Devendra Banhart
Cripple Crow
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AMG Review of Cripple Crow
Thom Jurek
All Music GuideCripple Crow marks a departure for Devendra Banhart. It's obvious from the faux Sgt. Pepper-meets-Incredible String Band freak scene cover photo that something is afoot. The disc is Banhart's first foray from Michael Gira's Young God label, and it's more adventurous than anything he's done before. This is not to imply that the set is a slick, over-produced affair, but it is a significant change. The instrumental, stylistic, and textural range on this 23-song set is considerably wider than it's been in the past. Working with Noah Georgeson and Thom Monahan, a backing band of friends known as "the Hairy Fairies", Banhart's crafted something expansive, colorful, and perhaps even accessible to a wider array of listeners. There are layered vocals and choruses of backing singers, as well as piano and flutes on the gorgeous "I Heard Somebody Say," while the electric guitar and drums fuelling "Long Haired Child," with its reverb-drenched backing vocals, is primitive, percussive, and dark. There is also the 21st century psychedelic jug band stomp of the second single, "I Feel Just Like a Child," that crosses the /p>
ursery rhyme melodics of Mississippi John Hurt with the naughty boy swagger of Marc Bolan. There are also five songs in Spanish, Banhart's native tongue, in a style that's a cross between flamenco and son. The title cut, "Cripple Crow," is one of the most haunting anti-war songs around. In it, Banhart places a new generation in the firing line, and urges them to resist not with violence, but with pacifistic refusal. A lone acoustic guitar, hand drums, a backing chorus, and a lilting, muted flute all sift in with one another to weave a song that feels more like a prayer. The lone cover here, of Simon Diaz's "Luna de Margaerita," drips with the rawest kind of emotion. Ultimately, Cripple Crow is a roughly stitched tapestry; it is rich, varied, wild, irreverent, simple, and utterly joyous to listen to.
this song makes me want to dance
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Track:Quetate Luna
"quetate luna"it might start slow but it picks up and i have to physically stop myself from moving if i'm listening to this song in public on my ipod. anyone else have songs like this?
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Review: Devendra Banhart -- Cripple Crow
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All eyes came to rest on a shadowy figure hunched over a classical guitar. Slowly, the spotlights came up to illuminate a solitary Devendra Banhart. Without shaking the hair from his eyes, he flexed his fingers and launched into "Quedate Luna."This was the Devendra Banhart we'd grown accustomed to over the past three years. Just Devendra, his guitar, and his quavering voice. His fourth album, C...
More >
this song makes me want to dance
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Artist:
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Album:
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Track:Quetate Luna
"quetate luna"it might start slow but it picks up and i have to physically stop myself from moving if i'm listening to this song in public on my ipod. anyone else have songs like this?
More >
Some amazing shiznit.
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As an avid Devendra Banhart fan, I can't help but want to post one of my favorite pieces by the singer/ songwriter. I'd like to assume that everyone knows who Devendra Banhart is but in case you don't, allow me to fill you in on the musical mania you've missed.Devendra Banhart was born 1981 and was mostly raised in Venezuela, hence the Spanish undertones. His music can be considered indie fol...
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Review: Devendra Banhart -- Cripple Crow
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Artist:
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Album:
All eyes came to rest on a shadowy figure hunched over a classical guitar. Slowly, the spotlights came up to illuminate a solitary Devendra Banhart. Without shaking the hair from his eyes, he flexed his fingers and launched into "Quedate Luna."This was the Devendra Banhart we'd grown accustomed to over the past three years. Just Devendra, his guitar, and his quavering voice. His fourth album, C...
More >
 "Cripple Crow")
