PRESS
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SOULFUL BANHART
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San Francisco Chronicle | by Neva ChoninOh Me Oh My . . . Young God Records Take one damaged 21-year-old drifter, give him an acoustic guitar and some busted four-track recorders, and the result is a compelling mix of the eccentric and the sublime. Certainly Devendra Banhart's beautifully raw debut album sounds like nothing else, from the tremulous vocals of "Nice People" and the abstract guitar pickings of "Pumpkin Seeds" to spates of ambient noise and stream-of- consciousness lyrics. "Oh Me Oh My . . ." (full title: "Oh Me Oh My the Way the Day Goes By the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit") is more than just spittle in the face of an over-processed music industry. Soulful, troubling and troubled, it's a spiritual manifesto from a one-man species....
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LARSEN | REVER | Review
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KATAWEB MUSICARituale questa musica lo sembra per davvero"Italian Cult/ Collective Urban/ Folk/ Ritual/ Experimental/ Soundscape/ Wall Of Love": lo sticker di copertina è così prodigo di chiavi di lettura per il secondo album dei torinesi Larsen da riuscire a sconcertare anche il più puntiglioso dei catalogatori. Il fatto è che non sarebbe nemmeno il solo a rimanere spiazzato dal disco che il 'misterioso' collettivo subalpino ha realizzato con la 'sgomenta' complicità dell’ex Swans Michael Gira. Soprassediamo tuttavia per un momento sui virgolettati e arriviamo subito alla sostanza sonora della decina di titoli in elenco. Rituale questa musica lo sembra per davvero, insistendo sui toni ipnotici, sulla vaghezza dei suoi temi melodici e sui timbri molto sfumati delle voci che si limitano per lo più a bisbigliare sugli strumenti. Che abbia matrici folk lo testimonia poi l’impiego reiterato di sonorità acustiche e naturali più che la struttura armonica e melodica dei vari episodi, assai più prossima a tale riguardo agli idiomi dell’avanguardia. Che infine le sue suggestioni abbiano ampiezza e profondità da scenari del possibile è cosa che non si fatica affatto a cogliere nello svolgimento per lo più compassato, solenne e anche un po’ inquietante di ciascun brano, aggettivo quest’ultimo......
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Devendra makes the list of the best of 2002
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LA WeeklyJay Babcock's #1 Debutread more at laweekly.com...
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DEVENDRA BANHART | REVIEW
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THE NEW YORK TIMES | KELEFA SANNEH'Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs,' and That's Not All When you first hear Devendra Banhart's high, braying voice, you may be tempted to laugh: the two words that spring to mind are "tiptoe" and "tulips." It's hard to say whether Mr. Banhart would be pleased to hear himself compared to Tiny Tim. But in any case, his music is too compelling and too weird to be merely a put-on. On Sunday he played a short, intriguing set at Tonic, sitting cross-legged on the stage with an acoustic guitar in his lap, singing about a world in which animals and plants act out mysterious allegories. Mr. Banhart, 21, just released his excellent debut album, "Oh Me Oh My . . . The Way the Day Goes By the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit" (Young God). He tends toward verbosity, but many of his songs last little more than a minute, just long enough for him to sketch an image. On Sunday he was joined by Will Lemon, who sometimes played harmonica and sometimes percussion, although his only rhythm instrument was a container of roasted soybeans. Mr. Banhart usually picked broken......
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Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My...
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East Bay Express | by Jon PruettJust like you can usually spot a liar from across the street, you can spot the spirit under this recordDevendra Banhart's debut is a mixture of song fragments, whistles, handclaps, chants, and some of the most oddly effecting, full-blown songs you are likely to hear all year. Recorded on four-track -- and occasionally on ye olde answering machine -- the music rolls out slowly and sometimes abrasively, jarring listeners with high-pitched vocals and highly visceral imagery. Banhart's bizarre juxtapositions can describe something like flesh in a way that makes it seem like it's a foreign entity, with vocal tics fluttering in the upper registers of all that is dreamy and then quickly switching to a panic-stricken vibrato. If any of this sounds familiar, then think Marc Bolan in the early years. We're not talking about the Marc Bolan pop god/genius who put the boogie back into rock in the early '70s, though. We're talking about the wizard-loving, unicorn-doting barefoot Bolan who opted for the longer Tyrannosaurus Rex nom de plume. In fact, percussive vocal tricks that Banhart uses on "The Charles C. Leary" are a dead ringer for Bolan's on "She Was Born to......