Devendra Banhart

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Devendra Banhart

Background information
Born May 30, 1981 (1981-05-30) (age 28)
Houston, Texas
Genre(s) Freak folk, New Weird America
Occupation(s) Singer-Songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar, vocals
Years active 2002–present
Label(s) Young God Records
XL Recordings
hinah
Associated acts Vetiver Megapuss
Website devendrabanhart.com

Devendra Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is a Venezuelan American singer-songwriter. Banhart was born in Texas and grew up in Venezuela, until he returned to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Banhart released his debut album in 2002 and recorded solo albums for Young God Records and XL Recordings, and worked on compilations and collaborations.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Banhart was born May 30, 1981 in Houston, Texas to a Venezuelan mother and an American father.[1] His given name is a synonym for Indra, the Hindu god of rain and thunder, which was suggested by Prem Rawat, an Indian religious leader whom Banhart's parents followed.[2] Banhart claims his middle name is Obi and was modeled after the Star Wars character.[3] Banhart's parents divorced two years after his birth and he moved with his mother to Caracas, Venezuela.[4] His mother later remarried and Banhart's stepfather moved the family to Los Angeles, California,[4] when Banhart was 14 years old.[5]

In 1998, Banhart began studying at the San Francisco Art Institute on a scholarship[4] while living in The Castro, San Francisco's gay neighborhood.[6] He began to busk instead of attending classes and played his first show in a church at a gay wedding.[5] Banhart dropped out of art school in 2000[4] and left San Francisco after the dot-com bust worsened the city's economy.[5] He moved to Paris, France, over the summer and opened shows for indie rock bands.[4] Banhart returned to the United States in the fall of 2000 and played music in San Francisco and Los Angeles, until he was discovered by Michael Gira, owner of Young God Records,[4] after Siobhan Duffy, Gira's wife, bought a copy of Banhart's demo CD The Charles C. Leary and gave it to Gira.[2]

Banhart and Gira compiled an album from Banhart's recordings,[2] and in 2002, Oh Me Oh My, which was made up of short fragments,[7] was published by Young God Records and received favorable reviews.[8] He recorded two other albums and an EP for the label: Rejoicing in the Hands, Niño Rojo, and The Black Babies;[8] the releases had a simple acoustic sound.[6] Banhart changed to XL Recordings in 2005[8] and released Cripple Crow, which was recorded in Bearsville Studios, New York and had a more elaborate sound.[6] He recorded his second album for XL Records, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, at his home studio in Topanga, California.[8] The album charted on the Billboard 200 at number 115.[9]

Banhart performs with the band Vetiver[1] and played the Bonnaroo and Coachella music festivals.[5] He founded a record label, Gnomonsong, with Andy Cabic of Vetiver, in 2005[1][10] and is a collector of music artifacts.[5] In 2008, Banhart released an album, Surfing, in a collaboration project named Megapuss,[11] and dated actress Natalie Portman for a few months.[11]

[edit] Style

Banhart is associated with the New Weird America genre[12] and his music was called "free associative work".[7] His style has been described as psych folk,[13] avant-folk, freak folk,[7] Lo-Fi, and alternative folk.[8] Banhart has referred to his music as "naturalismo".[14]

[edit] Discography

Banhart performs at the 2009 Coachella Festival.

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles and EPs

  • The Black Babies (2003)
  • Sight To Behold/Be Kind (2004)
  • Little Yellow Spider (2004)
  • At The Hop (2004)
  • I Feel Just Like A Child (2005)
  • Heard Somebody Say (2005)

[edit] Collaborations and compilations

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Devendra Banhart Biography". NME. http://www.nme.com/artists/devendra-banhart#biography. Retrieved on 2009-05-02. 
  2. ^ a b c Campion, Chris (2007-08-12). "Stranger than folk". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/aug/12/popandrock5. Retrieved on 2009-05-07. 
  3. ^ Bemis, Alec Hanley (2005-08-28). "The Soft Revolution". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/28/magazine/tm-soft35?pg=6. Retrieved on 2009-05-14. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Kamps, Garrett (2003-01-08). "Man of La Mantra". SF Weekly. http://www.sfweekly.com/2003-01-08/music/man-of-la-mantra/. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 
  5. ^ a b c d e Beck, John (2009-04-17). "The wide, way-out world of Devendra". The Press Democrat. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090417/COMMUNITY/904179963. Retrieved on 2009-04-23. 
  6. ^ a b c Vaziri, Aidin (2005-10-26). "Sweet, shocking, mesmerizing -- Devendra Banhart follows his sprawling, childlike musical muse". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/26/DDGPIF7Q7K18.DTL. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 
  7. ^ a b c Bemis, Alec Hanley (2004-12-12). "Freak Folk's Very Own Pied Piper". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/arts/music/12bemi.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 
  8. ^ a b c d e MacNeil, Jason; Loftus, Johnny. "Devendra Banhart - Biography". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gzfwxqe0ldke~T1. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 
  9. ^ "Artist Chart History - Devendra Banhart". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=490309&model.vnuAlbumId=1092269. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 
  10. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (2009-04-13). "Papercuts' 'You Can Have What You Want': Stream this indie gem here". Entertainment Weekly. http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/04/papercuts-mp3.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-23. 
  11. ^ a b "Devendra Banhart splits with Natalie Portman". NME. 2008-09-25. http://www.nme.com/news/devendra-banhart/40003. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 
  12. ^ Rutledge, James (2004-11-05). "Joanna Newsom and the New Weird America". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A3212740. Retrieved on 2009-05-02. 
  13. ^ Hall, Nicholas (2009-04-07). "Devendra Banhart's footloose folk". SF Weekly. http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-04-08/music/footloose-folk/. Retrieved on 2009-05-02. 
  14. ^ Sheffield, Rob (2007-10-04). "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon - Review". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/16233151/review/16521679/smokey_rolls_down_thunder_canyon. Retrieved on 2009-04-20. 

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Devendra Banhart
Studio albums
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