Après Sufjan, le déluge
April 23, 2020 7:32 AM Subscribe
Sufjan Stevens gave up after two states. Joey Clift had nothing better to do while staying at home. So he put out a call to complete the 50 States Project. Half of the albums dropped last week; Clift plans to release the rest (including new takes on Illinois and Michigan, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) next month.
Link to the albums (site down at the moment of this posting)
posted by Fritzle at 7:42 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Fritzle at 7:42 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm honestly floored that there is one about Connecticut already.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:47 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:47 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
That off-the-cuff comment about 50 states:Sufjan::Game of Life:John Conway
posted by scruss at 7:50 AM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by scruss at 7:50 AM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
I kinda want to hear the one about my home state, Kansas, but I’m afraid it’ll be flat.
posted by sjswitzer at 8:04 AM on April 23, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by sjswitzer at 8:04 AM on April 23, 2020 [10 favorites]
Man that last Sufjan thread feels like more than a year ago. I could go for a horn filled song about my city council right about now.
posted by zenon at 8:18 AM on April 23, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by zenon at 8:18 AM on April 23, 2020 [5 favorites]
There's already a perfectly servicable song about CT.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:39 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:39 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Arizona one should be called "I grew up in Smitty's." Get it right people.
posted by Catblack at 8:40 AM on April 23, 2020
posted by Catblack at 8:40 AM on April 23, 2020
It’s an idea Clift’s had for years. “I’m not a huge Sufjan fan, but I’ve always thought the gall of him committing to, and then immediately abandoning his project was really funny,” he says in a statement sent to The A.V. Club, “and about five years ago, I came up with the idea to just get a bunch of friends together and finish his 50 States Project in a weekend or some other extremely short span of time to dunk on him and give the internet the catharsis it’d wanted for almost a decade.”I support this goofery, especially now.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 AM on April 23, 2020 [12 favorites]
Oh my god guys the track "Bon Iver Wants to Go To Trader Joe's" is spot on.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:17 AM on April 23, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:17 AM on April 23, 2020 [5 favorites]
My entire exposure to Sufjan Stevens is having been asked to transcribe and then record the flute part for one of his 50 states project songs for an amateur band in a remote place a decade ago. (I don't play flute, at least in a way anybody else wants to hear. The band thought trumpet was close enough. It turned out about as good as the original.) They told me about the project, and it sounded really neat. I never looked it up afterward. I'm kind of disappointed to learn that it wasn't real.
This seems like a good thing. It's going to take a while to listen to them. Thanks!
I'm also not convinced a state in the US is a meaningful cultural unit except for the very small ones and the very empty ones. Cities seem much richer as inspiration for songs. I have no idea what California means. I think I know what San Francisco and Bakersfield mean.
posted by eotvos at 9:40 AM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
This seems like a good thing. It's going to take a while to listen to them. Thanks!
I'm also not convinced a state in the US is a meaningful cultural unit except for the very small ones and the very empty ones. Cities seem much richer as inspiration for songs. I have no idea what California means. I think I know what San Francisco and Bakersfield mean.
posted by eotvos at 9:40 AM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
Fresh Prince of Bel Air - Sufjan Style
(The PA album is great, and seems to understand its state better than most of the others. Missed an opportunity for writing the Ballad of Breezewood though)
posted by schmod at 9:59 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
(The PA album is great, and seems to understand its state better than most of the others. Missed an opportunity for writing the Ballad of Breezewood though)
posted by schmod at 9:59 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
TOO MANY BIKES (ON THE MINUTEMAN TRAIL), oh my god I am crying this is so Massachusetts.
posted by jessamyn at 10:04 AM on April 23, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by jessamyn at 10:04 AM on April 23, 2020 [4 favorites]
This is awesome.
As they say, sometimes quantity has a quality all its own.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:24 AM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
As they say, sometimes quantity has a quality all its own.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:24 AM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
Missed an opportunity for writing the Ballad of Breezewood though
Just drop in five minutes of incoherent swearing.
posted by Etrigan at 10:26 AM on April 23, 2020
Just drop in five minutes of incoherent swearing.
posted by Etrigan at 10:26 AM on April 23, 2020
I'm kind of disappointed to learn that it wasn't real.
It's kind of incredible that people believed he was actually going to record FIFTY state-themed albums.
posted by thelonius at 10:27 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's kind of incredible that people believed he was actually going to record FIFTY state-themed albums.
posted by thelonius at 10:27 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I didn't listen to all of the songs in their entirety, but I don't think there's any Pittsburgh at all in that Pennsylvania album :-(
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 10:37 AM on April 23, 2020
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 10:37 AM on April 23, 2020
It's kind of incredible that people believed he was actually going to record FIFTY state-themed albums.
