Someone Just Found an Unreleased Sufjan Stevens Album in a Dumpster

BY Josiah HughesPublished Jul 7, 2016

Presumably while poking around for the new Iggy Azalea album, a young man in Brooklyn just discovered a previously unreleased Sufjan Stevens album in a dumpster. Further proving that one man's trash is another's Reddit fodder, the anonymous man shared his findings online. 

The lost Sufjan album is titled Stalker: The Definitive Album by Sufjan Stevens and is printed with a 1998 release date. Further, the CD-Rom disc offers 14 tracks, including the wonderfully titled album closer "Loneliness Is a Warm Bum."

The release is credited to Sufjan's long-running imprint Asthmatic Kitty, though it obviously never saw the light of day. His debut for the label, A Sun Came, arrived in 2000.

Back on Reddit, an Asthmatic Kitty employee would neither confirm nor deny the album's veracity. Instead, he asked that the user keep the music to himself:

As someone who's been privy over the years to unreleased music from several artists, I'd say you have received a special gift. You're hearing something only a few have ever heard. It's a rare honor. Whenever an artist sends me music early I take it very seriously.

I would rather you not share someone's music without their permission; Sufjan or anyone else's. If it was in the trash, there was a reason (most likely the expectation that it'd sit in a huge landfill outside of NYC).

AKR won't send any "severe takedowns" or legal notices. We don't do that. Instead, I'm asking you, as someone who's also had the special privilege of hearing unreleased music, to politely ask that you keep it to yourself.


While we might not hear Stalker any time soon, you can read its tracklisting below.

Thanks to Consequence of Sound for the tip.

Stalker:

1. I Know Where Your Kids Go To School
2. U Kan Wrun But You Kan't Kyde
3. I Got A Good View From Where I'm Standing
4. Gonna Rock You Like A Hail Storm
5. Save Yourself Before You Die
6. Don't Tell Anyone
7. No More Mister Nice Guy
8. Baby Give Me A Feel
9. Uh Oh Yeah Huh Er Um Baby
10. I Know Everything About You
11. Kommin' Ta Getcha
12. Keep All The Mace Inside
13. Let's Fly To Another Planet
14. Loneliness Is A Warm Bum

 

Latest Coverage