Let Your Freak Folk Flag Fly

Devendra Banhart
Cripple Crow (XL)


CocoRosie
Noah's Ark (Touch and Go)

Hippies, man. Why is it that eventhough my disdain for all things patchouli smelling is at an all time high (I don't care if you are the sweetest, nicest and hippest hipster, if you stank, get the fuck away from me) yet my interest in sounds associated with it is blooming? I mean really, can I get any more obsessed with Joanna Newsom? Perhaps the idea of a flower girl in ass tight jeans singing like woodland elf sprite is turn on worthy.

And surprisingly San Francisco doesn't stand at the forefront, eventhough holding the Newsom card has critics and hipster wielding flowers in their hair (and Vetiver remains one of the most underratted of the folk acts). New York. The hustle bustle of Metropolis is producing and housing some the biggest names in the anti-biz, from the unlikely leader in the heaven-sent voice of Antony (and the Johnsons, of course) to the bizarre rhythmic circus that is the Animal Collective. But hey brothers, Antony is from the South Bay and perhaps the wackiest and endearing of them all, Devendra Banhart, used to call SF home.

Banhart's new album Cripple Crow is by far the most accesible album and most likely the best of his to date. However, this doesn't make Banhart Shins-accesible. Cripple Crow is not without frustratingly annoying tracks and its slightly hefty 22 song, 74 minute girth can be a bit grating. I was thinking, I can listen to Banhart's record start to finish and really enjoy it. But if I'm asked to listen closely and break it down song by song, you might have to throw me in straight jacket. Surprisingly, it didn't happen. Or the straight jacket fits me very nicely.

Banhart to me, has always been a marvelous songwriter with no clear direction. His songs seem like impromptu excercises in certain chord progessions and melodies. And like many of his contemporaries, things can get repetitive and static. But he also possess a beautifully freakish voice and a good grasp on whimsically wonderful lyrics.

Cripple Crow's main theme is clearly youthfulness, as not only does the songs' lyrics plainly shout it out loud, but the music skips and hops with charm, fancy-free. It also lacks any clear structure, as Banhart's attention span is much like a kid in a candy store. One second, his hands are on dark chocolate, the next, he's reachin' for the pop rocks. "I Feel Just Like a Child" is pretty much hammers you over the head with a downright silly rhyme scheme and could pass for a theme song in Pee Wee's Playhouse. "Some People Ride the Wave" presents more childish wordplay over a jazzy piano and tootin' trumpet and Banhart confirms he's just "foolin' around".

With all the child's play, it is interesting that in more than one occasion Banhart sings of fatherhood. "Long Haired Child", one of the best tracks on the record, is a pyschedelic rock number, complete with staccato guitar rhythms and noodling fuzzed out leads. Banhart expresses his desire for his child to be long haired due to his own head being cold. The song travels into a breezy, tropical breakdown and Banhart wistfully coos perhaps the most heartfelt line of the record: "When my baby slips out of my mama's womb, we're gonna enter a new life that's for sure." And on "Chinese Children" Banhart jokes about all his children being Chinese no matter where he is, be it Oakland or "Greeceland". I'm just proud my people got a little shout-out. (On a side note: How about the forthcoming Fiery Furnaces' album Bitter Tea being set in Taipei, Taiwan? Yeah, that's the one after the also forthcoming Rehearsing My Choir. That's respect!)

With every repeated listen, Cripple Crow becomes more magical, each song taking its own shape and identity. Banhart and his "family" of musicians run the gamut of styles and textures from Indian pyschedelia ("Lazy Butterfly") to the very dominant latin rhythms (featuring Banhart's sweet tongued Spanish singing on multiple songs). And Banhart's subjects range from the NAMBLA inspired "Little Boys" to reminding us there are only two left in "The Beatles". I'm just shocked a hippie can be so insipred that he would not only get a job, but be incredibly good at it.

Two of Banhart's "sisters" Bianca and Sierra Casady, otherwise known as CocoRosie has chose to follow a different path, with a painfully disappointing result. Their debut album La Maison de Mon Reve was a solid mix of dirty folk mixed in with synthetic hip hop beats, glazed with a decidedly French syrup. It was sweet and weird and weird one more time over.

Noah's Ark, the sisters sophomore album is heavy as a gravestone, and excuse my horrible pun, is the death of the party, especially in comparison to Cripple Crow. It gets mired in dark static and annoyingly serious, forcedly bizarre lyrics of urban decay and the horrid ghetto life of the city. What they've created is this urban folk, gritty and peculiar at the same time, and it doesn't quite mesh.

The album art doesn't help. The cover features three unicorns sodomizing each other. Yeah, it's strange, maybe a little funny, but a bit over the top, and you seem to get a distinct feeling from the music it's not meant to be funny. What a buzzkill. The back cover and inset photos feature Sisters Casady posing in full Frida Kahlo regalia. It's a noble nod to womanhood but frankly comes off being forced, obvious and a little lame.

But back to the music, The Casadys trade in the folk blues guitars for droning keys and ominous pianos and perhaps a few too many soundbytes. The effects are so dominating that I could be watching a Police Academy movie or a sports blooper reel. Sure, it's avant-garde and interesting at points, but there is no subtlety in their usage of clips.

Admittedly, the music is often very beautiful. Many of the arrangements are heart-wrenchingly delicate. The matching with their interestingly contrasting voices to the down tempo stylings often can be emotional and/or soothing. "Honey and Tar" is a lovely number similar to "Good Friday" (off Maison), swimming in jazzy-folk vibes. Antony lends his distinctive amazing vocal to 'Beautiful Boyz", a shining light amidst the haze of mediocrity. But even Banhart can't save "Brazilian Sun" from being plain simply boring and a serious drag. And that's the problem with Noah's Ark. It, in small doses, is strange and lovely, but as whole is the same piano, harp lines over and over and over. They've wrung the melody out of their tie-dyes and it really makes for bad fashion. It is hard to get into something so musically repetitive when you are trying to avoid the lyrics or isn't instantly hooky. That's why I don't like ravers either. Sorry, I'm not really that hateful, you caught me at a weird time.

Man, can I talk some freak-folk, eh hermanos!

Devendra Banhart is headlining Bimbo's 10/30/05 and probably won't be wearing shoes. CocoRosie is opening for Antony and the Johnsons (like forever) at the Palace of Fine Arts 9/20/05.

Devendra Banhart: http://www.xlrecordings.com/devendrabanhart/
CocoRosie: http://www.cocorosieland.com/