State of Music: Filling A Void of Geo-Songs While Waiting for Sufjan's Concept to Flower

Following a string of brilliant thematic album releases, numerous outtakes, singles, demos, collaborations and the four LP Songs for Christmas boxset - arguably the best indie-alternative Christmas song collection ever - it seemed Sufjan Stevens was unstoppable.

But over the past couple of years, there hasn't been really any new, original material from Sufjan. This is disappointing because he had suggested that he was going to write and record an album unique the character, reputation, history, culture and so on of ever state in the union. I, like many other fans, was thrilled and anxious to hear the next release. Ohio? Wisconsin?

A big part of the believability factor, and the anticipation, was that Sufjan had already recorded two brilliant albums that were, in concept, full of songs relishing in the character of two states, on 2003's Greetings From Michigan and 2005's Come On Feel The Illinoise!

With songs like "Pittsfield" (Michigan; not the other Pittsfield, where I grew up), "Chicago", "Decatur", "Jacksonville", "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts", "The Seer's Tower", "Flint", "Say Yes! to M!ch!gan!", it looked like Sufjan was serious by his unique and exciting question. At the time it was questionable - can this guy really write 48 additional albums, each about a different state?

I had doubt, but was routing for him to at least give it a shot, and maybe another band or artist, or more than one, could pick up the torch and complete the endeavor: An indie album about every state - freaking cool!

If any indie artists and bands are reading this, think about it. Even if Sufjan is not going to pursue the path he set down, I really hope other indie and alt artists will, while preserving the story-telling quality and superb musicianship that are found on Illinoise and Michigan LPs.



In all fairness to Sufjan, because I want to make sure I don't sound like I"m dissing him (cause I'm not), he has been busy with other music projects, a record company, babies and what have you, but it would be something quite special if he tried to see this idea all the way through. I think it's brilliant, and who doesn't love songs about their state, or other state's and things that people identify with a particular state; you know like peaches in Georgia, lighthouses in Maine, the Alamo in Texas, great weather and surfing in California, bison in Wyoming, the cowboy life of Montana and so on.

Therefore, I decided to start a playlist series about each state in the country featuring songs from a whole range of artists and bands, from indie to alternative and folk to pop and spanning the history of music, starting with the 1950's right up to today. However, the concentration will be on indie and alt music.

If you have song suggestions, please send them with the state they apply to. This playlist series will be on-going indefinitely, so if you're interested sign up for the feed, follow on Twitter or FriendFeed and check back to the site often. There will be no order to the playlist series, such as alphabetical.

To get your toes wet, so to speak, for what will be an ongoing playlist series all about the states of this vast country, I decided an introductory playlist that is not specific to one state, but all of the states, and to give you an idea of what the state-by-state playlists will be like as they are published throughout 2009 and 2010. This playlist of course includes some of the geo-thematic songs of Sufjan Stevens.

A little background: I've actually been creating dozens and dozens of specific, thematic playlists - or music categorization addiction - for years, so I'm excited to share them with you.

These playlists are theme-based, like songs about colors, numbers, people's names, weather conditions, food, moods, days of the week, seasons of the year, home sweet home, and various genres and styles. Of course, all of the songs for any specific playlist must be good songs, not just some so-so indie rock or filler music.

Most of all I just hope you will enjoy this new playlist series and give some well deserved attention to bands, artists, songs and albums that are worthy.

"Decatur" - Sufjan Stevens from Come On Feel The Illinoise

"Chicago" - Sufjan Stevens from Greetings to Michigan

"Hard Times in America" - Willie Nile from Live From The Streets of New York (2008)

"We Can Win Missouri!" - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin from Grace & Gwyn EP (2008)

"Washington DC" - Magnetic Fields from 69 Love Songs (1999)

"Revelation Big Sur" - Red House Painters from Songs For a Blue (2000)

"Cape Fear" - The Rosebuds from Life Like (2008)

"So Long Savannah" - Eric Bachmann from To The Races (2006)

"Fasting in San Francisco" - Y La Bamba from GypsyPop (2009)

The first real State of Music Playlist series will launch sometime soon. I'm trying to decide what state to start with first and there'd have to be at least six songs to make a playlist.

Taking your suggestions for songs about states - any indie, rock, folk, pop, electronic song about anything to do with a specific state. This will be a playlist series that will happen slowly over time because it takes time to create something so specialized.

Labels: Indie Playlists, State of Mind Playlist