Eh, Mark E. Smith could have done it in five years.
posted by sjswitzer at 10:38 AM on April 23, 2020 [10 favorites]
Eh, Mark E. Smith could have done it in five years.
posted by sjswitzer at 10:38 AM on April 23, 2020 [10 favorites]
Fresh Prince of Bel Air - Sufjan Style
(The PA album is great, and seems to understand its state better than most of the others. Missed an opportunity for writing the Ballad of Breezewood though)
Sounds more like The Moldy Peaches to me
posted by Automocar at 10:52 AM on April 23, 2020
(The PA album is great, and seems to understand its state better than most of the others. Missed an opportunity for writing the Ballad of Breezewood though)
Sounds more like The Moldy Peaches to me
posted by Automocar at 10:52 AM on April 23, 2020
I hope the one for the District of Columbia (apparently just to be an E.P.) is all songs named for the state avenues.
posted by fedward at 11:24 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by fedward at 11:24 AM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm also not convinced a state in the US is a meaningful cultural unit
I am fascinated by this idea, because in New England (six tiny states all smushed together, you can visit them all in a day) the idea of a state as a meaningful cultural unit is HUGE. Like Vermont and New Hampshire are basically the same place for all intents and purposes except for the cultures are vastly different and very state-centric and not city-centric. This just may be because there aren't really giant cities (the largest one in northern New Enlgand is 109K people) so the state does become the meaningful cultural unit. Definitely not the case in Massachusetts, where Boston, Springfield, the islands, the Berkshires and the suburbs all have their own identities, and Rhode Island is a lot more Providence, Newport, and "other" even though they have 39 towns. I can not speak to Connecticut because it has always been a mystery to me.
I've been greatly enjoying these and plan to spend my day just leaving little 😂 comments everywhere in Soundcloud.
posted by jessamyn at 11:55 AM on April 23, 2020 [7 favorites]
I am fascinated by this idea, because in New England (six tiny states all smushed together, you can visit them all in a day) the idea of a state as a meaningful cultural unit is HUGE. Like Vermont and New Hampshire are basically the same place for all intents and purposes except for the cultures are vastly different and very state-centric and not city-centric. This just may be because there aren't really giant cities (the largest one in northern New Enlgand is 109K people) so the state does become the meaningful cultural unit. Definitely not the case in Massachusetts, where Boston, Springfield, the islands, the Berkshires and the suburbs all have their own identities, and Rhode Island is a lot more Providence, Newport, and "other" even though they have 39 towns. I can not speak to Connecticut because it has always been a mystery to me.
I've been greatly enjoying these and plan to spend my day just leaving little 😂 comments everywhere in Soundcloud.
posted by jessamyn at 11:55 AM on April 23, 2020 [7 favorites]
I can not speak to Connecticut because it has always been a mystery to me.
Connecticut is a mystery to everyone - even, famously, a New England tourism organization, who famously cut Connecticut out of New England in 2010. The western half is basically the sixth borough of New York City, and I suspect the Eastern half (where I grew up) is maintained as a demilitarized zone separating the Yankees and Red Sox fandoms.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:21 PM on April 23, 2020 [5 favorites]
Connecticut is a mystery to everyone - even, famously, a New England tourism organization, who famously cut Connecticut out of New England in 2010. The western half is basically the sixth borough of New York City, and I suspect the Eastern half (where I grew up) is maintained as a demilitarized zone separating the Yankees and Red Sox fandoms.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:21 PM on April 23, 2020 [5 favorites]
It's kind of incredible that people believed he was actually going to record FIFTY state-themed albums.
Eh, Mark E. Smith could have done it in five years.
Stephin Merritt probably did it in 2004 but forgot what band name he was using.
posted by Etrigan at 12:33 PM on April 23, 2020 [14 favorites]
Eh, Mark E. Smith could have done it in five years.
Stephin Merritt probably did it in 2004 but forgot what band name he was using.
posted by Etrigan at 12:33 PM on April 23, 2020 [14 favorites]
It's kind of incredible that people believed he was actually going to record FIFTY state-themed albums.
