Thank you Devendra and Lauren Dukoff!

[Janet Jackon Rolling Stone cover by Patrick Demarchelier]

Kinda random, I know - but still fun. I just came across this beautiful clip from the Chicago-based Hubbard Street Dance. It’s an interpretive dance set to some Devendra tunes - in this case, Sight to Behold and Tit Smoking…, both from Rejoicing in the Hands. The Devendra bits are pretty short, but the dancers are amazing and definitely do the songs justice.

“…Choreographed by Alejandro Cerrudo, a company dancer who hails from Madrid, Spain. Three couples explored relationships in sensuous joint-less sequences and somersaults that continually layered five in spot-on unison with one in a solo up front. The rotating spatial designs were pleasing, such as the group assembling on the stage edge and bathed in a spotlight from above. A masterful lighting design by Cerrudo and O’ Gara illuminated smooth skin and long limbs, but in the end, all six bodies mysteriously disappeared into inky blackness, a dramatic trick that sent spines into a tingle.”

Oh, Monday. Why dost thou curse me with your doleful portent of five work-days!? Well, at least Devendra Banhart was kind enough to stoke the coals of procrastination by adding a page on his website devoted to the raiment that dwells in his closet. Weeee!

[click here to dress Devendra]

Q: Do you feel a connection to new folk artists like Devendra Banhart?

Donovan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went to see him when he came to Ireland. And it was very cool. There’s very much a lot of gypsy stuff in Devendra, just like me. I walk out there, the light comes up, and then I play guitar (makes guitar noise), and then when I sing, I’m actually looking at the audience going, “I’m in town. I’ve just arrived.” Devendra does it, too.

The most powerful moment in music is when one voice walks to the microphone and picks up one instrument and the whole audience centers in. It’s in our blood, to want to listen to this one voice and one instrument because we know it’s going to be personal.

[link to interview]

=tyler=

This February, Devendra Banhart and Chloe Sevigny will be appearing in a series of vid-nettes from up-and-coming independent filmmaker Alia Raza at New York’s Greene Naftali Gallery. Raza describes the pieces as “one-take, real-time based diptychs dealing with grooming rituals, luxury consumerism, and decay.”

| The Greene Naftali Gallery | 508 W 26th St. | NY, NY | 212.463.7770 |

[photo © Lauren Dukoff]

=tyler=

The San Francisco MoMA has announced a new exhibition showcasing the artwork of Devendra Banhart alongside the master painter Paul Klee. The exhibition, Abstract Rhythms: Paul Klee and Devendra Banhart, runs from now through February 24th. Thirteen new works by Banhart will be on display in Abstract Rhythms, along with fourteen from Klee. In conjunction with the exhibition Devendra Banhart will be preforming live at the SF MoMA on January 17th!

More information here.

(Devendra seen wearing bow tie, of which he goes into lengths about his collection in the new issue of Fader)*

Sorry for the lack of updates around Naturalismo this past week, I’ve been extremely busy. Naturalismo has a little over a week to find a place to live in San Francisco and get a job, which is difficult but exciting. So if you’re working somewhere fun that’s hiring let me know, I’m looking for a job in music PR or advertising, but would be open to other areas. Regular and more frequent updates should start again in a little over a week when I am in SF, but I will try my hardest to update as often as possible until then. In the meantime, Devendra Banhart has released a new video titled ‘Devendra gets superstitious‘ showcasing his process of writing a new song. Also, here’s a roundup of links allowing you to download tracks from the upcoming Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon… perfect for those end of summer mix-tapes.

Devendra Banhart - Seahorse

Devendra Banhart - Tonada Yanomaninista

Devendra Banhart- So long old bean

Devendra Banhart- Carmencita

Devendra Banhart- Bad Girl

*Photo (c) Lauren Dukoff

Head over to DevendraBanhart.com right now to hear two new streaming songs, “Bad Girl” and “Carmensita.” “Bad Girl” features some of the most passionate singing I think I’ve ever heard from him. “Carmensita” has a great end of summer bossa nova/tropicalia groove feeling to it. Also added to the website today are 2 new videos. The first video shows Devendra practicing a duet he sings with Gael Garcia on the new album. The second video shows him rehearsing a new song with a very attentive Noah Georgeson at the controls.

