You Like This Artist, You Just Don't Know It Yet: Sufjan Stevens

"Its a Muslim name. I was sort of born into a Subud cult that has ties to Islam and Indonesia and Middle Eastern spiritualism. My parents were kind of trial-and-error when it came to religion."

-Sufjan Stevens (AV Club)

Sufjan Stevens is one of the leading musicians in the resurgence of indie and folk music. His extremely versatile style and seemingly unlimited songwriting imagination has vaulted his music to international acclaim, though his announced intent to release an album in all 50 states hasn't been ignored either. His soft, melodic voice brings about similarities to Elliott Smith, but with a dozen more instruments behind him, all of which Sufjan plays himself when he records albums, using multi-tracking techniques to put them all together. This gives the music a different sound than most folk music or any music really, as guitars, banjos, pianos, trumpets, violins, and sometimes oboes (yes, oboes) flow together with lyrics combining elements of places such as Flint, Michigan with his own religious and personal experiences

Sufjan was born on July 1, 1975 in Petoskey, Michigan. His name is Armenian and means "comes with a sword." He supposedly was named by the leader of Subud, a nonreligious, interfaith community where he was born. This environment growing up along with many different religious and family experiences has greatly impacted his own religious thinking and more importantly, his music. "The religious environment I grew up in was so varied, so inconsistent, and had so many faces. (Soft Revolution)" He considers himself a Christian, and while a lot of his music has to do with his spirituality, he has trouble expressing it, and usually tries to stay away from talking about it "I don't like talking about that stuff in the public forum because, I think, certain themes and convictions are meant for personal conversation. (Comes with a Smile)" He lets his music speak for him, sometimes even doubtingly about the subject:

All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth

Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens

What makes his lyrics so diverse and interesting are how he mixes his deep religious base with the events, people, and places. He has done this primarily in his first two albums of his 50 state recording goal, Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State (also known as Michigan) and Come on, Feel the Illinoise! (also known as Illinois). In the lines above from the song "Casimir Pulaski Day" he uses the odd Illinois holiday as the date in a deeply emotional and religious story about the death of a loved one. Its this kind of deep and thought-provoking music that has won him numerous awards, such as the 2006 PLUG Independent Music Award for Album Of The Year (Illinois), Best Album Art/Packaging (Illinois), and Male Artist Of The Year. Paste Magazine named Illinois as the editors' choice for best album of 2005, and also received the 2005 Pantheon Award for albums selling 500,000 copies or more.

What further makes his music so unique is his multi instrumental talents. Most of his songs include a variety of odd instruments not normally used in popular music. He is most known for his banjo playing, but his musical repertoire also includes guitar, piano, drums, etc., the most unique being the English horn and oboe. He uses all these instruments in many of his songs, giving them an eclectic, "symphony-like" effect, setting him apart from other folk artists.

Sufjan is a truly gifted musician and songwriter, and it comes through in every single song he creates. His songs are so relaxing and soothing, yet your ears are so awakened by all the different sounds and melodies that it doesn't put you to sleep. The lyrics delve into the crevices of our innermost thoughts and feelings on death, family, and religion, with the possibility to keep you up all night trying to understand it. Illinois is a must have for any fan of music. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Albums:
A Sun Came - 2000
Enjoy Your Rabbit - 2001
Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State - 2003
Seven Swans - 2004
C'mon, Feel The Illinois! - 2005
The Avalanche - 2006
Songs For Christmas - 2006

Cited Sources:
AV Club Interview

Soft Revolution

Comes with a Smile

This May Be Love: Arctic Monkeys- Favourite Worst Nightmare

One of the biggest challenges for a band is trying to follow a great first album with an even better second album. The expectations are so high that when the band doesn’t live up to those expectations, the fallout is immense. The risks are great, but the rewards are even greater, for if they succeed in pleasing the masses, the sky is the limit for their popularity.

This is the crossroads that the UK sensation The Arctic Monkeys faced with the release of their sophomore album Favourite Worst Nightmare. The band burst on to the scene with their first album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not with hits like “I Bet That You Look Good On The Dance Floor” and “A Certain Romance” and received numerous Best Album of the Year Awards including the prestigious ranking of 5^th Greatest British Album of All Time in the January 2006 edition of NME magazine. With all the hype and accolades that their first album racked up, the band had to come up big for their second album.

Unfortunately, this new album doesn’t come close to measuring up to the first. The first album was hard-rocking, head-banging, good ole’ fashioned anarchy. The songs were catchy, they made you want to get up and create havoc. The lyrics were easy to catch on to and about everything we love about rock music songs: bouncers, booze, and broads.

