Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow

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What do you think of it (it's on Oink)?

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

i'm glad he changed it up a bit but I find the songs less dynamic and as a whole considerably more boring

― breezy, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

I tend to agree with you a bit, it just isn't grabbing me at all... most of it is really drab.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

listening now...but sitting at a desk in a too corporate office, is making it hard...i like what i hear. this one may be a bit less immediately grabbing, but it seems like theres a lot of love to be built up with it.

― b b, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://webzoom.freewebs.com/thebunnybrains/dev.jpg

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

i like the cover actually. i'll be sure not to buy it tho

― breezy, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

How do you hide money from a hippy?

― Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

i already fear the reactions to this record...and might be willing to say nothing more on the matter from here out.

― b b, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

why do u fear blog?discourse is th new intercourse...

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

I haven't yet heard this at 2 in the morning, which is when it seems like it'd be most appropriate. I'll refrain from passing judgment until such time.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

alot of record listening has to do w bass frequencies and thoracic impact..and sum of th tyme ipoddery and th such(office headphone skulking) diminish th experience..beer is cold and easy to get..so is low end

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

HIDE IT UNDER THE ROLAND 808

― Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

Ok, "Chinese Children" is pretty damn great.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone have an Oink-invite lying around for me? It'd be greatly appreciated.

― Gerard (Gerard), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

try track 16(Little Boys) ..not safe for starbucks..i love th track w honey from jomf called dragonflies..makes me want to do smack(ok more smack)

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

so. long

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

i dont fear discussion, dan, i fear all the furthering of "why is he playing michigan state like that now?!!"-like thinking.

i haven't heard the promo yet (dunno if its been mailed or picked up from the post ofice), but the 4 songs availible via xl are pretty damned good.

on a side note...i regestered once with my usual email address, but it went wonky and never accepted it. if i try to log in or re-register with that address it won't let me...so i use the blog@ one instead. same reason for the space between my innitials

― b b, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

dylans gone acoustic!

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

judas

― b b, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

How do you hide money from a hippy?

This sounds like the beginning to a funny joke....

― PB, Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:09 (twenty years ago)

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/thebunnybrains/dev.jpg

I am amazed at this artwork.

― Ryan Pitchfork (Ryan Pitchfork), Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

HOLY SHIT that cover! that is amazing. AMAZING!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

i had to look again. and now i'll be afraid in the dark tonite

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

link, please?

― Seuss, Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

that cover is grooooooooovy. especially if you are stonedidated. or so i have heard.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

75 minutes! hes very um productive isn't he? i like devendra, but i'd like him even more if he extended his songwriting skills beyond repeating the same chord sequence over & over

― zappi (joni), Thursday, 14 July 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

yeh, "nino rojo" felt like "hands" part deux

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 14 July 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

i really like th album..even as biased as i am..i get a lil sleeped out on th sike folk cats and their endless tantric noodledrones..i like th goofy shit on this record,th minor stuff,th pieces of things floatin thru sum of th arrangements..and its completely made with hunny spiked lovin and beetle wine and leaf..after th day settles it will be a welcum drink

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Thursday, 14 July 2005 02:08 (twenty years ago)

"nino rojo" and "hands" were from the same sessions i think...in other words it was 'part deux'

― 088b, Thursday, 14 July 2005 03:01 (twenty years ago)

wow, i love devandra banheart! wow, he's so fuckin great! wow! what songs! woooooooowwwwwwwwwww! has anyone ever written songs like THAT? wowza! holy wowza! geeze and i can't believe it. pfffft, can you imagine someone writing *those* songs? heh, HARDLY. gee fucking whiz!

― tad, Thursday, 14 July 2005 07:46 (twenty years ago)

tiny tim fuckin rules

― tad, Thursday, 14 July 2005 07:47 (twenty years ago)

wow - that's a fantastic cover. is that joanna newsom bottom left?

i too wish devendra was less repetitive (within individual songs), but i thought that as early as on "rejoicing in the hands". "nino rojo"'s fantasticness was severely depleted on repeated listenings.

as much as i lived the direction on RitH, NR, etc, these days I kinda long for a return to the creepy ultraweirdness of Oh Me Or My.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:21 (twenty years ago)

Cover is nuts. But is the album?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 14 July 2005 09:04 (twenty years ago)

i thought "oh me oh my" was very patchy and didn't warrant repeat listening. the one thing i've liked from him so far is "the black babies [uk]" ep

― Ô¿Ô (eman), Thursday, 14 July 2005 11:09 (twenty years ago)

That cover reminds me of the photo inside the CD booklet of Ween's Pure Guava.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

Cover is.....fine. Dare I say reminiscent of Sgt. Pepper?