Devendra Banhart has wisely chosen the prodigious song ‘Seahorse’ to be the first single from his upcoming album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. Seahorse was first released as a stream last week to coincide with the launch of his website DevendraBanhart.com. Also announced is a deluxe edition of Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, “Devendra created a 60 page perfect bound book. Each page contains original artwork in mixed media, watercolor and ink along with exclusive new photos of devendra and his extended family, friends and band mates. Intended as a special piece of art for his dearest fans, the book will only be available as a limited edition.”

[download]

Devendra Banhart - Seahorse

And of course don’t forget 2 more new streams from Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon tomorrow.

Devendra Banhart has launched his personal website (DevendraBanhart.com) today and with it comes a plethora of new material from him. Two new songs “Seahorse” and “So long old bean” are streaming over there now; both of which have their lyrics handwritten on a separate page. Seahorse seems to bounce around in the beginning between both the Van and Jim Morrison realm before breaking out in the end to a full blown Devendra jam. Me gusta mucho. I can only assume that this is one of the songs Devendra penned while he was out on a boat traveling to Catalina. The songs maritime chorus, “I want to be a little seahorse,” evokes the feeling of a contemplative and lost fisherman out at sea, with the vocals welling up in all directions before eventually crashing inwards towards his boat in a sea of electric waves. The second song, “So long old bean” sees Devendra tapping into Roy Orbisons alien vocal stylings and the Who’s “We’ll soon be home” bridge of A Quick One/While he’s away where the percussion is turned into the clip-clop of a horse against the backdrop of the desert. While Devendra can sometimes wear his influences on his sleeve, he always makes the songs his own. Never merely drawing from a single era for inspiration and always adding his own unique flourishes, his final compositions never sound pastiche or god forbid retro. I think this comes out of his being influenced by the artists that influenced the artists of the 60’s, rather than just the first step so many artists fall into. When Devendra said he never listened to early Marc Bolan before he started playing, he very well may have been speaking the truth… there’s plenty of vibrato heavy blues singers who predate and (gasp) influenced Bolan himself. Know your history and it will show, Devendra certainly exemplifies this and I think it’s what gives his music that original and timeless sound. All I know is that there’s very few if any other artists out there right now who could sing “I want to be a little seahorse” and so thoroughly convince me that I would like to be one as well. The entire website features new artwork by Devendra Banhart throughout and also now includes an unofficial video for the new song “Seahorse,” which is more of a “behind-the-scenes peek into the recording of “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon,” Devendra, his band, and Topanga where the album was made” than a final video. Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon September 25th on XL.

Seahorse video on youtube(Keep an eye out for an appearance by a one Gael García, whom Devendra sings a duet with on the album):

Full line up of the Family appearing on Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon:

Devendra: vocals, guitars, piano, cuatro, ukelele, percussion, shruti box, psaltery,

noah: guitars, vocals, bass, organ, piano, wurlitzer, percussion, charango, bandoura, shruti box.

Rodrigo Amarante: guitars, vocals, percussion, shruti box, melodica, bass.

Luckey Remington: bass, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals.

Pete Newsom: Piano, Wurlitzer, percussion, drum kit, vocals.

Greg Rogove: Drum kit, percussion, duck call, vocals.

Andy Cabic: Vocals, acoustic guitar.

Vashti Bunyan: Vocals on ‘Seahorse’, and ‘Loneliness’.

Linda Perhacs: Vocals on ‘Freely’

Matteah Baim: vocals on ‘Loneliness’

Maxine Waters, Julie Waters, Monalisa: Backing Vocals on Saved:

Horns: you got dis already

Nathan Pelkey: Kalimba, insect vocals.