Nightmare lacks the good beats and fun lyrics of Whatever People Say I Am. Instead of heavy and fast guitar distortion with thick British lyrics, you get awkwardly clean guitar with light, haunting singing and complicated lyrics, resulting in no clear cut great radio single or any song to really get excited about. The song that more closely resembles their original sound is “D is for Dangerous” which may be the best song on the album, but not many others really do it for me.

However there is plenty to get excited about here in the evolutionary sense of the band. The lyrics give the most evidence of the growth the band underwent in between albums, as here they are more poetic and dark, while the first album’s lyrics are much simpler. They also seem to be experimenting much more here, as their songs change speeds and styles frequently.

Considering this, the best of the Arctic Monkeys might still be on the horizon, as they get older and wiser and fine-tune their skills. It still will be difficult to beat the popularity of their first album, and they may never beat it, but like most humans, sometimes you have to go through an ugly transition before the best in you comes out.

Overall, i give it 3 guitars. Its worth the buy if your a fan already, but plan on listening to it a lot before you start to like it.

-Kid Zeppelin

www.arcticmonkeys.com

Album List:

1. Brainstorm– 2:50
2. Teddy Picker – 2:43
3. D Is for Dangerous – 2:16
4. Balaclava – 2:49
5. Fluorescent Adolescent – 2:57
6. Only Ones Who Know – 3:02
7. Do Me a Favour – 3:27
8. This House Is a Circus – 3:09
9. If You Were There, Beware – 4:34
10. The Bad Thing – 2:23
11. Old Yellow Bricks – 3:11
12. 505 – 4:13

Heres a sample in WMP format:
Fluorescent Adolescent

A Note on Album Reviews

Something you have to know about me is when I like a band, its because I like how they sound and their general style. So when bands come out with new music that deviates from that, i tend not to like it as much.

Case in point, the White Stripes new album Icky Thump. I loved their hit single Icky Thump and the bag pipes were great, but i wasn't crazy about the rest of the album. Songs like "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)" are so different from how they normally play it threw me off and thus I wasn't enthralled by the album as a whole. Don't get me wrong it, was still good and worth the money, but that is just something I wanted to warn everyone about when I do album reviews.

Also I forgot that i should probably use a rating system, so here it is, can't think of anything original so here ya go:

5 Guitars
4 Guitars
3 Guitars
2 Guitars
1 Guitar
Mm Bop

Any album that gets a rating of "Mm Bop" should be bought for the sole purpose of burning it.

-Kid Zeppelin

You Like This Band, You Just Don't Know It Yet: My Morning Jacket

Jim James arrived at the smoldering wreckage of his favorite neighborhood bar. He refused to believe it until he saw it himself, and there it was, a scene found only in nightmares. He lets out a sigh, then steps out of the car. Trying to conjure up good times and maybe a souvenir, he sifts through the dirt and debris, and suddenly something catches his eye. He bends down to pick up an old leather jacket, slightly charred and ashy, though that's not what he's looking at. He stares at the embroidering, MMJ, smiles to himself, then walks back to his car.

My Morning Jacket is one of the hottest new bands in the rock music scene, and with their new album Z, they seem to only be getting better. Their eclectic style, mixing psychedelic rhythms and hard rock riffs with jam band style live shows is attracting all kinds of fans, from frat boys to hipsters to stoners, which they like, "It's always been what we've wanted to do – appeal to so many people all over the place. You don't get far that way. We never wanted to make one sound. (Something Glorious)"

The band formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky around singer and guitarist Jim James. James, the leader of band, looks like Jeffrey Lebowski but is one of the brightest young songwriters this generation's music scene has to offer. James has actually already been recognized for his skills, winning an "Esky" for best songwriter in Esquire's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue.

The band also won an Esky for Best Live Band, an award the band has shown over and over again it deserves. The band was a very popular fixture at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, playing from 2003- 2006, being the only band to play four times in a row. In 2006 they played an unbelievable three-and-half-hour set, which Bonnaroo made available via webcast later that evening. Their live DVD, Okonokos, is a two hour music explosion, where the band goes from bearded bums to rock gods, thrashing their guitars and head-banging to the flawless chaos that is their forte. Their upcoming shows in Colorado, feature them opening for another music legend, Bob Dylan, which may be the best combo of musicians from the past and present playing together in decades, although depending on your preference, MMJ and Pearl Jam, who played together earlier this year, may be better.

The development of the emerging rock band almost skidded to a sudden halt in 2004, as two of the original members, Johhny Quaid (guitar) and Danny Cash (keyboard) quit due to the stress of constant touring. "We were talking about the touring that was coming," says Hallahan, "and Johnny's eyes started tearing up. He was like, 'Guys, I gotta tell you something...' And then Danny was like, 'Fuck it. I quit too.' (Rolling Stone) " With the original drummer having already left after their second album At Dawn in 2001, the band faced the intimidating prospect of integrating three new members into the group. Luckily for the fans, the transition went smoothly, with James asking his longtime friend Patrick Hallahan to play drums, and adding new members Carl Broemel (guitar/saxophone) and Bo Koster (keyboard).