― PB, Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

if u go to xlrecordings.com there is a lil pop up w 4 songs from th record

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:03 (twenty years ago)

http://www.xlrecordings.com/features/devendrabanhart/sampler/index.html

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

Nice songs - I'll probably buy this when it comes out.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 14 July 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

there's been like 58 new devendra banhart albums in the time it's taken joanna newsom to do her 2nd album!

― drystereo (drystereo), Thursday, 14 July 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

that is a rad cover

― latebloomer: occasionally OTM (latebloomer), Thursday, 14 July 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

This whole time I thought Devendra Banhart was a woman.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

i'm at song 5 of 22 (74 minutes!?!), and so far this is really disappointingly mediocre. "he needs an editor."

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

"i see so many boys I want to marry /
i see plenty of little kids i have yet to have"

?!?!?

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 14 July 2005 21:55 (twenty years ago)

"Even when the sun ceases to sign / i won't care / i'll still have on my mind /so many / little boys i want to marry / i've seen plenty / of little kids i've yet to have

and in the shower / i get my dreaming done / i hold my breath and i wait for the day to come / oh little billy, little timmy, little jimmy, you're the one / i may not look it but i swear my heart is young

for so many / little boys i want to marry [etc]"

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 14 July 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

is he channeling michael?

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 14 July 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

He's writing in character ( i.e. Michael Jackson)!

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 14 July 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

haha xpost.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 14 July 2005 22:04 (twenty years ago)

listened to the samples at the xl site. this sucksssssssss

― Ô¿Ô (eman), Thursday, 14 July 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

First impression...there's a classic 45 minute record here.

And from this day forward, let it be known: Korean Dogwood is the D Man's Stairway To Heaven.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 5 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

So this was officially released today, though I suppose I may be the only person on ILM who actually waited to buy it in stores. What do people think? I just brought it home and listened to the first half. Pretty great, I'd say. This is pretty much the album I was hoping he'd make after I saw him with his band last winter and wrote this:

http://o_nate.pitas.com/05_12_2004.html

(the Nov. 8, 2004 entry)

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

Hm, must get this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

I bought it and heard it today for the first time too, three listens. It's calming. That might sound damning but I don't mean it that way. It doesn't seem to have many mystical transcendent moments like Rejoicing in the Hands, which is my favorite of his albums. But it's way better than Nino Rojo. When I listen to it I feel pretty good. He seems to completely lack whatever gene it is that causes people to be like this

"There's not even an EP's worth of decent material here...very poor"

and subsequently he can bust out silly ditties like "Chinese Children." This lack of self-consciousness, combined with full-band compositions, lends an air of assured timelessness to the album. Lots of Portuguese (?) lyrics, too.

― Mucho, Wednesday, 14 September 2005 00:12 (twenty years ago)

Thirded for buying today and hearing it for the first time. I absolutely love it. To be honest, I really wanted to love Devendra Banhart before who I acquired (can you really avoid him?) starting to get into modern folk music for the first time. His first album, Nino Rojo, I loved at first, but really got tired of. In all honesty, it began to seem pretty dull. Cripple Crow is entirely different, though. For people who were put off by DB's earlier work, I'd recommend giving him another shot.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

Mucho, er... Spanish. How ironic.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 02:08 (twenty years ago)

it's really long, but i dig it. and i had no expectations for it. i just think he is a naturally talented dood. he impresses me.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 02:30 (twenty years ago)

the music video is great too
http://www.xlrecordings.com/broadcast/~ifeeljustlikeachild/
(Realplayer)

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

i've decided i hate it, although it's not that bad.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 07:33 (twenty years ago)

is there a big change in style from his previous?

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:38 (twenty years ago)

well, it's not a change you couldn't predict from the general trending, but yeah. lots of the songs are REAL jammy, laid-back, yeahcool patchoulli sweetness. there is NONE (read: ZERO) of the mystery/crackedness of the earlier material. while some of the lyrics are "wacky", they feel merely "wacky", rather than suggestive/evocative of something hard to describe.

individual tracks are good but there are so many dullard duds, and devendra's current charms aren't the same as the ones that attracted me to him in the first place. it's difficult to think of him alongside an artist like Antony (aesthetically speaking).

