Pitchfork: Devendra Banhart Assembles New Compilation

Devendra Banhart Assembles New Compilation
DFA's upcoming "Cowbell Classics" collection a surefire Billboard heatseeker

Nationwide freebie Arthur Magazine recently drafted folklord Devendra Banhart to gather up 20 tracks for release on the rag's new imprint, Bastet. The compilation CD, humbly titled The Golden Apples of the Sun, was recently released in a limited run of 1,000 and features mainly as-of-yet unreleased tracks from heavy hitters in the world of contemporary soft-punk. Banhart also contributed the drawings that adorn the disc's sleeve. Arthur editor Jay Babcock's chummy relationship with Banhart, whom the magazine was championing way back in the '02, led to the enlistment of the folk hero turned tastemaker.

"Devendra is an enthusiast and a cheerleader and a hyperconnector and a scholar and basically a mobile node of what's going on out there in folkmusicland," Babcock told Pitchfork via e-mail earlier this week. "He has phenomenal taste, too, which is important, and why I listen to him when he tells me the latest artist he's excited to the stars about, which is what he's been doing the entire time I've known him... He'd been sending me CDs he'd been home-burning... old stuff that he was into or demos/advances of other people's work that had been passed to him somehow that he thought were deserving of notice... But he wouldn't just send CDs, he'd send these beautifully handwritten letters that were basically liner notes, describing who the artist was, where they're from, what they're up to, etc."

When first officially informed of his task, Devendra was giddier than a bard in a mandolin shop. This much can be inferred from the following internal memo first sniffed out by your friendly neighborhood Pitchfork and then finally handed over by Babcock in an old fashioned finger-in-trenchcoat-style stickup ambush Wednesday afternoon: "Jay, there are two things i have always always wanted to be asked to do, they are both to make a comp for ARTHUR!!!! I WILL PAY YOU FOOL!!!!!!!!!!! damn this is AMAZING! do you mean it? i mean it!! shit its gonna be GOOOODDDDD!!!!!!!!!! i am completely into it and am HONORED and spinning silently within compartments of me you have awaken for the bliss would be too much unless real and you make it so!"

It's always nice to see such an honest and excited reaction (so often enthusiasm and indie rock go together like fish and bicycles), and Banhart's place in the underground scene is beginning to mirror that of Sub Pop contract killer Isaac Brock's. Ye Smog and Cat Power fans oughta take momentary leave of sobbing and observe the shifting vanguard of elitist, smartypants acoustic sorta-shredders. Tracklist:

01 Vetiver (w/Hope Sandoval): "Angel's Share"
02 Joanna Newsom: "Bridges and Balloons"
03 Six Organs of Admittance: "Hazy SF"
04 Viking Moses: "Crosses"
05 Josephine Foster: "Little Life"
06 ESPers: "Byss & Abyss"
07 Vashti Bunyan & Devendra Banhart: "Rejoicing in the Hands"
08 Jana Hunter: "Farm, CA"
09 Currituck Co.: "The Tropics of Cancer"
10 White Magic: "Don't Need"
11 Iron and Wine: "Fever Dream"
12 Diane Cluck: " Heat From Every Corner"
13 Matt Valentine: "Mountains of Yaffa"
14 Entrance: "You Must Turn"
15 Jack Rose: "White Mule"
16 Little Wings: "Look at What the Light Did Now"
17 Scout Niblett: "Wet Road"
18 Troll: "Mexicana"
19 CocoRosie: "Good Friday"
20 Antony: "The Lake"

Note: When approached for comment Thursday morning, Snoop Dogg was apparently livid over a notable absence. "I mean, I see Joanna Newsom listed, but where's my dizzy M. Ward? Y'all don't got no love for the East Coast/Drag Cizzy? Stop the hate before it's too late," said the cornrowed, potsmoking funny-gangster.

Bastet also announced plans to release two more compilations in the coming months, one curated and art-ed by Plastic Crimewave and the other by Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire. The label's ordering information is available on the Arthur website.