Just 6 days following the surprise digital release of his 60-minute EP, All Delighted People, Sufjan Stevens has announced the October 12 release of his next full-length album: The Age of Adz. According to Asthmatic Kitty, the Adz (pronounced “odds”) LP “sounds nothing like” last week’s 8-song set:

We can say it shows an extensive use of electronics (banjos and acoustic guitars give way to drum machines and analog synthesizers), and an obsession with cosmic fantasies (space, heaven, aliens, love), to create an explicit pop-song extravaganza, augmented by heavy orchestration, and maybe even a few danceable moments.

Pre-order The Age of Adz here and check out the 11-song tracklist below. **Stream and download the 4th track, “I Walked,” below as well:

Sufjan Stevens, who recorded vocal and harmonium parts on one of this week’s most beloved indie rock records, High Violet, joined the National for their live rendition of “Afraid of Everyone” tonight, providing backup vox and tambourine on the Late Show with David Letterman.

It was a stunning performance (duh), not to mention one which just might give Matt Berninger and the boys an edge in the race for the highest selling album of the week. High Violet’s lead competitor is reportedly the Dead Weather’s Sea of Cowards, so yeah, we won’t be going all Sophie’s Choice on this one. Either way, good music wins this round. Watch Sufjan, the Dessner/Devendorf brothers, and a small horn section play “Afraid of Everyone” below (via Audio Perv):

Filmmaker Kaleo La Belle and childhood friend Sufjan Stevens last collaborated in 2006 on Crooked River, a documentary about Sufjan and his brother Marzuki taking a road trip to their home state of Michigan. Now the pair have teamed up once again, though this time for an autobiographical look at an important figure from La Belle’s past.

The film, Beyond This Place, is a documentary about La Belle reconnecting with his absent father, Cloud Rock, after the pair spent roughly 30 years apart. Cloud Rock La Belle, who describes himself as “stoned for 40 years,” is not only a lifelong hippie, but an avid cyclist. After receiving a bizarre postcard from his father (see trailer), Kaleo agrees to join Cloud Rock for a bicycle tour through the Pacific Northwest (with video camera in tow, of course).

Sufjan Stevens and Castanets mastermind Raymond Byron Magic Raposa provide the soundtrack to the film, which includes a re-recorded version of Sufjan’s “In the Devil’s Territory” from Seven Swans, Raposa’s titular track, “Beyond This Place,” for the closing credits, and “perfect music to accompany the various moods of the film,” collectively.

Check out the trailer below:

Sufjan Stevens, Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, and Shara Worden joined Clogs (as well as the rest of an epic lineup) at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee last month, but the Soof wasn’t only in town to offer up his banjo and vocal skills. Stevens also debuted Destroy Those Irritating Memories, his abstract new short film, which, according to All Good Naysayers, features distorted stills from old television shows his step-father gave him as a child.

Though the below audience footage of the film doesn’t offer an ideal view of Sufjan’s directorial foray, the live score, by the National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner, is rather impressive, I’d say. (Perhaps Jonny Greenwood can get them in touch with a Hollywood agent.)

Check out the audio from said footage of Destroy Those Irritating Memories below (via AGN) for a taste of the Dessner brothers’ solid film compositional skills (starts at the 4:15 mark):

I’m really loving the way the National are rolling out these pre-release teasers for their forthcoming album, High Violet (due out on May 11). By combining a free download of “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” a late-night television live debut of “Terrible Love,” and numerous bootlegged YouTubes from concerts, Matt Berninger and the Dessner/Devendorf brothers have cooked up quite the anticipatory concoction. Now they’ve dropped a few more mouth-watering details that will keep you begging for this epic record to drop already…

“Richie Reed Parry from Arcade Fire is all over the record, I think he’s on six or seven songs,” Aaron Dessner told the Quietus in an excellent interview posted this morning, adding later:

Now that we’ve had a piece of Lil Wayne cake, grieved over his imminent prison sentence, and jammed out to the No Ceilings mixtape, I thought Weezy would perhaps take a day off from headlines, but it’s mo’ money mo’ problems for Mr. Carter this morning: BBC reports that Wayne and Birdman are being sued by Thomas Marasciullo over the alleged use of his “Italian-style spoken word recordings” without permission. Stugots! In a funny twist, Marasciullo claims he discovered the alleged copyright infringement after overhearing a ringtone of “Respect” that his daughter was trying to buy. For more details go here.

Rivers Cuomo’s blog bait machine has been running on all cylinders of late: a Lil Wayne collaboration, Rainn Wilson bromance, writing songs with Katy Perry, just to name a few. Well, here are today’s Weezer bits:

I made the mistake of listening to Sufjan Stevens’ new song “There’s Too Much Love” before John Mayer’s new single “Who Says” this morning and, though Mayer’s track isn’t as MOR as I implied on Twitter thereafter, I do suggest cleansing the palate between these two. Sufjan’s song, which was performed live at Castaways in Ithaca, NY the other night, combines the electronic elements of his Dark Was The Night contribution, “You Are The Blood,” with an acid jazz freakout and those instantly-catchy melodies we’ve come to expect from him. Check out “There’s Too Much Love” here or embedded below (via P4K):

Meanwhile, Shannon Stephens, a new member of the Asthmatic Kitty roster, chatted with Stevens on their official site and one question/comment might cause some concern among those hoping for the official follow-up to 2005’s Illinois anytime soon. Here’s the quote in full (via Stereogum):

I’m at a point where I no longer have a deep desire to share my music with anyone, having spent many years imparting my songs to the public. Although I have great respect for the social dynamic of music—that it should be shared with others, that it brings people together—I now feel something personal is irrevocably lost in this process. Now, while I refuse to act wholly on this impulse (I refuse to take my audience for granted in spite of my mood), I’m still trying to find the value of the song in private.

How dare he drop one of the best songs I’ve heard all week on the same day he suggests a possible retreat from the music business? Either way, I think Sufjan is likely just adjusting to the inevitable hype over his future output. Becoming a star in the indie music scene practically overnight can be a lot of pressure. Just ask Jeff Mangum. Okay, now that doesn’t make me feel any better.

The Asthmatic Kitty Records site announced today (via The Music Slut, HT Matt Morrell) that Sufjan Stevens is releasing his Brooklyn-Queens Expressway project as a film, comic book, soundtrack, and stereoscopic image reel (those things you put in a View-Master) this fall. Apparently, Stevens recorded the music for The BQE immediately following its debut three-night run a while back, but shelved the project until now.

“The songwriter borrows from multiple theoretical sources to evoke how the vainglorious battle between the ‘Artist’ and the ‘Object of Inspiration’ ultimately leads to self-absorption, existential exhaustion, and morbid futility in the Finding The Right Metaphor,” reads a second description (written by Stevens?) on the AK site here.

Here’s The BQE soundtrack’s tracklist:

1. Prelude on the Esplanade (2:56)
2. Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes (1:07)
3. Movement I—In the Countenance of Kings (5:19)
4. Movement II—Sleeping Invader (4:34)
5. Interlude I—Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation (3:33)
6. Movement III—Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise (4:09)
7. Movement IV—Traffic Shock (3:24)
8. Movement V—Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns (3:45)
9. Interlude II—Subi Power Waltz (0:28)
10. Interlude III—Invisible Accidents (0:54)
11. Movement VI—Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges (3:17)
12. Movement VII (Finale)—The Emperor of Centrifuge (3:51)
13. Postlude—Critical Mass (2:59)

For a trailer for The BQE click here and for the more verbose project description click here.