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

it's difficult to think of him alongside an artist like Antony (aesthetically speaking).

which is ok! just different.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:48 (twenty years ago)

I'd agree that Cripple Crow has a lot less in-your-face weirdness than did his previous records, but that was never what I liked about Devendra anyway. I disagree that the "mystery/crackedness" is gone. I think he's just gotten a bit slyer about it, but if you listen closely, it's still there. I like Devendra's guitar playing and I still think the (mainly) solo accompaniment on Rejoicing and Nino is ace, but there is a warmth & fullness to a good acoustic band sound that I think will wear better over the long haul. Already, I think that Crow (despite its length) is easier to get through in one sitting than either of last year's albums were, despite their many individual moments of brilliance.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

I want the vinyl for that cover.

The only two songs I've heard are "Heard Somebody Say" (Classic) and "Little Boys" (Dud). From those two tracks, I do enjoy the band's sound a lot. It has a very classic tint, like it could have been recorded at any moment in time.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

I just went out and bought it. First record I've bought new on day of release in many years, maybe since Camper Van's "Key Lime Pie" or some early 90's Sonic Youth album.

I love it, but I'm already a big fan. The show I saw in Portland last October was one of the best things I have ever seen, an easy lifetime top ten. Seeing him with a full band after just hearing the solo-style records was a total revelation, it works even better. So now I'm listening to the record (haven't heard any leaked tracks).

I like the Spanish songs.His Venezualan youth really adds to the delivery/enunciation.

Track 8 "Feel Just Like A Child" is the first great one, a good single choice and even groovier than the version from a July show in Sweden that was torrented.

Dragonflys, Cripple Crow, holy fuck. I'm happy. Ten more songs to go...

Hey Mama Wolf is fairly dud in the repetitive chord vamp, but it sure is pretty.

Chinese Children sounds a lot like "Child" to me.

Love those instrumental solo guitar things.

Nice segue between the last tracks.

Yes, I must go listen to "Dragonflys" again.

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 15 September 2005 01:24 (twenty years ago)

I want the vinyl for that cover.

Word. Anybody know someone at XL? I want a poster of this cover

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 15 September 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

vinyl currently ain't scheduled. maybe sometime next year. posters are available and if you're nice maybe i'll give you one.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 15 September 2005 02:44 (twenty years ago)

OMG the bonus track on the CD (only on computer) is a 42 Kbps VBR MP3 of "White Reggae Troll/Africa" that's almost ten minutes long! But Why is the bitrate so shitty? WHY?

I still love it. Glad it got put out somehow - one of my favorite live tracks from last fall's tour.

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 15 September 2005 03:11 (twenty years ago)

i'll throw in some incense too.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 15 September 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)

Anyone who went to this show tonite @ Bowery please RFI on the three 60's psych/freakout-pop songs played on the PA before he came on kthx

― Keith C (lync0), Thursday, 15 September 2005 04:13 (twenty years ago)

So I just watched the video -- is he moving from his tyrannosaurus rex phase into the T-rex phase? Somehow I thought that would be an improvement but it's still shit.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 15 September 2005 04:19 (twenty years ago)

i did not like banhart before this record. opening and title track just slay me though. two stone cold classics those. his voice is weird in that i hear so many other older artists in different songs. the portuegese ones remind me of tom ze, lazy butterfly sounds like gift from a flower-era Donovan and the first single "feel like a child" reminds me of fred neil.

though expansive i think the album works cohesively 100x better than either rejoicing or nino rojo. it really is the high point of this freak folk or whatever the fuck its called this week scene. to some that'll be damning with faint praise but this album does have a timeless feel about it as someone commented upthread that will allow it to become a reference point of the genre. i think this is a record that will age well and gain prestige

― jared88, Thursday, 15 September 2005 04:36 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone think that he bit old T-Rex/Tyranosaurus Rex? I do, especially in his delivery.

― luecke (luecke), Thursday, 15 September 2005 06:31 (twenty years ago)

I wanted to hate this album but can't. I've found him cloying in the past, but the improvements in production transform his work. Not a great album, not distinct.

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 15 September 2005 10:04 (twenty years ago)

The worst thing I've ever heard. It's so long too; like 80 minutes of pure bore. He's a really bad songwriter, hasn't progressed to chorus or bridge yet.

― Salvador (Salvador), Thursday, 15 September 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone think that he bit old T-Rex/Tyranosaurus Rex?

People, including myself, have been saying that since the first album. Do keep up. (Seriously, this is like saying today, "Wow, I didn't know President Bush was such a divisive figure.")

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 September 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

Except that Bush somehow runs a country and Banhart shifts a thousand units to geeks and hippies.