Benjamin Goodman: Drum kit, percussion

Boat provided by: Beau Raymond

AND special guests

Strings performed by The Section Quartet:
Eric Gorfain, violin
Daphne Chen, violin
Leah Katz, viola
Richard Dodd, cello

Well we knew it wouldn’t be long before we could hear some of the recently finished tracks from Devendra Banhart’s upcoming album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. Now here you go! The full tracklist has been posted online and you can listen to two new songs streaming on his myspace page. I literally just finished listening to them and both brought a huge smile to my face. The earlier post today has officially been shattered, this is just what I needed. The first track ‘Tonada Yanomaminista’ keeps true to his earlier description of it being equatorial pop and the second track ‘Rosa’ sounds like it could have been penned by Gilberto Gil in the late 60’s (artists can still write like this?). Thanks Devendra for restoring my faith in music this week…

Click here to stream the two new Devendra Banhart songs ‘Rosa’ and ‘Tonada Yanomaminista’

Alternately you can download the new tracks over at Subway Songs. I’m waiting for a better quality mp3 single before I post any download links. (these are just myspace rips)

(now all we need is some high quality mp3’s of these tracks to listen to in their full splendor, myspace compresses the sound a lot)

Official tracklist for Devendra Banhart’s Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon:

01 Cristobal
02 So Long Old Bean
03 Samba Vexillographica
04 Seahorse
05 Bad Girl
06 Seaside
07 Shabop Shalom
08 Tonada Yanomaminista
09 Rosa
10 Saved
11 Lover
12 Carmencita
13 The Other Woman
14 Freely
15 Remember
16 My Dearest Friend

*Photo by Lauren Dukoff

Devendra Banhart has announced that the title for his upcoming fifth studio album will be Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. Produced by Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson, Smokey features a rotating assembly of Devendra’s friends and neighbors including:

Andy Cabic on vocals and guitar.

Pete Newsom (Yes, that’s Joanna Newsom’s brother) on piano , Keyboard and singing.

Luckey Remmington on Bass, guitar, singing, water drum, and freedom chime.

Greg Rogove on drums, Tablas, singing, geese and duck calls, pots and Pans, mop stomp.

Noah Georgeson on Zither, Guitar, singing, Organ, bass, and some other thangs.

Rodrigo Amarante “from the amazing Brasilian band Los Hermanos on guitar, singing, and the best vibes this side of the Orinoco!”

Even Devendra Banhart makes an appearance on it; where you’ll find him singing, playing guitar, piano, Cuatro and psaltery.

and many more!

Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon on September 25th and put out by XL records. The album will feature 16 songs in all. Some of the track names include: “Cristobal, “So Long Old Bean”, “Samba Vexillographica” and “Seahorse.” As for what to expect on the album, Devendra had the following to say in a correspondence I had with him last month:

“As for the new songs, he said to expect lots of surprises and that being where they are recording has allowed for some interesting friends to come in and add to it all. While saying that many of the songs are very direct lyrically, he also mentioned that his Spanish songs in particular were, from what I gathered, increasingly expanding the ideas of a universal spirituality beyond what he ever had written before in the language. I think what he was getting at was the interconnectedness of man, animal and his surroundings. There’s also a song that is sung in Portuguese. Keeping true to his mentioning last year of recording parts of the album on a boat, several of the songs were recorded on a sailboat on the way to Catalina. Finally, he told me one thing he’s certain of, “i will say , its more……. musical!””

Well there you go! Not sure sure what the first single will be yet, but in the meantime you can buy tickets for what is likely to be a sellout tour here.

*Sorry for any confusion, I sent Laura what happened. I got sent some photos on myspace, didn’t know I couldn’t use them.

