Remove ads, unlock a dark mode theme, and get other perks by upgrading your account. Experience the website the way it's meant to be.

Unreleased Sufjan Stevens Apparently Found in Dumpster

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jul 7, 2016.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Apparently an unreleased Sufjan Stevens album was found in a Brooklyn dumpster. Michelle Geslani, writing for Consequence of Sound:


    “I used to work next door to Sufjan’s studio in Brooklyn,” an anonymous poster recounted on Reddit yesterday. “One day, while he was renovating the place, he threw a bunch of stuff into the building’s dumpster. I salvaged this…as far as I know, I don’t think it’s ever been released.”

    And from an interview with the album’s finder, via Stereogum:


    I deleted the Reddit post because I felt awful about sharing the album after Asthmatic Kitty’s spokesperson kindly asked me not to. That was definitely a misstep on my part. I should have respected his wishes. On the other hand…this is trash we’re talking about. Publicly available trash. I didn’t Frankenstein the album together; it was right there, perfectly intact, complete with a clean-cut square of album art and a track listing. After discovering that it was never released, and reading the desperation from Sufjan fans who really wanted to hear this little piece of his history, I decided it best to allow Stalker to live through the self-multiplying preservationists that make the internet what it is. The alternative was a sad, quiet death for an album that I think shows a wonderfully playful side of Sufjan’s early career.

     
  2. Ryan

    Might be Spider-Man...

    If its true, I think it's pretty careless for him to toss an entire album in a dumpster, for anyone to potentially take and upload online. I like Sufjan, but he could have destroyed it if he wanted to.
     
  3. Matt Metzler

    Space Cadet Prestigious

    Something about the phrase "publicly available trash" does not sit well with me.
     
    Dan O'Neill and FTank like this.
  4. FTank

    Prestigious Prestigious

    This whole thing is just crazy.
     
  5. skogsraet

    Trusted Supporter

    I feel like as an artist it must suck to lose control of your discography like this but I agree if Sufjan wanted to, he could've destroyed it properly. That said, I doubt he's the one cleaning out his studio and he may not have known at all. This is definitely a weird situation though.
     
  6. White

    Cum for the Cum God. Prestigious

    Do we know for sure this isn't some new kind of attempt at viral marketing?

    'Cause I will say I don't give a shit about Sufjan Stevens' music but I am very interested in hearing this.
     
  7. Eric

    Regular

    Haha same. I'm a sucker for this stuff
     
    Aaron Mook likes this.
  8. Kiana

    Goddamn, man child Prestigious

    omg skimming the title I thought Sufjan died or something and was found in a dumpster!!! I immediately re-read it tho cause what a flippant title if that was the situation lol /csb
     
  9. iam1bearcat

    i'm writing a book, leave me alone.

    i almost did the same thing. hell, just miss the first word of the release and that's exactly what it would mean.

    @Jason Tate @Melody Bot is it possible to add "album" to headline just so others who can't read like @Kiana and i don't freak out as well haha
     
  10. Bob Loblaw

    Wubbalubbadubdub

    In my criminal procedure class, we read a case where a warrant was granted due to trash. The police coordinated with the garbage company who picked up the trash and brought it to a place where the police took it and rummaged through finding dug debris and paraphernalia. Using that they were granted a warrant to search the house. The defendant brought up going through the trash and the court found that trash wasn't protected under privacy. Anything thrown out is no longer your property. They could have even taken the trash straight from the lawn but they did it that way so the defendant wouldn't know what was going on until the warrant was issued. That's why places like GameStop, when they are throwing out games and strategy guides, will scratch the discs and rip up the guides since it's not theft to take the items from the trash and to deter dumpster diving. It's like they say, one man's trash is another's treasure so definitely be careful of what you throw out. I'm surprised the album was just thrown out without being destroyed first just in case.
     
  11. Kiana

    Goddamn, man child Prestigious

    lol I mis-read titles all the time cause I just skim the articles section. Who has time to read thoroughly??!
     
    coleslawed likes this.
  12. Ellite25

    Regular

    Same I was like wtf?!? Glad I read it wrong lol
     
  13. DandonTRJ

    ~~~ヾ(^∇^ Supporter

    That said, copyright abandonment works a bit differently.

    http://lawcatalog.com/FilesUploaded/product/SampleFiles/ljp_694PublicDomain.pdf
     
  14. Fucking Dustin

    Please click "like" Supporter

    I read "unreleased" as "unconscious" and FREAKED OUT
     
  15. Bartek T.

    D'oh! Prestigious

    That's a weird story, and the album would be supposed to be titled "Stalker"? ;p it doesn't sound too good as well, I've checked it out out of curiosity of course, but then I won't keep it anywhere.
     
  16. Ska Senanake

    Trusted

    You should give a shit about his music. It's truly fantastic. Especially Carrie & Lowell.
     
  17. Bob Loblaw

    Wubbalubbadubdub

  18. Derek Wright

    Regular Prestigious

    Scandalous- Love this stuff too. I'd be super interested to see hear this lost cd.
     
    Aaron Mook likes this.
  19. CyberInferno

    Line below my username Supporter

    Came in here to make sure I wasn't the only one. I definitely missed the first word when reading it the first time.
     
  20. FTank

    Prestigious Prestigious

    After all you people mentioned that, I cant unread it haha
     
  21. teebs41

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Its on YouTube, it doesn't sound very good either ha
     
  22. supernovagirl

    Poetic and noble land mermaid

    so is the guy who released it going to be sued
     
  23. FTank

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Is there any way of knowing who it was? Beyond that, I still doubt it.