Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be (FLAC)

I saw Devendra play live today, and his demeanor struck me immediately. Here was someone playing in front of several thousand people, with a full band, with almost complete creative control, having any ego needs of his fulfilled completely by fans and newcomers alike, and the way he behaved was, to say the least, very humble. At one point he invited a member of the crowd to come on stage and perform an original song, and at that point I realized what had attracted M. Gira to Banhart while he was still signed to Young God Records. Shuffling, jiving and stumbling across the stage as he pours out his soul to a crowd of onlookers, Devendra is as magical as he is sincere.

If you've heard Rejoicing in the Hands, Banhart's breakout full-length from 2004, the transition between it and What Will We Be is incredibly satisfying. On the former, Banhart makes promises of surrealistic lyricism and musicality, but often only provides his guitar and voice to support those promises.

To anyone who has been following Devendra these last few years, it seems clear that What Will We Be is the natural culmination of all of his musical developments across the last decade. Surrounded by instrumentation that supports both his methodologies and his character, Banhart's new material is just as endearing as his old.

Love is light ignited.
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Cat Power - The Greatest (V0)

Billie Holiday would be proud. Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power, is one of the few artists participating in the reclamation of American folk. The Greatest, released in 2006 to widespread and ubiquitous critical acclaim, is perhaps one of the pinnacles of the New Weird Americana movement of the earliest years of the 21st century.

The soulfulness of Cat Power's voice and the presence of her Georgian influences is astoundingly clear throughout the entirety of this album, harkening back to the earliest days of Americana, drawing what seems to be a direct bloodline to the likes of Duke Ellington or Sarah Vaughan, and reinforcing Cat Power's own blues heritage. Arrangements of piano and strings, alongside blues staples like pedal steel guitar and trumpet, beautifully accompany Cat Power's voice, which, again, is one Holiday herself would be proud of.

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