With the release of major-label debut What Will We Be (Warner Bros.), Devendra Banhart proves once again he has the potential to be one of his generation’s major players. His voice, with its careening vibrato and fuse-blowing intensity, sounds something like Marc Bolan’s, but his repertoire may be more all over the map than anyone making records today. He combines a love of arcane folk music with hard-rocking psychedelia and an ability to sing beautifully in English or Spanish, a skill he learned growing up in Caracas, Venezuela. He refers to himself, jokingly, as a “fake hippie,” but he appears to be the real thing, a refreshing return to the revolutionary thinking that once seemed capable of changing the course of human events. Who’s to say it couldn’t happen again? Banhart is guest editing magnetmagazine.com. Read our Q&A with him. For his posts this week, Banhart will be sharing 60 videos that are dear to his heart.
Cab Calloway
I love this. One of the greatest entertainers, yes, but it’s his singing that kills me: acrobatic, sui generis all the way!
Don Cherry
“Orient” is one of my top 10 songs of all time. He’s the man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB_ybtBfJ-g
Smash Mouth
Not sure why I put this on. Oh yeah, it’s foookin’ hilarioussss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Wng4PIDY0
Althea & Donna
A classic.
