Sufjan’s ‘Javelin’ 2023 Best-Of Round-Up
January 24th, 2024 , by John Beeler
Announcing the Official 2023 Sufjan Yule Log
November 30th, 2023 , by John Beeler
Sufjan has written and recorded over 100 holiday songs, released in two collections: Songs for Christmas (2006) and Silver & Gold (2012). You can read an interview with Sufjan with Craig Jenkins about this holiday music here. We have set his expansive five-hour, 10-volume holiday repertoire to a peaceful yule log backdrop. This video is ideal for your favorite holiday activities: decorating the tree, baking, making calls to loved ones, or enjoying hot cocoa. You can also view the video (and a lot of other Sufjan holiday videos and links) here.
To celebrate the holiday season, we will premiere this video (directed by Brian Paccione) on Friday, December 1st, at 11AM ET. Join us for a virtual holiday gathering as we showcase the yule log.Of course, a holiday celebration isn’t complete without sharing some gifts! Give us the gift of sharing your Sufjan holiday playlist, and we may feature our favorites on our socials! Send your Sufjan holiday playlist to us using this form.
AKR Holiday Sale: Select CDs and vinyl from Sufjan and other AKR artists 20% off
November 20th, 2023 , by John Beeler
The annual AKR Holiday Sale is here again. This year, enjoy a 20% discount on select CDs and vinyl from artists including Sufjan Stevens, Angelo De Augustine, Denison Witmer, and others. Among many other highlights, this sale includes Sufjan’s The Ascension 2xLP, the Ocean Blue variant of A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan & Angelo, the Esther LP by The Welcome Wagon, and the Gathered of Out Thin Air 2xLP from Half-handed Cloud.
No coupon code is needed as discounts are already applied.
Each order includes an official Asthmatic Kitty logo sticker.
View everything on sale here.
Here’s just a few of the items on sale:
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Sufjan’s new album, Javelin, is now available
October 6th, 2023 , by John Beeler
Javelin, Sufjan’s tenth solo studio album, is available now for listening on streaming platforms, for purchase on CD and LP at our store here, or at your local record store. All CDs and LPs come with a 48-page book of art and essays by Sufjan. Below is a list of all the colors of Javelin vinyl you can purchase and where to buy them. We have some of our AKR exclusive Seaweed Ocean Blast LP available at the AKR Store.
Also available for purchase at the AKR Store is a Javelin t-shirt and a sweatshirt, both manufactured in Detroit by Soft Goods and screen printed in Atlanta by Danger Press, an enviro-tote on 15oz natural cotton, and a limited edition backpack designed by Charleston-based J-Stark.
Here are the track listing and vinyl splits for Javelin:
SIDE A
1. “Goodbye Evergreen” 3:35
2. “A Running Start” 4:21
3. “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” 4:09
4. “Everything That Rises” 4:59
5. “Genuflecting Ghost” 3:32
SIDE B
6. “My Red Little Fox” 3:42
7. “So You Are Tired” 4:49
8. “Javelin (To Have and to Hold)” 1:52
9. “Shit Talk” 8:31
10. “There’s a World” 2:29
Total length: 41:59
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Javelin vinyl variants:
 AKR Seaweed Ocean Blast Buy it at AKR Store |  Indie worldwide exclusive LemonadeBuy it at your local record store (or online) |
 Rough Trade Green SmokeBuy it at Rough Trade |  Magnolia Record of the Month Orange CreamBuy it at Magnolia |
 Black vinyl |  Urban Outfitters Solid GreenBuy it at Urban Outfitters |
 Spotify Fans First Pop Bottle Clear(Out of stock) |
Announcing the Sufjan Stevens Javelin Global Listening Event
September 7th, 2023 , by John Beeler
Hear the album early!
Read the Rest...Sufjan To Release New Album, ‘Javelin,’ October 6th; Hear “So You Are Tired”
August 14th, 2023 , by John Beeler
We are proud to announce a new album from Sufjan, Javelin, on October 6th. The first single, “So You Are Tired,” is available for listening now, alongside a lyric video.
Javelin marks Sufjan’s first solo album of songs since The Ascension, and his first in full singer-songwriter mode since Carrie & Lowell. At times, Javelin has the feel of a big team album production — but it is decidedly not: almost every sound here is the result of Sufjan writing and recording at home, building by himself what sometimes feels like a testament to ‘70s Los Angeles studio opulence. The contributions come from a close circle of friends – adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui and Nedelle Torrisi – who provide harmonies on many songs, and Bryce Dessner, who plays acoustic and electric guitar on “Shit Talk.”
