Illinoize (A Mix Of Subtle Joys)

I'm not even going to mention the fact that this blog hasnt been updated in aaaages, i'm just going to move on and pretend you read the last update a few days ago. With that in mind welcome back to Radio Protector, the internets premier source of somebody elses music taste that might just occasionally match yours. Probably not very often though, but hey, we're nice people so its worth a read at least.

Now we havent talked about Sufjan Stevens in a long while, so that means he has a wealth of new material and delicious little masterpieces to blog about due to his new EP and album at the end of last year. But really, if we're going to mention Sufjan then we'd be best mentioning somebody elses work (or rather what somebody else did with Sufjan's work) instead.

(The guy on the cover of the mix seems to have escaped from the cast of the tv show 'Boardwalk Empire' it appears)

Vancouver based producer Tor mixed various songs from Sufjan's back catalogue and collected them into a nice tidy album (ok, EP i guess) under the name 'Illinoize', a nice play on the title of Sufjan's seminal 2005 album 'Illinios'.

Essentially what 'Illinoize' is is just very simple, it's the music of Sufjan's best songs with his lyrics replaced by those of various rappers and hip-hop artists. Why is it worth blogging about? Well, the fact it actually works. It shouldnt work but it does. Strangely of all Sufjan's many many songs on my iTunes (how many is there, like 200 probably even without live and session versions!? Christ can that guy write!) these are the ones i go back to the most often. They fit the most different moods and offer something different, because lets face it, no matter how much you love Sufjan Stevens you wouldnt stick it on before you go out to a club or when you come in drunk. But now you can! Isnt that the last bastion of what Sufjan didnt yet already offer yet?

In short, 'Illinoize' is a triumph. A triumph of genre bending proportions.

Want to listen? Yeah, why not... plus this is a legal download from Tor's site, always a bonus...

Tor / Sufjan Stevens - Illinoize (71mb zip file with all 7 tracks included)

Or you can listen to the tracks individually or find out more about the mix project at Tor's website:

www.tormusic.net

Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris

Ah yes, we’ve arrived at Sufjan already. As much of a cliché as it is to blog about the much hyped American wonderkid, it’s easy to forget he’s such an exceptionally talented artist with possibly the most glorious ear for melody currently producing material on a regular basis.

Producing material is something he does a lot. A hell of a lot. Seven albums (one of them spanning five discs) in the last few years, and you have something of a prolific writer on your hands. He had 63 officially released songs in 2006 to be exact. But - get this - every single album is good, usually better than the last. Remarkable.

But then, you read blogs; you already know this no doubt… so I’ll leave the introduction to Sufjan at that…

The reason for this torrent of praise? Sufjan covering the legendary Joni Mitchell, one of “the greatest songwriters ever” (Rolling Stone, 2002). "It has to be worth a listen" I thought when I stumbled across it to download. Oh my, it was indeed.



In typical Sujfan tradition he’s entirely fucked the song up, twisting and beating it into a pulp of its former self only to leave it bloody and bruised and more beautiful than ever.

Without further ado, I present to you, Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris:

Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris (Joni Mitchell)

While I’m at it I may as well upload his other two rare covers of note - What Goes On (The Beatles) and The One I Love (R.E.M.) - The Beatles cover is a personal favourite, and ranks high amongst even the choice cuts from Stevens own arsenal.

Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On (The Beatles)
Sufjan Stevens - The One I Love (R.E.M.)

You can check out Sufjan or Joni on the following links...

www.sufjan.com
www.jonimitchell.com

Simon x