After settling the upheaval that happened after their third album It Still Moves, the band came out with arguably their best album yet, simply entitled Z, in 2005. The album is being hailed as their Kid A, showing their evolution from their past work and their growth as a band. They seem to be getting better every year, and if the development that has been evident in every one of their albums continues, it would be safe to say that their best is yet to come.

Anyone who has not heard of this band yet needs to run out to their local record store and buy Z and It Still Moves, believe me, you will not regret it. This is a band on the verge of greatness, and Jim James is on the verge of rock legend status. These guys have all the right ingredients, a great songwriter in James, fantastic stage presence, and an ability to understand each other musically like only the greats can. Get into these guys before they hit super-stardom.

-Kid Zeppelin

Line-up:

• Jim James - vocals, lead & rhythm guitars
• "Two Tone" Tommy - bass
  
• Patrick Hallahan - drums
  
• Bo Koster - keyboards & layout
  
• Carl Broemel - guitar

Albums:

• The Tennessee Fire - May, 1999
• At Dawn - March/April, 2001
• It Still Moves - September 9, 2003
• Z - October, 2005
• Okonokos (Live) - September 26, 2006

http://mymorningjacket.com

Heres some samples in WMP format:

Off The Record
Wordless Chorus

Cited Material:
Something Glorious Interview with MMJ
Rolling Stone Interview with MMJ

In The Beginning...

I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours: it is a gift of God. -Martin Luther

This blog is going to be almost entirely about music, and primarily Rock and Roll. Music is something bigger than ourselves, something that binds us all together regardless of our different tastes in it. There is something so magical and special about music that is cannot be described or understood, just enjoyed. It gives hope to those who believe in it, strength to those who need strength, and pleasure to those who know where to look for it.

My goal is to share the best of music, past and present, and while I am more of a fan of the past, there is still plenty of the present worth listening to.

There is not going to be any pointless posts here, all will hopefully awaken you to what is going on in the music scene today along with a lot from the past, and hopefully you will find some music here that you haven't heard of before and end up loving it.

There will be roughly 6 types of posts (though i may add more later) that i will describe to you here. They all have names so you know which is which:

This May Be Love (Album Review): I plan on buying a new album every two weeks, which I will listen to and review for you, or I may review one which I already have, depending on what I buy every other week. These will be primarily new artists, but I'll be throwing in a lot of old ones too. Since music is something that not everyone agrees on (which is half the beauty of it) I will try not to make it too personally biased, and try to concentrate on how it relates to the band's other albums, but of course there will be opinion.

You Like This Band/Artist, You Just Don't Know It Yet (Band/Artist Review): In these posts I will be focusing on a different band/artist everytime and basically hyping them because they kick ass and you should give them a try. This could either be past or present, and will include as much info as I can find on them, such as musical style, albums, best songs, some history, etc. so you can get some background before trying them out. I'm hoping people will find a new favorite band with this section.

Listen To The Music (Song you should Download): If I find a great song that is definitely worth adding to your ITunes, I'll put it in these sections, along with descriptions of the band and such. It'll probably just be a song I'm into that week or something, and I will be including what album its on and such so it will be easier to find and maybe if you like the song, you'll explore more of that artist's stuff and get into some new music that way.

When The Musics Over (Where are they now?): This section will be primarily about past bands and many one hit wonders, or any artist I kind of want to poke fun at for being megahits one week and never heard from again after that. Or it could be about a good band and what they are doing now. Either way, if you ever wanted to know what happened to MC Hammer, stay tuned.

What Is And What Should Never Be (Rants and Personal Views): This is the only section that could have any possibility of not being about music. It won't be common, but if I'm in the mood I may throw one of these at you about politics (which I don't really follow so there won't be many) or whatever, however most of them will still be somewhat music related. I'm hoping to stur up some debate here and also just get it off my chest.

When I'm Sixty-Four (History Lesson): I'm a big history guy, so once in a while I'll write about some music history, like a famous landmark, or a concert, or a quote (such as the title of this blog), etc. It'll only help you appreciate the music more.

That pretty much describes what this is all about. I'm hoping after I get some good articles under my belt I can get this on HypeMachine and other sites to get some more readers, because If no one is reading what I write then I'm not really doing much.

I am always open to new artists/bands if you have something to recommend, however if its country, hip-hop, techno, etc., I can assure you I won't listen to it, because I really don't like those styles, sorry.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kid Zeppelin