Pages tagged “the bqe”

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Sufjan Stevens/Osso: The BQE/Run Rabbit Run

Sufjan Stevens: The BQE – 92/100 Osso: Run Rabbit Run – 76/100 Stevens remakes the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — and gets a makeover himself Though we’re nearing the five-year anniversary of his last proper studio album, Sufjan Stevens has stayed active since his landmark Illinois. In November 2007 he debuted The BQE, a multimedia tribute to the seemingly mundane Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that included an orchestra, three simultaneously projected films and live hula hoopers, and that was performed over three nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Ever the perfectionist, Stevens took two years to record and edit this combination...  read more

Sufjan Stevens Calls 50 States Project "Such a Joke"

At the time, it seemed impossibly ambitious: Write an album for all 50 states, each capturing both the obvious glories and flaws, but also the hidden idiosyncrasies of its chosen bit of America. Sufjan Stevens’ first attempt was a gorgeously lush, whispered look at a state most often cast in a harsh, mechanic light: Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State. Next up was another midwestern state, Illinois. With beautiful anthems like “Chicago” and “Jacksonville,” the album shot Stevens to the top of the indie heap, a folk singer as ambitious as he was introspective....  read more

A Dozen Ways Sufjan Stevens Spent 2008

Brian Wilson finally gave us a Smile in 2007. Chinese Democracy miraculously saw the light of day last year. Would it be too much to hope that 2009 is the year of Oregon? Or New Jersey? Or even a Rhode Island EP? Sufjan Stevens' second of his proposed 50-state project was Paste's album of the year way back in 2005, and he's been pretty coy about whether he's planning a follow-up or even whether he was ever serious about the project. Still, he's been doing more than learning how to hula hoop over the last 12 months. Here's a dozen...  read more