Here's the thing (for me, wow I have a lot of opinions about this), one of the things I valued about Stevens' whole thing was his absolute-seeming sincerity. Like he was willing to sing about feelings and vulnerability and all of that. It wouldn't occur to me that he was doing this just for a marketing gimmick because I actually believed his sincerity thing. But, eh, just another person from Brooklyn selling sincerity I guess.
posted by jessamyn at 12:46 PM on April 23, 2020 [6 favorites]
Here's the thing (for me, wow I have a lot of opinions about this), one of the things I valued about Stevens' whole thing was his absolute-seeming sincerity. Like he was willing to sing about feelings and vulnerability and all of that. It wouldn't occur to me that he was doing this just for a marketing gimmick because I actually believed his sincerity thing. But, eh, just another person from Brooklyn selling sincerity I guess.
posted by jessamyn at 12:46 PM on April 23, 2020 [6 favorites]
I'm also not convinced a state in the US is a meaningful cultural unit
I think Lou & Peter Berryman would agree with you... At least judging by their generic and all inclusive state song.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:01 PM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I think Lou & Peter Berryman would agree with you... At least judging by their generic and all inclusive state song.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:01 PM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
Well was he planning on doing a few more? And then that just wasn't what he found that he wanted to work on? Or was the whole thing a joke from the beginning?
posted by thelonius at 1:26 PM on April 23, 2020
posted by thelonius at 1:26 PM on April 23, 2020
Point: You gotta write from what you know.
Counterpoint: Had Rogers or Hammerstein ever been to Oklahoma?
posted by sjswitzer at 1:33 PM on April 23, 2020
Counterpoint: Had Rogers or Hammerstein ever been to Oklahoma?
posted by sjswitzer at 1:33 PM on April 23, 2020
jessamyn: Rhode Island is a lot more Providence, Newport, and "other"
“Other”, also known as “South County” which you should absolutely never try to find on a map, that way madness lies.
posted by Kattullus at 3:17 PM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
“Other”, also known as “South County” which you should absolutely never try to find on a map, that way madness lies.
posted by Kattullus at 3:17 PM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
There isn't a Maryland one yet! I am deeply disappointed.
brb gonna make a list of things that rhyme with "old bay"
posted by nonasuch at 6:48 PM on April 23, 2020
brb gonna make a list of things that rhyme with "old bay"
posted by nonasuch at 6:48 PM on April 23, 2020
But, eh, just another person from Brooklyn selling sincerity I guess.
Maybe, but the stuff he's done since the two states records is all super sincere seeming, at least to me. I think he just got kind of bored with the state thing and ventured off. The guy does great stuff, but has a short musical attention span for big projects. He was doing weird christian stuff for a while, then the states stuff, then dabbled in experimental classical stuff, made an insanely sincere and great record about his parents, released some singles about Tonya Harding, does a lot of collab things. I dunno. I sort of think the guy is just doing whatever he feels like, which I respect.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:51 PM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
Maybe, but the stuff he's done since the two states records is all super sincere seeming, at least to me. I think he just got kind of bored with the state thing and ventured off. The guy does great stuff, but has a short musical attention span for big projects. He was doing weird christian stuff for a while, then the states stuff, then dabbled in experimental classical stuff, made an insanely sincere and great record about his parents, released some singles about Tonya Harding, does a lot of collab things. I dunno. I sort of think the guy is just doing whatever he feels like, which I respect.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:51 PM on April 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
The Murder Kroger song on the Georgia alum is a thing of beauty.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:07 PM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by deludingmyself at 8:07 PM on April 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oh Austin, yer so difrunt from Boston,
San Antonio is inna imbroglio,
And that Houston where the cops they do stun,
Ain't so difrunt from Dallas, that big ol' phallus...
posted by a humble nudibranch at 2:39 AM on April 24, 2020
San Antonio is inna imbroglio,
And that Houston where the cops they do stun,
Ain't so difrunt from Dallas, that big ol' phallus...
posted by a humble nudibranch at 2:39 AM on April 24, 2020
I love how the AV Club subtly highlighted Wisconsin in their photo. Like a little nod to their Madison origin. I can’t wait to listen to it. Thanks for the link.
posted by eirias at 3:41 AM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by eirias at 3:41 AM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
If he'd spread out the effort he put into Illinois (both the Illinois album itself and the outtakes on Avalanche) that could be at least four states, or like fifteen pretty good EPs. By the time I got into him he'd already given up on the project but if you listen to everything he wrote in that time it's pretty believable that there could've been a lot more.
posted by fomhar at 11:11 AM on April 24, 2020
posted by fomhar at 11:11 AM on April 24, 2020
today, we released "wave 2" of this insane thing. 14 more State albums and 2 EPs. Now we're at 40 U.S. States, PR and DC.
posted by Etrigan at 9:57 AM on May 4, 2020
posted by Etrigan at 9:57 AM on May 4, 2020
I noticed that Vermont wasn't in the recent release so I wrote the guy and sent my dopey 251 Towns song and I think they are going to include it!
posted by jessamyn at 1:49 PM on May 4, 2020
posted by jessamyn at 1:49 PM on May 4, 2020
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