Carry Me, Ohio

Nice little bit on a Sufjan Stevens, and music in the Midwest on SpaceTropic today. To quote part of it:

And I guess I'm interested, these days, in any art that brings us back to the old, weird America - the people and states and municipalities along train routes and highways. To take on such subjects seems like defiant innovation in the face of so much self-centered, self-referential media (Studio 60 anyone?) which endlessly churns forth from the East and West coast.

I think this topic resonates with all of us here in Chicagoland. Indeed, many of the great independent pop bands coming out of the Midwest right now propagate a similar mentality. A personal favorite of mine, Mark Kozelek, of the Red House Painters, and now Sun Kil Moon, comes to mind especially. He is an Ohioan, and many of his lyrics paint nostalgic pictures of the Midwest, which stir feelings of desolation, beauty and longing. In fact, most of his recent tours have included dates almost entirely in the Midwest.

If you’ve never heard Mark Kozelek, I’d highly recommend the Sun Kil Moon album Ghosts of the Great Highway, especially the song “Carry Me Ohio.”