AKR Gift Guide

Sufjan -Themed Holiday Playlist Contest - Winners

We asked for you to submit your 10 favorite Sufjan holiday tracks - including 5 original Sufjan holiday songs and 5 classic/traditional Sufjan holiday songs, including songs from Songs for Christmas and Silver and Gold , and you delivered! Thank you for your submissions - we received numerous entries and no two were quite the same.

The submissions have wrapped, but we’ll be sharing weekly winners for the next several weeks. In the interim, here are our first few winning playlists:

Week One - Levi Schmidt - “Hey Guys! It’s Sufmas Time!”

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Week Two - Rachel Bettencourt - “Get Beside Me, Santa!”

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Week Three - Ingrid Clark - “Justice Delivers Its Playlist”

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SUFMAS SING-ALONGS

Ready or not, Sufmas season is upon us. The tradition continues with several upcoming Sing-Along events confirmed this month.

Whether you're attending locally or looking for an excuse to travel and celebrate the season with fellow Sufjan fans, here's where you can find them:

more details - sufmas sing-alongs

Songs for Christmas: Vols. 1-5

Back in 2001, Sufjan Stevens set out to create a Christmas gift for friends and family. What resulted was a 7-song recording he dubbed Noel Vol. 1. Every few Christmases Sufjan would create a new volume to add to the collection. After years had passed Sufjan became determined to release the first five EP’s in their raw, blemished form, presented, as he describes it, with a "lavish display of ornamentation" to coincide with the spirit of excess and overindulgence that has in some ways become synonymous with the season.

Included in the 5 LP/CD Box Set package (designed by Sufjan and Stephen Halker) are lyrics, chord charts, and full recording credits for all the songs. Includes favorites like "Sister Winter," "That Was The Worst Christmas Ever," "Only At Christmas Time," and "Put The Lights on the Tree."

Buy THE LP BOX SET

BUY THE CD BOX SET

STREAM 'SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS'

Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas Vols. 6-10

Originally released in 2012 as a follow-up to 2006's Songs For Christmas: Vols 1-5, this pressing of Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10 features nearly 60 tracks spanning traditional hymns and holiday pop songs, as well as numerous original songs from Sufjan Stevens and a long list of collaborators. The album includes collaborations with artists such as Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), among others.

Box set includes:

5 EPs on 6 vinyl records
Christmas sticker sheet
Temporary tattoo sheet
Three paper ornaments (self-assembly with directions)
An apocalyptic pull-out poster
A 44-page songbook with lyrics and chord charts (sing along with your friends and enemies)
A 20-page Christmas coloring book by Stephen Halker
Hallucinogenic photographs and psychedelic graphic design
Extensive liner notes (introductory salutations and an essay on the Christmas tree by Sufjan Stevens, and a few theological words on the End Times by Pastor Vito Aiuto)

Also available to purchase without the bonus holiday merchandise in a slim slipcase.

STREAM 'SILVER & GOLD'

BUY THE 'SILVER & GOLD' SLIPCASE LP SET

BUY THE 'SILVER & GOLD' LP BOX SET

BUY THE 'SILVER & GOLD' CD BOX SET