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Devendra Banhart To Release Two New Albums In 2004, Tour
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pitchforkmedia.com | Rob MackeyAll music guaranteed to have been recorded in his underwearOccasionally, the trademark tangential tangle of a Pitchfork intro sentence can get in the way of the actual story. Sure, Ashford Tucker may know how to whip up a mean Manhattan cheesecake, but finding the correlation between his culinary confections and the latest M83 single tends to prove rather difficult (by the way, Tucker, the fondue you brought to last year's Christmas party was pretty damn slammin'). Keeping that in mind, I'll do all you faithful readers, and our old friend Devendra Banhart, the favor of forgoing a longwinded spiel about how his music simultaneously calls to mind the yellowed blues-stomp of Mississippi Fred McDowell and the psych-folk arrhythmia of Marc Bolan's early work. I won't make mention of how it elicits the same confused secrecy of Jandek's catalog and the mythical wonder of Comus' First Utterance. I'll skip over the part where I dotingly recount the scene of my first hearing Oh Me Oh My... , Banhart's 2002 Young God debut, and I'll even cut right to the chase: Brooklyn, NY's Devendra Banhart is releasing a new album on April 26th. Recorded in the thick Georgian woods......
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Noise Pop Piece
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San Francisco Bay Guardian | Ken Taylorhasn't forgone his knack for allowing the unexpected to seep in and take overLike Anticon and Jandek, the once San Francisco-based Devendra Banhart (Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m., Swedish American Hall) also lets listeners into his ultrapersonal world through a sprawling collection of shoestring recordings. His debut a couple of years back was so clumsily beautiful that the first thing you actually heard was the recorder's dense tape hiss. From there, Banhart – a protégé of Swan's Michael Gira – doubled up his vocals so that they were at times mismatched, shifting and locking and fucking with your brain till the two phases hit that sweet, sweet spot of convergence. For his latest record, the eerily indulgent Rejoicing in the Hands, Banhart has slightly upgraded his equipment but hasn't forgone his knack for allowing the unexpected to seep in and take over. And he doesn't change his approach so much as he opens the door for new curiosity seekers to timidly peek in....
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Rejoicing in the Hands
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jadedtimes.com | Todd BerryA beautiful, raw, and emotive releaseDevandra Banhart is an odd singer songwriter. In a time when more and more folk artists move into the electronic era, Banhart takes a purer approach to recording, adding few additional instruments and running with the strength of his songwriting and playing, and creating a strong, if minimalist, album.On the first track, you are immediately struck by just how bare this album is. Not barren, just bare; his vocals stand stark and naked, approachable and familiar, as if being played through a tube wireless radio from the forties, with a vocal warble reminiscent of singers of the time. Not to be confused with annoying crooning, his vocals are both distinct and friendly; even at his darkest moments you get the impression he is smiling through it, and the album provides a similar inspiration in the listener.Not to be outdone by his vocals, his guitar work rivals it in character and timelessness. With rhythms that seem as equally rooted in the works of Django Reinhardt as Simon and Garfunkle, Banhart successfully acheives a beautiful and powerful sound, with emotion, playfulness, and thematic prowess that will leave aspiring songwriters jealous and drooling. A beautiful,......
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NYC’s new Folk Explosion
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Time Out New York, Feb. 6-12, 2004, Issue No. 436 | Mike WolfFor Folk’s Sake..At the other end of the spectrum is Devendra Banhart, who in just a couple of years has become one of the most remarkable personalities in the city’s arts scene. After releasing a well-received debut last year, the prolific Banhart is just hitting his stride. In addition to a manic live-show schedule, the first of his two solo CDs due this year – Rejoicing in the Hands of the Golden Empress and/or Being Watched by Her Floating Red Beards (as album as good as its name is long) – is coming in April. And, oh, in case two releases aren’t enough, Banhart has a new group, Abra, which seemed to materialize out of thin air recently, yet already has an album planned for May. Why stop there? There’s also Vetiver, a San Franscisco-based band he plays a part in, that’s releasing an album in March. It’s doubtful that any marketing plan has ever recommended putting out four CDs in one year. But the business side of things isn’t on Banhart’s radar. “Being in magazines and stuff, that isn’t the goal whatsoever, “ says the singer-songwriter. What......
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Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands (Young God )
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esotericecho.com | Jason Thompson May your ears be blessed with this soundYes, well, we're back once again with the artist known as Devendra Banhart. Certainly you know him, no? The man responsible for the crazed brilliance of Oh Me, Oh My… . The one who led his listeners straight off the edge of some dirt hill cliff. Strange sounds and songs resonating like a brilliant sun burning the horizon down into a molten gold in bloom of full on toxic bridled dementia. Yeah, that one. He has returned, children. He has returned.Will be returning in April. The secret is out. Rejoicing in the Hands eclipses the debut. We all wondered what Devendra would do to top the first chapter. How could he do it? Would he fade after an album and EP, or would he attack once again with his guitar, his creepy and wonderful voice, and those songs that completely made you forget about any other music out there? He chooses to attack with his teeth and his eyes and hair and crazy shapes all pulled out of some stone age wonderland from a nickel shaped high rise apartment overlooking the parking lot of a parking lot.Pure brilliance we......