Photo by Lauren Dukoff

Rejoice! Devendra Banhart’s sixth studio album has been completed, according to a statement posted last night on his myspace page which read,“THE RECORD IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” UPDATE (1:45pm): Naturalismo just received the following announcement of Devendra’s supporting opening acts for his upcoming tour dates:

“Devendra Banhart has just finished mixing and mastering his next album, due out on XL Recordings September 25. He’ll be touring North America with his regular touring band (Noah Georgeson, Andy Cabic et al) as of September 1. Devendra’s known for his love of community, taking every opportunity to pro-actively to knit a network of mutually supportive artists and this tour will be no exception with the opening acts on various legs of the tour being members of his extended musical family:

With Noah Georgeson opening
Sat Sept 1 Vancouver, BC at Commodore Ballroom
Sun Sept 2 Seattle, WA at KEXP Stage- Bumbershoot Festival
Tue Sept 4 Portland, OR at Crystal Ballroom
Thu Sept 6 Santa Cruz at Rio Theater
Fri Sept 7 Berkeley Campus at Zellerbach Hall

With Rio En Medio opening
Mon Sept 10 Denver at Ogden Theater (Native American benefit)
Wed Sept 12 Omaha at Sokol Auditorium
Thu Sept 13 Lawrence at Liberty Hall Theater
Sat Sept 15 Minneapolis at first Avenue
Sun Sept 16 Milwaukee at Pabst Theater

With Matteah Baim opening
Tue Sept 18 Chicago at Portage Theater
Wed Sept 19 Detroit at Majestic Theater
Fri Sept 21 Toronto at Danforth Music Hall
Sat Sept 22 Montreal Theatre National
Sun Sept 23 Burlington, VT at U of VT Davis Center Grand Ballroom
Tue Sept 25 Boston at Roxy Ballroom
Thu Sept 27 New York City at Grand Ballroom
Sat Sept 29 Philadelphia at Theater of living arts
Mon Oct 1 Washington DC at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue

With Jana Hunter opening
Thu Oct 4 Nashville TN at City Hall
Sat Oct 6 Dallas at Granada Theater
Sun Oct 7 Austin at La Zona Rosa

With Hecuba opening
Tue Oct 9 Albuquerque at Sunshine Theater (Native American benefit)
Wed Oct 10 Tucson at Rialto Theater
Fri Oct 12 Phoenix at Marquee Theater
Sat Oct 13 Los Angeles at Orpheum

I’m sure it won’t be long now before we hear that first single. My fingers are crossed that it will be either “Foreskin Sword (what it is & how to use it)” or “Mama, mujhe mall se jeans lenee hai,” which translates from Hindi to mean “mom i want to get jeans from the mall.” Until then…

(thanks to Dr. Monsoon for the picture)

Woke up today feeling terribly ill thinking I could never muster the strength to go see Jana Hunter and Castanets play tonight; whom I’ve been waiting months to see. Well wouldn’t you know it, the elixir I needed arrived just in time for tonight in the sound of Nathan Pelkey’s new ragtime tinged folk songs. Recently recorded in a canyon in California “by Beau Fletcher, Luckey Remington and Devendra Banhart”, Pelkey has just put up the first song “Forevable time” from the session and is available for download below. I wish I could share the tale that goes along with these recordings, but for now you’ll have to hear it in the recording. Nathan Pelkey is definitely an artist who deserves to be heard and to keep an eye out for. When more details are made available I will be sure to let you know. I can’t wait to hear the other songs that came from this spontaneous session.

Nathan Pelkey - Forevable Time

Visit his myspace here

Haha, sorry for the inundation of Devendra posts around here on Naturalismo lately. If you weren’t aware of it, I’m a fairly large fan and with a new album in the midst it is a bit inevitable updates will be coming in droves. Anywho, todays smokey vasu deva kutumbam [as yet untitled album] update comes from his myspace page and I think is a bit tongue in cheek. In case you missed the other update where I got a response and update from Devendra concerning his new album you can read it here; I got the feeling that he wanted to keep some of the details under wraps for a bit until he has them all completely worked out. Makes sense to me, anyways here’s the new scoop:

Dear Freinds! its a beautiful day in California , we began Mixing the record today, lets see……. its about 16 songs, some very unexpected guests , the main band is Me, Noah, Luckey, Pete, Greg, and Andy, Rodrigo will be playin some shows here and there with us until duty with Los Hermanos beckons and/or the Saudade kicks in.

