Sufjan Stevens

Is this guy nuts? Or is he simply indie rock's greatest comedian since Stephen Malkmus? How about neither? At the end of the day, Sufjan Stevens is a genuine, impossible to pin down genius. How can we tell? Try the following 15 tracks, which unfold like the flash-frozen frames of an off-Broadway play featuring Technicolor® opening numbers ("Chicago"), contemplative cutaways ("The Avalanche," "Sister"), and moments of, well, sheer madness ("Enjoy Your Rabbit").

It's no surprise that Sufjan Stevens was chosen to crack "What Goes On" like a coconut, letting the Beatles classic spill into a vat of brown acid. Michigan's pride and joy — at least in college rock circles — has plowed over singer-songwriter clichés since the four-tracked early days of A Sun Came, peppering his compositions with top-heavy beats ("Year of the Ox"), polished brass sections ("Say Yes! To M!ch!igan!"), and vocals that ripple like a pebble-stabbed pond ("Jason").

Like a hip history professor stuck in the body of a born singer-songwriter, Sufjan Stevens has stunned critics and indie rock connoisseurs since 2000 with his bruised but beautiful solo albums. And then there's his grossly ambitious 50-states project, which is exactly what it sounds like — an album for every star in the American flag, painted in brush strokes so broad they could fill an entire museum wing. On Michigan alone, Stevens plays more than 20 instruments, including a banjo, oboe, and sleigh bells, allowing his precious, little compositions to bloom like a greenhouse at the height of spring.