PRESS
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2004's Artist of the Year
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Beta MusicDEVENDRA BANHART SPINS A SPELLAt 23, new folksinger Devendra Banhart has the whole world in front of him. His 2002 debut album, the one with the preposterously long title Oh Me Oh My ...The Way The Day Goes By The Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit rocked the critics with its ditzy, open-hearted warblings, and made him a name to watch. And watch we all did, only to be treated with two of 2004's most pristine records. April saw the release of Rejoicing In The Hands, and Nino Rojo emerged in September. On the two albums, Banhart's ties to traditional American folk and blues are even more evident, as are intimations of previously undeclared affinities to Fairport Convention and Bert Jansch. The spiritual purity of his songs is startlingly striking because the studio environment of their birth has removed a big part of the cloying witchiness of the debut, leaving you with old-fashioned songs that concern themselves with the important, small things in life. On Rejoicing In The Hands 's closer "Autumn's Child", Banhart's high voice quivers like a feather above a soft, piano line. Nino Rojo takes Banhart even further from the early......
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The 50 Best Albums of 2004
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Pitchforkmedia | by Mark Richardson07: Devendra Banhart | Rejoicing in the Hands Remember when the word "folk" triggered a little spasm of nausea? It's open mic night and a scruffy dude drags a guitar on stage. What's his music like? Oh, you know, acoustic stuff, kind of "folky". God, no, please. As it was with blues, the boomer appropriation of the word "folk" excised idiosyncrasies in favor of standardization. Devendra Banhart brings back to folk the creepy, the playful, and the surreal, and jettisons completely the topical. Miles better than his lo-fi first record (somebody put his warbly 4-track out of its misery, please), Rejoicing in the Hands has Banhart fully internalizing his influences and finding a unique voice. It's an album of brand new songs you've known all your life-- instantly catchy but strange, with an agelessness that suggests Banhart found his tunes in an old steamer trunk. A glorious reminder of what we were missing....
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Checking it Twice - Favorite Records of the Year
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Salon.com | by Thomas BartlettDevendra in Top Ten Records and Top 25 Free DownloadsIt’s listmaking time, and I’ve got three of them for you. The list of my favorite records of the year ranges from the nearly universally praised (Arcade Fire, Madvillain), to the underrated (Cee-lo), to the unknown (Flashpapr). As for pop and hip-hop, I’m focusing on what it continues to do best, which is singles, not records. If you read my article yesterday, you know that I don’t think it was a particularly exciting or adventurous year for popular music. But even if it wasn’t a great year as a whole, there were plenty of spectacular songs. My ten favorite are below, and some of you may be scandalized to see that Britney, Maroon 5, and (gasp!) even Ashlee made the list. But these are great songs, not guilty or ironic pleasures, so even if you’re allergic to commercial radio, listen exclusively to NPR, do your best to shield yourself from the corrupting influence and soullessness of mass culture—even if all those things are true, give them a listen, because they’re brilliant. Lastly, since this column is all about downloads, I’ve included a list of my 25 favorite......
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The 50 Best Albums of 2004
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Pitchforkmedia | by Mark Richardson07: Devendra Banhart | Rejoicing in the Hands Remember when the word "folk" triggered a little spasm of nausea? It's open mic night and a scruffy dude drags a guitar on stage. What's his music like? Oh, you know, acoustic stuff, kind of "folky". God, no, please. As it was with blues, the boomer appropriation of the word "folk" excised idiosyncrasies in favor of standardization. Devendra Banhart brings back to folk the creepy, the playful, and the surreal, and jettisons completely the topical. Miles better than his lo-fi first record (somebody put his warbly 4-track out of its misery, please), Rejoicing in the Hands has Banhart fully internalizing his influences and finding a unique voice. It's an album of brand new songs you've known all your life-- instantly catchy but strange, with an agelessness that suggests Banhart found his tunes in an old steamer trunk. A glorious reminder of what we were missing....
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Checking it Twice - Favorite Records of the Year
()
Salon.com | by Thomas BartlettDevendra in Top Ten Records and Top 25 Free DownloadsIt’s listmaking time, and I’ve got three of them for you. The list of my favorite records of the year ranges from the nearly universally praised (Arcade Fire, Madvillain), to the underrated (Cee-lo), to the unknown (Flashpapr). As for pop and hip-hop, I’m focusing on what it continues to do best, which is singles, not records. If you read my article yesterday, you know that I don’t think it was a particularly exciting or adventurous year for popular music. But even if it wasn’t a great year as a whole, there were plenty of spectacular songs. My ten favorite are below, and some of you may be scandalized to see that Britney, Maroon 5, and (gasp!) even Ashlee made the list. But these are great songs, not guilty or ironic pleasures, so even if you’re allergic to commercial radio, listen exclusively to NPR, do your best to shield yourself from the corrupting influence and soullessness of mass culture—even if all those things are true, give them a listen, because they’re brilliant. Lastly, since this column is all about downloads, I’ve included a list of my 25 favorite......