To celebrate the release, we’re issuing a special AKR Seaweed Ocean Blast edition. All CD and LP editions include a 48-page book of art and essays all created by Sufjan, including a series of collages, cut-up catalog fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and color fields.
Pre-orders are up here for Javelin t-shirt, sweatshirt and tote.
To get news about the album, be sure to follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our email newsletter, or sign up for SMS (in the US) by texting ‘AKR’ to (855) 513-1593.
Sufjan’s The Age of Adz is back in print on vinyl, and with a new “Vesuvius” edition
July 12th, 2023 , by John Beeler
Year of the Rabbit Enjoy Your Rabbit Special Edition Vinyl
July 5th, 2023 , by John Beeler
We’re releasing a special Year of the Rabbit Edition of Sufjan’s Enjoy Your Rabbit!
In 2001, we released the album on CD, then released a vinyl pressing in 2014. The album’s fourteen songs (one for each sign of the Chinese Zodiac, plus two for good luck, ie. “Year of the Asthmatic Cat” – that’s us!) are distinctly Sufjan. Sufjan may be better known as a singer-songwriter and folk artist, but Enjoy Your Rabbit demonstrates that Sufjan has never obeyed the laws of genre; many of the electronic riffs on this record tease hooks that appear later on Michigan, Illinois, Age of Adz, and The Ascension.
Enjoy Your Rabbit has lived its own long and prosperous life. The Osso String Quartet’s Run Rabbit Run album recreated the album in arrangements for live, acoustic chamber ensemble. And choreographer Justin Peck has collaborated with Sufjan over half a dozen times, including the recently debuted Illinois production at the Fisher Center at Bard, but Justin’s first collaboration with Sufjan was to choreograph the songs on Enjoy Your Rabbit for Year of the Rabbit, which premiered at the New York City Ballet in 2012.
It’s now 2023, a year of the rabbit, one predicted to be full of harmony, longevity, and prosperity – making it a perfect time for a Year of the Rabbit Special Edition vinyl of this double LP. Since Sufjan was born under the rabbit, we wanted to wait until his birthday to unveil this for his fans.
This 2xLP is pressed in a calming deep blue vinyl, punctuated by a subtle rabbit-fur cloudy white. We hope it brings you harmony and good fortune.You can pre-order the Year of the Rabbit special edition of the 2xLP here (ships August 1st).
Special 20th anniversary vinyl editions of Sufjan’s Michigan album out now: second pressing arriving in fall
June 9th, 2023 , by John Beeler
AKR has partnered with Third Man Pressing in Detroit to release three special editions.
Read the Rest...Reflections, composed by Sufjan, performed by Timo Andres and Conor Hanick out now
May 19th, 2023 , by John Beeler
Today we are proud to release Reflections, the studio recording of Sufjan’s’ score for the ballet of the same name by choreographer Justin Peck, performed by pianists Conor Hanick and Timo Andres. To celebrate this release, we commissioned long-time Sufjan collaborator Stephen Halker to create a series of audio visualizations that animate the artwork from the album by Jessica Slaven, timed to the music.
Watch the visuals here, and listen to the record here. Read more about Reflections here.
Talking about the visualizations, Stephen said, “The motion design was dictated by the forms of Slaven’s artwork and the sonic characteristics of each piece. The visuals and compositions are so dynamic that the motion design was just an act of introducing the two forms to each other and watching them interact and mirror themselves.”
Timo and Conor, who performed the pieces, have also commented on the motion present on Reflections. Says Timo: “The music has an innate theatricality, drama, and variety that seems to suggest movement—not in a toe-tapping, groove-oriented way, but instead something both grander and quirkier. It was a pleasure to work with Sufjan to find the right interpretive balance of showmanship and intimacy in this music, and I was lucky to be joined in the process by the great Conor Hanick, whose playing I’ve known and admired for years.”
Hanick agreed: “Reflections – for all its kaleidoscopic virtuosity and stylistic variety – is a piece about movement. You can practically see its shapes and vectors form in real-time, gliding, tumbling, floating. Even in a body of work defined by boldness and contrast, Sufjan’s music in Reflections feels daring.”
Orders for the album on aquamarine-colored 45RPM LP, CD, are available now wherever you buy records, or via AKR here and on Bandcamp. The AKR Store and Bandcamp also include a bundle for sale that includes the expanded edition of The Decalogue with a photo-booklet.