Please forgive the disgraceful pun, but all will become clear.
Yesterday, as a combined dissertation-avoidance and hangover-recovery tactic I decided to walk into town, with three objectives in mind: buying a large strawberry milkshake from McDonalds, some Old Fashioned Black Bullets, and Sufjan Stevens' new album The B.Q.E., a musical tribute to New York's Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The first two objectives were easily accomplished, the third not. I strolled into Fopp, as I tend to on a regular basis, took a longing look at Thurston Moore's book No Wave and then checked for one of Sufjan's latest (he's released three albums in very quick succession). There it was on the rack, with it's fresh cover art (the Expressway and a graffiti-style title, how New York can you get?), just as expected. What wasn't expected was the £14 price tag. I know what you're thinking - Sufjan Stevens isn't that well known. It's not a particularly eagerly anticipated release. It's not even a hackneyed, cynical remaster of a classic album. OK, so it has a DVD, but I've got other CDs with DVDs which haven't tried to justify a nearly-50% price increase on the normal round tenner. So, "fuck you, Fopp, you shitty faux-indie re-res" I think to myself, and stroll to HMV (I stroll everywhere), thinking that, despite owning Fopp, they may just not have taught little sister how to price CDs properly. But no, there it is again, £14. The record companies are in dire enough straits as it is, without pricing the music-buying public out of the market! It's a shame, because I've been listening online, and it's a really good record. The compositions remind a lot of Michael Nyman's soundtrack to Man on Wire (set in New York as well), but less taut and more lush (said in Stacey's voice). The orchestral flourishes of his previous releases are there in abundance, though gone of course are his tremulous vocals. I suppose it's even slightly evocative of the thundering Expressway; either way, I really like it.
So, here it is, Sufjan and your label Asthmatic Kitty, I'm keeping my money in my wallet for now. I love Illinois but I'm going to listen to this one on Spotify, meaning you make less money, and then buy it when it comes down in price.
There we have it: getting (Sufjan St)even.
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