MUZIK: Sufjan Stevens "Illinois"

I took a "Chicago Studies" class the summer before my Freshman year of high school that was chock fulla my fellow nerds and useless tidbits about the city and the state. We also had to read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" - which just goes to show how deep my omnivore tendencies run, seeing as I'm still eating meat.

Anyway - reading Stereogum's take on Sufjan Steven's new record, I just about-a pooped myself - I mean, look at this track list -

01 "Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL"
02 "The Black Hawk War, Or, How To Demolish An Entire Civilization And Still Feel Good About Yourself In The Morning, Or, We Apologize For The Inconvenience But You're Going To Have To Leave Now, Or, 'I Have Fought The Big Knives And Will Continue To Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'"
03 "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!"
Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition
Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream
04 "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
05 "Jacksonville"
06 "A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons"
07 "Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Step Mother!"
08 "One Last 'Woo-hoo!' For The Pullman"
09 "Chicago"
10 "Casimir Pulaski Day"
11 "To The Workers Of The Rockford River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament, And It Involves Shoe String, A Lavender Garland, And Twelve Strong Women"
12 "The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts"
13 "Prairie Fire That Wanders About"
14 "A Conjunction Of Drones Simulating The Way In Which Sufjan Stevens Has An Existential Crisis In The Great Godfrey Maze"
15 "The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!"
16 "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhhh!"
17 "Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All The Way Out In Bushnell"
18 "In This Temple, As In The Hearts Of Man, For Whom He Saved The Earth"
19 "The Seer's Tower"
20 "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders"
Part I: The Great Frontier
Part II: Come To Me Only With Playthings Now
21 "Riffs And Variations On A Single Note For Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, And The King Of Swing, To Name A Few"
22 "Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run"

Come On! Feel The Illinoise! he asks. After watching the videotape of me and my friend Andy reproducing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre with one guy and seven hats, you'd see I already am, Sufjan. And I will, even more so, as soon as the album drops. By the way - your xylophone player is h-o-t-t. Hot like a pretzel.