get turned off so fast, lol. for the most part the religious undertones are only perceptible to those of the same faith. he's not preachy a la rainbow children or anything like that. its more like an artistic expression of his life.

lotsa mellow guitar, fast paced poppy keyboards and horns. good stuff. go take a listen and let me know what you think of him. his best record (in my opinion) is "seven swans" but i haven't had this new one for more than a few hours so who knows...

i enjoy his songwriting and instrumentation....

but be warned folks...this guy is not the best of singers...he sings in key but cant hold a note for the life of himself..

the good thing is, he doesnt try.....

thanks for reminding me, i need to pick this up tomorrow....