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Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My....
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The New York Times | by John ParelesblurbDevendra Banhart's cracked tunes, free-associating lyrics and eerie, quivering voice recall 1960's oddballs like Syd Barrett and the pre-glam-rock Marc Bolan, but he has a strange streak that's all his own…...
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Devendra Banhart
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The Village Voice | by Christian HoardFriday at 9, Pete’s Candy StoreImagine Conor Oberst without the world-beating depth of feeling and the cadre of friends backing him and you’ve got someone like Devendra Banhart, a 21-year old San Fran Art Institute grad whose folk-troubadour tone poems bubble under with almost as much melody as lo-fi BS. Surrealistic, underdeveloped, and occasionally brilliant, his debut never would have seen the light of day had not ex-Swan Michael Gira stumbled upon it. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t an audience of bedroom poets out there waiting for him. With Entrance and Chris Teret & Stephanie Rabing....
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Devendra Banhart
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Time Out New York | by Mike WolfPete’s Candy Store; Fri 3The best way to recommend Devendra Banhart is to say that you wouldn’t want to miss a moment of one of his performances—if you do, you might not be able to piece together the puzzle that he is. The young Brooklyn-based singer’s music, a bizarre stripe of folk that’s unrefined, dreamy and somewhat feral, can be baffling for minutes on end, with half-started songs and untrackable narratives shot through with his nervy personality.. But there are moments—a briefly lucid lyric or a fleeting chord progression—that somehow cast light on Banhart’s mysteries, giving meaning to the whole of his sound and revealing him as one of the brightest new artists to come along in 2002. At a recent Tonic show, wiry Banhart sat cross-legged on the stage as if the audience itself were a campfire. He strummed and picked an acoustic guitar, sometimes in a halting manner but often reminiscent of the breezy pastoralism of Sandy Bull or John Fahey, rolling his head gently with the rise and fall of his warbly vocals. At one point, it was hard to tell if he was playing a medley of short songs......
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Biography of Lisa Germano
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Author Unknown I wrote an entire opera when I was seven January 2003Lullaby for Liquid PigIt would be so easy to say that lullaby for liquid pig is a record about alcohol, but as Germano herself is learning as she discusses the CD, it’s just not that simple. “It’s about all these thoughts rushing through your head in the middle of the night, keeping you from sleep as you try to figure out why you’re so alone. It explores behavior in relationships, one being with alcohol. In all of her music Germano conveys her search for something that’s just out of reach. This restless irresolution informs the beauty of her lyrics – a beauty too painful to be confined to words, it spills into her music, bringing sound and substance into an uncanny accord. As Rolling Stone put it, “her songs take a harrowing swan dive into the depths of her soul, baring all and sparing nothing.” Born in Mishawaka, Indiana, both of Germano's parents were teachers and musicians. They brought six kids up in an atmosphere surrounded by music, passion, and Italians as her father was born there. “My dad’s mom and dad never spoke English,” she says, “so whenever we......
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Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My
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Phildelphia City Paper | by Sam AdamsRecalls the posthumous bootlegs of Nick DrakeMore than a quarter of the song titles on Devendra Banhart’s debut album trail off in an ellipsis, which might just be a way of making room for the album’s Fiona Apple-esque title: Oh Me Oh My … The Way the Day Goes By the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Love Songs of the Christmas Spirit (Young God). But it’s also a good indicator of the Austin-based singer’s penchant for sticking with a song only until his interest runs out: Oh Me Oh My … crams 22 songs into 50 minutes, the shortest being the 39-second “Tick Eats the Olives.†As that title indicates, Banhart favors the surreal, and his eerily double-tracked warble only increases the sense of unease. Even a relatively straightforward number like “Michigan State,†which proclaims Banhart’s affection for the titular territory, gets sidetracked into observations like, “My toes have my favorite feet.†In instrumentation and in fidelity, Oh Me Oh My … recalls the posthumous bootlegs of Nick Drake jamming alone in his parents’ house, but the feel is less pastoral than extraterrestrial....