Last Saturday I was lucky enough to witness the world premiere of Planetarium, the song cycle made by Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly and Bryce Dessner (of The National), in Eindhoven. They were joined by the New Trombone Collective and the Navarra String Quartet on stage, as if those three on one stage wasn’t amazing enough just yet. I was in complete awe afterwards, as it was quite the experience. Afterwards, I described Planetarium as “The Age of Adz with a touch of Nico Muhly’s magic, and multiply that because of Bryce Dessner” and it still seems fitting right now.
I just stumbled across a bootleg of a recording of the show they did in Amsterdam last Sunday, which is actually a very good bootleg and will definitely give you a thought of how Planetarium sounds like. It’s hard to pick a highlight from such an otherwordly experience, but Jupiter was the first song that literally made me sit on the tip of my seat so it seems fitting to make that one available for streaming here on DN. I recommend you check out bootleg, even though no recording can match the actual live experience. No news yet on whether the trio is going to dive in an actual studio to record Planetarium, but I surely hope they do. (picture)
Have been listening to the brilliant s / s / s Beak & Claw EP ever since I got my copy; pretty sure this is how pop music will sound like in 50 years from now (or at least how it should sound like). David Dean Burkhart took some footage from the Japanese Grindhouse classic, “Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion” to create this video for s / s / s’s (too many s’s) Beyond Any Doubt.
s / s / s is the collaboration between Sufjan Stevens, Son Lux and Serengeti - they will release a 4-track EP titled Beak & Claw on March 20 via Anticon. Sufjan continues the orchestra-electronica vibe he’s got going on ever since The Age of Adz and mixes that with some rhymes by Serengeti on the EP opener Museum Day. It’s interesting to hear these different genres blend into one song.
Sufjan Stevens and his band played a session for WNYC’s show Soundcheck, including the final acoustic segment of the epic +25 minute The Age of Adz closer Impossible Soul - which is apparently titled Pleasure Principle. Watch that performance above and stream the entire session by the “Musical Cosmonaut” over at WNYC’s website. (via)
Arcade Fire multi instrumentalist Richard Reed-Parry and brothers Aaron & Bryce Dessner (from The National) took over BBC 6 last night ‘to play a selection of music which has inspired and soundtracked their friendship along with some of their favourite new music from 2010’. They played two Christmas-themed Sufjan Stevens songs, off the still unreleased Songs for Christmas Volume 6 (Gloria!). (via)
The Good Natured delivers a beautiful cover of Sufjan Stevens’ For The Windows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti. I think she even did her own backing vocals, which makes it even more awesome.