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 15 September 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

It's so long too

80 minutes is too long, sure. But so is 40 minutes. The most that I usually want to hear at a time by any band/musician is about 20 minutes (ie., the length of an LP side). But I'm not going to ask musicians to start releasing 20 minute-long albums. They can make them 160 minutes if they want, I'll just listen to as much as I feel like listening to and then switch to something else.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 15 September 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

...Banhart shifts a thousand units to geeks and hippies.

do keep up, he sells a lot more than that.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 15 September 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

Chrous/bridge type songwriting is SO overrated.

I'm loving this even more on my 4th listen.

― sleeve (sleeve), Friday, 16 September 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

Um, that should be "chorus", natch. And damn, Salvador, I love stuff like Beach Boys and Big Star (who one would think know a bit about trad-style songwriting) and Banhart's songs literally take my breath away when they're on. I looked up the tabs for "At The Hop" and still have a hard time playing it.

― sleeve (sleeve), Friday, 16 September 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

I've only heard the first album and found:

- the songs were half-written
- the lyrics were genuinely annoying because it was supposed to be trippy but really was just random shit/bad surrealism that I guess people thought was more trippy because he sang with with a constricted throat and vibrato which was supposed to make it sound like he was a forest sprite or whatever

Any improvements in these areas?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

I haven't heard the first album, but the songs do seem more fleshed out on this record - for which a lot of credit must go to the band and whoever arranged it - and the lyrics are less random & surreal and more focused & accessible, so I'd say try it, you might like it.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 16 September 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

do keep up, he sells a lot more than that.

Hyperbole is a thing.

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 16 September 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

tim, given yr criticism of "oh me..." i would expect you would think cc was made an entirely dif't artist

― bb (bbrz), Friday, 16 September 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

Hyperbole is a thing.

no it's not.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 16 September 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

most humorless man (or woman) on ILM

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 16 September 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

you want me to nominate you?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 16 September 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.succoacido.it/immagini/arte8/crumb/crumb_02.gif

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 16 September 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

that's a shame.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 16 September 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

come on out to th shows too if yur so inclined.
Devendra Banhart and the Hairy Fairy w/ guests Bunnybrains
Oct 06 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Attic
Oct 07 - Hollywood, CA - Vanguard Theater
Oct 08 - Tucson, AZ - Plush
Oct 10 - Austin, TX - Emo's
Oct 11 - Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington
Oct 12 - Dallas, TX - Cavern Club
Oct 14 - Nashville, TN - Exit/Inn
Oct 15 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Oct 17 - Philadelphia, Pa - TLA
Oct 18 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Ballroom
Oct 19 - Somerville, MA - Somerville Theater
Oct 20 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
Oct 22 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
Oct 24 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
Oct 25 - Minneapolis, MN - Fineline Music Cafe
Oct 26 - Columbia, MO - Blue Note
Oct 28 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theater
Oct 29 - Las Vegas, NV - Vegoose Festival @ Sam Boyd Stadium*
Oct 30 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 club
all dates except * with opener The Bunny Brains

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

I hope to make it to Webster Hall.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

I just bought this too. Heard the first three tracks and I much prefer them to the previous releases simply because of the wider production sound. Loving the packaging and that seems to add to it too - sounds like a proper band instead of a wilfully surrealist loon. I do like the previous albums but I agree with the sentiment that his lyrics were a bit rubbish and all the crap about porpoises and beards had to go.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 30 September 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDxt1OFvqc

This. Song. \(^o^)/

― ksh, Sunday, 4 July 2010 03:56 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z-dPmcWcak

There we go.

― ksh, Sunday, 4 July 2010 03:56 (fifteen years ago)

I was on tour with a band this summer and in Detroit we were playing some folk festival in the middle of the day and had had 3 or 4 hours of sleep. When we got there they were playing this whole album and everyone sang along to every word on the record. It was awesome. Still my favorite thing he's ever done.

― Beach Pomade (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 4 July 2010 16:04 (fifteen years ago)

awesome story!

― ksh, Sunday, 4 July 2010 16:38 (fifteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

My brother was playing this one at dinner tonight. It made me so nostalgic which is weird because I wasn’t the biggest fan of Devendra or this album at the time, but I was madly in love with the mid 00s.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 6 January 2023 04:07 (three years ago)

nine months pass...

New one is yet again pretty different, reminding me of the last few Helado Negro lps. This is pretty distant from the early lps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynRbKEA2ai8

― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 07:48 (two years ago)

one year passes...

20 years later, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still the only Beatles in the world

― J. Sam, Saturday, 13 September 2025 17:32 (four months ago)

Yeah...!

I adore this record. So nice to finally have a listenable digital version of "There's Always Something Happening". This outtake called "The Seventies" rules as well.

― TheNuNuNu, Saturday, 13 September 2025 22:25 (four months ago)

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