Sufjan Stevens is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nominations.
A Sun Came! is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, released in 1999 on Asthmatic Kitty. It was reissued four years later. Among Stevens' back catalog, A Sun Came is notable for being recorded on four-track.
Illinois is a 2005 concept album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. His fifth studio album, it features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. state of Illinois. Illinois is Stevens' second based on a U.S. state—part of a planned series of fifty that began with the 2003 album Michigan and that Stevens has since acknowledged was a joke.
Ester Drang is an experimental, post rock musical group from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. The band was formed in 1995, with guitarist Bryce Chambers recruiting drummer James McAlister and bass player Kyle Winner.
Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities. While the original Holland nucleus has dispersed across the country, the community has grown, with new artists and shared projects with other independent labels. The Library Catalog Music Series, inaugurated in 2009, showcases instrumental music by a wide variety of musicians, with eighteen albums in print as of February 2013, and more scheduled for release. Asthmatic Kitty is now based in Lander, Wyoming, Atlanta, Georgia and Brooklyn, New York.
The Avalanche is a compilation album by indie rock singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, consisting of outtakes and other recordings from the sessions for his album Illinois, released the previous year. The title song "The Avalanche" was also a bonus track on the Illinois vinyl and iTunes release.
Shapes and Sizes are a Canadian indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia. There are four members—Nathan Gage, singers Caila Thompson-Hannant and Rory Seydel, and John Crellin.
Denison Witmer is an American singer-songwriter from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. His first release, in 1995, was a cassette titled My Luck, My Love. He has since released six studio LPs; two live albums, a cover album (Recovered); three EPs; and an LP with The River Bends—a side project consisting of members of the Philadelphia-based alt-country band One Star Hotel. Witmer's 2005 album, Are You a Dreamer?, produced by Don Peris of The Innocence Mission and featuring Sufjan Stevens, received acclaim, including positive reviews from Pitchfork Media and Entertainment Weekly. Witmer and Stevens appeared on Rosie Thomas's 2007 album These Friends of Mine, an album which included Rosie Thomas' version of Paper Doll, a track originally written and recorded by Witmer. Witmer toured with Rosie Thomas in support of that album in venues across the US and Europe.
Castanets was the musical project of Ray Raposa, who had been signed to Asthmatic Kitty Records from 2004 until his death in 2022. Castanets was influenced by country, folk, and experimental rock, and released seven albums, the latest being Decimation Blues in 2014. Additionally, songs by Castanets appear on a number of split 7-inch singles and EPs with other bands, including Shapes and Sizes and Dirty Projectors. While Raposa was the only constant member of the band, his records and live performances featured a rotating cast of musicians. A San Diego native, Raposa lived in Brooklyn and resided in Portland, Oregon.
Songs for Christmas is a box set of five separate EPs of Christmas-related songs and carols recorded by independent musician Sufjan Stevens between 2001 and 2006. The EPs had been given as gifts to friends and family of Stevens over the past six years, except for 2004 when he was too busy recording the Illinois album. Though the first three EPs had already been available on Sufjan Stevens-related fansites for several years, Songs for Christmas is the first official release of these EPs. Most of the tracks are versions of traditional Christmas songs, with a number of original compositions such as "Sister Winter" and "Star of Wonder". Sufjan Stevens has developed a reputation for being a devoted Christian and many of the songs he chose for inclusion on Songs for Christmas are religious in nature, including his original compositions.
The Welcome Wagon is a Gospel/indie pop band from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The group consists of Presbyterian minister Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife, Monique. Their debut album, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon (2008), was produced by Sufjan Stevens.
Cryptacize is a California pop band founded by Nedelle Torrisi and Chris Cohen in 2006. They released two records on the Asthmatic Kitty label.
The Age of Adz is the sixth studio album by American singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, released on October 12, 2010 by Asthmatic Kitty. It was Stevens' first song-based full-length album in five years, since the release of Illinois in 2005.
American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has released twelve studio albums, three compilation albums, three soundtracks, two mixtapes, thirteen extended plays (EP), fifteen singles, eight promotional singles, and eight music videos. Through his record label Asthmatic Kitty Records, Stevens released his first two albums A Sun Came and Enjoy Your Rabbit in 2000 and 2001, respectively. For his next two releases – Michigan (2003) and Seven Swans (2004) – the singer partnered with Sounds Familyre Records for the distribution of both releases. Seven Swans was supported by Stevens' debut single "The Dress Looks Nice on You". The same album was reissued in 2009 and included the new single "I Went Dancing with My Sister". His fifth album, Illinois, was his first release to enter record charts, where it reached the lower positions in several countries and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 copies. The Avalanche, a compilation album consisting of outtakes from Illinois, was released in 2006 and also reached various charts internationally.
"Chicago" is a track from Sufjan Stevens 2005 concept album Illinois, released on Asthmatic Kitty. The song tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young man on a road trip, and his youthful idealism. The track is one of Stevens' most popular songs, and he usually ends his live shows with a version of this song. The song has been recorded in five different versions by Stevens himself, the versions not on Illinois being included on the collection The Avalanche, and one demo released digitally on Stevens' website, later released as a 12" single bundled with the Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition.
Sisyphus is a collaborative project between Serengeti, Ryan Lott and Sufjan Stevens.
Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6–10 is a five-EP box set of Christmas-related songs and carols recorded by Sufjan Stevens between 2006 and 2012. It is a follow-up to Songs for Christmas, which was released six years prior. On October 2, 2012, it was announced that Stevens would release Silver & Gold on November 13, 2012 in digital format, CD and LP boxset. On October 24, 2012, a claymation music video, animated by Lee Hardcastle, was released for "Mr. Frosty Man".
Carrie & Lowell is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released on March 31, 2015, by Asthmatic Kitty. It is executively produced by Stevens, and features guest contributions from Thomas Bartlett, Sean Carey, Casey Foubert, Ben Lester, Nedelle Torrisi, and Laura Veirs.
Angelo De Augustine is an American musician residing in Thousand Oaks, California. He has collaborated with and opened for musician Sufjan Stevens.
A Beginner's Mind is a collaborative album by American musicians Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine. The album was released by Asthmatic Kitty on September 24, 2021. After being teased by Asthmatic Kitty for several days, the album was formally announced on July 7, 2021, along with its track listing and two singles, "Reach Out" and "Olympus". Daniel Anum Jasper created the album's cover artwork.