no titles yet , but tentative who knows Maybes are:
Milk the wind
Shes a hot dog
Mountaneous Confunktion
Greatest Hits
Hubba Hubba Planet
Electric Pizza Cops
Foreskin Sword (what it is & how to use it)
Mama, mujhe mall se jeans lenee hai
Porkin’ the broken Knee (Electroxtensial chop!)
Who is Kadamon?
The Burnt Frizbee
Abhor the coagulator (1964 version)
Koala Mans Return to Pineapple temple
ihop ihop
Bacchanalian Beat Box
Thrice the phat Magus
Gaga blood & the balls of …….
Rich Gals Shampoo n’ Conditioner Blues
Talkin Weleda Haushka Bronners Blues
Military Massengill
Cyber Christ and the Gnostic Titi-Slap part deux
you who are familiar with grandmas Hyacinth
……… ……………. …………. ……… ………… …….. ……….
thats about it right now ! we are just starting to mix today , we will keep ya posted as new ones arise!
on and Onward and Love Above All!
oh , i almost forgot, we still dont have a band name, at least not one thats made it past a couple shows, if anyone has a suggestion , we would LOVE to try it out!

From the sounds of that tracklist, I assume half of it will see Devendra revisiting his early funk roots.

Since there’s no new songs to preview off the upcoming album yet, take a look at this lesser seen cover of Devendra playing “Colarado Girl” by Townes Van Zandt.

Yesterday we reported that Devendra Banhart’s new album was titled Vasu deva kutumbam (after reading it here, here and here) and thinking that a management run myspace page was credible enough. It now looks like those sources read too much into the original, somewhat vague myspace page, as I have the word straight from Devendra about the title of the new album and how the recording process is finishing up. In a brief correspondence with Devendra, who I believe was writing from within the studio, he mentioned that he was tracking the record and that it was difficult for him to outwardly comment on it all since he was still so in the album. In regards to the albums title, Devendra says that at the moment there’s no official name for the album yet. As for the new songs, he said to expect lots of surprises and that being where they are recording has allowed for some interesting friends to come in and add to it all. While saying that many of the songs are very direct lyrically, he also mentioned that his Spanish songs in particular were, from what I gathered, increasingly expanding the ideas of a universal spirituality beyond what he ever had written before in the language. I think what he was getting at was the interconnectedness of man, animal and his surroundings. There’s also a song that is sung in Portuguese. Keeping true to his mentioning last year of recording parts of the album on a boat, several of the songs were recorded on a sailboat on the way to Catalina. Finally, he told me one thing he’s certain of, “i will say , its more……. musical!”

Naturalismo

photo (c) Lauren Dukoff

UPDATE(5-24-2007): See ‘Smokey’ becomes Vasu deva kutumbam (click here)

“recordin’ by Bean Raymon”

While there’s no aural or written updates about Devendra Banhart’s new ‘Smokey’ album, due for release in the third week of August, there is a new visual update from the recording of the album. I found these new photos on Devendra’s website this morning and I’ll leave the sounds that come to mind from viewing these photos up to you. One thing to note is that they have added a new member to the band ‘Pete Newsom.’ Pete is Joanna Newsom’s brother. I was also sent the tentative tour dates for the new album, with the explicit condition that I not post the actual dates. This makes things difficult. So for now I will give a clue as to the first months dates: Port-de-Paix over to Onundagaono.

More photos from the recording of Devendra Banhart’s new album Smokey

Devendra recording Smokey

Greg At Studio by Bean Raymond

“Our Brasilian Brother Rodrigo Amarante (check out Los Hermanos!)”

“our new member Pete Newsom by Bean Raymond.”

