Live: Devendra Banhart Plays A Secret Show at Webster Hall
- story Daniel Arnold
- photo Daniel Arnold
Last Friday Devendra Banhart played a secret show at Webster Hall, it was loose and he looked a whole lot like Frank Zappa. Little Joy performed afterward and Banhart got on stage with them too. After the jump read FADER contributor Daniel Arnold’s rundown of the whole thing, including video and photos.
Video: Devendra Banhart, “Baby” (Live at Webster Hall)
- story Peter Macia
D-Banz played a secret show within the Little Joy show on Friday night at Webster Hall in New York and showed off not just a few new songs from his forthcoming album What Will We Be, but a new face hairstyle that makes him a dead ringer for Frank Zappa. We’re totally going to grow our eyebrows and pubes out RIGHT NOW. It’s almost the 40th anniversary of 1970!
Phoenix, “Rome (Neighbours Remix f. Devendra Banhart)” MP3
- story Peter Macia
- photo Anna Bauer (F62)
As much as we obviously love Phoenix, none of the many remixes of the songs off Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix really did them justice. Some were decent and some were terrible, but none accentuated or illuminated what was already pretty perfect. Putting a disco beat on “Lizstomania,” for example, is good for an afternoon but not exactly a remix for the ages. However, this morning brought something around, somehow involving FADER vet Devendra Banhart, that actually does what a remix is supposed to do. This version of “Rome” takes the most heartbreaking of Wolfgang’s tracks and strips it entirely of Phoenix’s singular ability to make sad songs sound at least a little triumphant. Devendra and whoever just make it absolutely miserable, which in the end, is probably good for when you want to feel depressed. Now all we have to do is get Andrew WK to make a “Rome” remix that sounds like doing beerbongs with Jesus and we’ll be set.
Read our recent Phoenix cover story, in full, right here, and see a couple photos from Phoenix’s insanely great shows in New York’s Central park this past weekend. Make sure to see them at one of their few remaining US tour dates if you can or in Europe if you have the means.
Download: Phoenix, “Rome (Neighbours Remix f. Devendra Banhart)” (via GvsB)
Stream: Devendra Banhart, “Baby”
- story Sam Hockley-Smith
- photo Tearney Gearon (F48)
New Devendra and it is totally not weird! When did this guy become not weird? Was it when he dated Natalie Portman or before that, when he started singing a little less like a gnome? To clarify, we liked the gnome stuff, we like the dick-skirted Beefheart-y Megapuss and we like this new song “Baby.” What is weird is to realize Devendra is on a major label and that doesn’t seem weird, and what’s even weirder about that not seeming weird is that it sounds right. Devendra shaved his beard off recently and with it his romance for the old days of Topanga Canyon, though he sounds kind of old here. He’s seen music go in cycles, coming in on a wave of bands copping to the same influences and inspiring the next wave of coastal bohemia. He’s seen Joanna Newsom date Andy Samburg. What the hell is this album going to sound like? If the rest of it bops along in the same way this track does, either Devendra has avoided the epic bummer that has been the last couple years or is facing it by getting back to basics.
Stream: Devendra Banhart, “Babies” (via P4K)
Video: The Family Jams Trailer
- story THE FADER
The early 2000s were a really good time for music if you were a dude with a beard or a woman who sounded like an old lady. Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom found their voices, Antony Johnson became an unlikely megastar, but more importantly, there was a lot of collaboration from everyone involved in the new folk/freak folk/whatever you want to call it scene. Now that we’ve got a little distance, filmmaker Kevin Barker is releasing The Family Jams, a documentary that follows Banhart, Newsom and Vetiver on their Summer 2004 tour. Our hope is that this will be part of an ongoing document of a pretty crazy movement, or at the very least, somehow answer where the hell Joanna Newsom went. Even if neither happens, you can expect childlike wonder and probably some tapestries.
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posted on Mar 24, 2009 in MUSIC VIDEO tags Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, psych/folk, The Family Jams, Vetiver
A Rational Conversation Between Two Adults: Considering Devendra Banhart in Late 2008
- story THE FADER
Every Tuesday, FADER deputy editor Eric Ducker gets on instant messenger and “discusses” a subject that’s been on his mind with another member of our staff or a special guest. After the jump, read his condensed (and emoticon-free) conversation with contributing writer Daniel Arnold, who handled all the text for the recent New Folk edition of F2, about Devendra Banhart and whether listeners are forsaking him even as he creates some of the most interesting work of his career.
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posted on Nov 25, 2008 in RATIONAL CONVERSATION tags A Rational Conversation, Daniel Arnold, Devendra Banhart
Freeload: Megapuss, “Crop Circle Jerk ‘94″
- story THE FADER
Back in June, we revealed Megapuss to be FADER Number 48 coverstar Devendra Banhart and Priestbird’s Greg Rogove. The boys have since been joined by The Strokes’ Fab Moretti, also of new LA semi-supergroup Little Joy with Binky Shapiro and Rodrigo Amarante, the latter of whom appeared on “Rosa” from Devendra’s Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon née Jewish Anarchy. The whole gang will be touring the West Coast together starting tomorrow, September 24th, at the Casbah in San Diego, and it’s hard to imagine it won’t just be an open jam session with dick skirts and long hair and probably some music. We’ve been enjoying both band’s albums lately, so we can’t be mad. Totally unrelatedly, we just received “Crop Circle Jerk ‘94″ from Megapuss’s upcoming album Surfing, and it just so happens to be one of our favorites. So enjoy, and check the tour dates after the jump.
Download: Megapuss, “Crop Circle Jerk ‘94″
Megapuss Revealed or: I Believe Your Dick Skirt Is Caught on My Microphone
- story THE FADER
LA’s finest gypster girls and their sandal-wearing bros packed into the marble courtyard at the Hammer Museum for last night’s debut performance of Devendra Banhart’s Megapuss. Sharing the stage with Priestbird’s Greg Rogove, Devendra and his usual gang cranked out eight originals and teased between songs with a loose cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Devendra, wrapped in a skirt of rubber dicks, and Greg, draped in a loose-fitting summery man dress, were physical embodiments of Laurel Canyon’s spirited music scene. A full moon overhead, and a crowd of hundreds cross-legged at their feet, the band sweated and smiled through a rough and tumble hour-long set, with Greg handling most of the vocals.
FADER 48: Devendra Banhart Cover Story
- story THE FADER
Prior to the release of his latest album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, FADER E-I-C Alex Wagner journeyed to Devendra Banhart’s mountain home and talked to him about literally everything (including pigs).
Weekenders
- story THE FADER
Besides giving you another reason to buy that new car you wanted, Presidents’ Day weekend also means you party hard Sunday night and not have to crawl into work all twisted on Monday. That, as they say, is what’s up.
NYC folks can see Bloc Party’s only US performance before their April tour at the ever-raucous Motherfucker party on Sunday night. Fire for shiz.