This weeks feature is an interview with Naturalismo music photographer Lauren Dukoff. I first discovered her photography when it was featured in an interview with Noah Georgeson, ever since then I have been following her work and immensely enjoying it. Lauren Dukoff’s close relationship with the Naturalismo artists enable her to provide a glimpse into their private lives. The visual counterpart to the artists she photographs, Lauren Dukoff manages to capture the true essence of artists. Through her photography one is given the rare opportunity to visually see the artists in their natural environment. Lauren Dukoff is a breath of fresh air in this flat post-modern cellphone and digital SLR - era of visually capturing music. I was terrified that the best music movement in years was going to go by documented by a set of grainy sub par digital photographs. All that one needs to be convinced of the importance of the gasping breaths of life from film is to see a single photo from Dukoff. I’m fortunate to bring to you today an interview with Lauren Dukoff.

Could you please tell us about yourself? Your background and how you came into shooting music photography.

I grew up in California in a creative household. My father, a director and photographer always encouraged me to be involved in the arts. There was always a camera available to me. Taking pictures was just something that I did as a kid. I began constantly photographing my friends and some of those friends grew up to be professional musicians. I have portraits of Devendra that I took when I was 14 practicing guitar and piano in our high schools music room. As Devendra’s musical career grew I just kept on taking photos the way I always had been. Not much had changed except that suddenly other people were interested in seeing the photos other than myself. Once I saw that there was a value to these photos, and I don’t mean monetarily, just that they were appealing to his fans I really pursued truly documenting him. Whether I was joining him on tour or catching a moment in his living room of him writing a new song, I was there with my camera. I soon became friends with the family of musicians around him and began taking their photographs too. It was a great feeling to have Devendra share my photos with such great musicians as Noah Georgeson and Matteah Baim and then have them approach me to also take there photos. It’s a wonderful environment of friendship, art and music. I feel honored to be a part of it even if in a small way.

One thing I especially enjoy about your photography is your ability to capture the essence of the musician in a more natural setting that fans normally wouldn’t get to see. Do you think that photographing artists in their natural environment is as or possibly more important than in a live setting?

I just think documentary photography in general is appealing in a way to everyone. I think it is just human nature to be curious what happens behind closed doors. As an artist’s popularity grows so does the feeling that they are untouchable. I think in a way some of the photos I’ve taken just give the fans a little respectful peak into their private lives.

I only ask because I often feel that we only have an artists songs to hear and are left wondering where their sources of inspiration come from. Do you feel that being able to visually see these photographs of the musicians lives add another element to their music?

I think it would be way to bold to say that in any way I add another element to their music.

When a shoot is arranged do you first discuss with the artist what type of setting and mood they are interested in for it or is it more you having an idea and approaching them with it?

I wish I had all the great ideas! No, really so far everything I have done is a true collaborative effort. I definitely come to the shoot with a vision in mind but always run things past the artists I am shooting. From there the concepts always seems to grow and evolve into something even better then what I imagined.

Your black and white live music photos first struck me as being something to the effect of Mick Rock coaching David Bailey on how to shoot live. Who would you consider are your influences and do you shoot primarily with film, digital or both?

I have been really inspired and influenced by my mentor Autumn de Wilde. She is an amazing photographer. Sometimes I look at her work and say to myself why do I bother. Everything about her is admirable. I only shoot with film. There is something about film that digital could just never capture. Shooting film is a blessing and a curse. When I was photographing Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit all the other digital photographers were practically laughing at me in the photo pit because I had to reload my camera with film and would then miss shots. But in the end I feel I have one great shot of Neil during the finale that just wouldn’t have been the same if it were digital. There is such character and depth to film its hard for me to see myself converting to digital photography.

Much of your photography has gravitated towards new-folk artists such as Devendra Banhart, Noah Georgeson, Matteah Baim, Hecuba, etc. What has the experience been like working with them?

Simply amazing. They are all wonderful and beautiful people. We are all friends and I feel honored to be included in this family of musicians in such an intimate way.

What are you currently working on?

I am continually building my body of work, just shooting as much as I can. I enjoy photographing musicans of all genres its such a treat to be invited into a musician’s world even if just for a moment. Devendra is working on his new record right now and if he chooses to use a photograph for the cover we are going to have to come up with a great concept. Really looking forward to that.

Lastly, are there any exhibition plans for your photography at the moment? Where can we see more of your photography and what can we expect in the future?

I do not have any exhibitions planned at the moment, but it something I have always wanted to do. You can see more of my work at www.laurendukoff.com. I wish I knew what to expect for myself in the future.

Thank you for your time.

All Photographs Copyright Lauren Dukoff

——-

-Devin Edvard Woolf

To see more of Lauren Dukoff’s photography and order prints visit: www.laurendukoff.com

(Tracklist below)

This compilation has been culminating for quite some time. In fact, long before I had ever even heard of Devendra Banhart. It wasn’t until after I heard Oh me Oh my… for the first time and realized that it was still possible for an artist to tap into what I thought had been lost long ago. I heard the ghosts of my favorite artists echoing through Devendra’s lips and creaky wooden bellows. He took me by surprise and has yet to let go. I was enveloped and lost in a nostalgic cave of the music past until I ran into Devendra, whose voice came over me like uncovering an alcove of bats. Disturbing one by accident and having the rest wake and scream past you with blood curdling screeches. I was awake. My first thought, I have an artist to be proud of from my generation. My second, I said aloud to Devendra when I first met him, “Thank you for singlehandedly restoring my faith in music.” I meant to say modern music, but on reflection I think I meant what I said. So without further ado, I bring to you the musicians who helped bring Devendra to light.

Click to download:

Yo sí oigo | Devendra Banhart’s Influences

Download mirror 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V721CIH1

*A brief little update/response to this after I received an e-mail which said the following:

E-mail:

I enjoyed the c.d but was wondering whether it is strictly a cd of influences and more a collection of interesting historical parallels to Devendra’s music. Whilst I know Devendra raves about Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes music, I remember reading an interview a while back where he said that he’d not heard the early Tryannoasurus Rex music when he started making music the way that he became famous for. Probably not that important either way but I thought I might bring up the point…On another note, often times what actually shapes people is a little embarassing to admit in public..

My reply:
Haha, no no.. it’s fine, that’s what I was going for. I didn’t merely want to make a collection of artists songs that he explicitly stated influenced him (A difficult task in itself as he often only cites nature). I wanted to include artists of whom he shared sonic similarities with. I thought it would make for a more interesting listen if I paralleled his sound with artists from nearly every decade since the 20’s because that’s what I heard in his music (whether or not he had actually heard the artists or not). As Devendra sings on Cripple Crow… Yo si oigo marc bolan… he may not have heard his music before but realized that he is definitely tapping into something similar.

*Note: other links on this blog will soon be downloadable, I didn’t realize that my host switched off the ability to download them! Sorry for the confusion.

I have a real affinity for fractured piano songs and ballads. The type of spontaneous and short songs that never last quite long enough to form a complete picture, yet serve only to provide a mysterious and small glimpse into the artists mind, leaving the listener only a small clue to speculate about what it all meant. I’ve come across several of these songs recently and would like to share them with you.

The first is from Ginger Lee, whose album “Songs fired in the forge drift” is out in March on Drift records,

Ginger Lee - Hold me close

The second one unexpectedly comes from Priestbird, formerly known as Tarantula AD and more known for their loud psychedelic rock than soft piano songs. This track comes from their upcoming album “In your time.”

Priestbird - Guest Room

The third and (by far) best is an older song from Devendra and Andy Cabic that you may or may not have heard. I remember giddily trying to explain to Andy when I first met him that it was possibly the happiest song ever written and then him shyly attempting to suggest he had forgotten it. It took several years before they got around to recording a full version of it for Vetiver’s recent “To Find Me Gone.” However, I still think that the short original captured the feeling of the song best.

Devendra Banhart (w/Andy) - Me and Andy sing El Rio

If anyone else has some suggestions for more snippets of songs like these…let me know and I will post them up!