INSTEP Magzine






Devendra Banhart Carmensita If you follow any sort of celeb gossip or couply shenanigans, you might have heard that Natalie Portman is dating Indian/Venezuelan folk rocker Devendra Banhart. Trying to assist her honey, she recently helped him whip up a wacky Bollywood style music video for his single Carmensita. Before being known to most as Natalie Portman's boyfriend, Devendra Banhart was famous in certain circles for turning out interesting neo-folk music and has been a mainstay in the independent music scene for a little while now.

His new song Carmensita, has people talking partly because Ms. Portman is in the video but also because some people aren't sure how awesome this cheeky swipe at Bollywood-style productions is. Carmensita is the Spanish-with- a- tinge -of -Hindi, single from his latest album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. The track has a catchy tune to it, though one cannot understand the lyrics unless one is fluent in Spanish. In the video, however, he comes across as a faintly creepy hippy and it is made evident that real life has not seemed to intrude much on his strange beguiling world. While still maintaining his quirkiness, this salsa jam is mature, heavy and glorious and leaves on a feeling that he should experiment with heaviness more often. With this single,according to critics, Banhart is toying with genres in the same offhand, affectionate way that he tosses about imagery. This is just one of the many songs on Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, the testimony of a magical and eccentric singer who had his heart broken and grew up, just a little, as a consequence.

Babyshambles Delivery A lot has been said about Pete Doherty, he's been the absolute poster child for bad-boy drug-fueled rocker antics. He's kept The Mirror, The Independent, Evening Standard and other London papers quite busy reporting on everything from his stormy relationship with Kate Moss to his court appearances. But what few mention is Doherty's damn fine songwriting abilities. Shotters Nation showcases that talent, although many of the tracks are filled with words of lost loves or cautionary tales of drug abuse, or both.

Delivery starts out fun and rocks some fine, if self-pitying, lyrics "I'm fucked, forlorn, frozen beneath the summer/Don't sing along or you'll get what I've got" over a danceable beat. The melody and beat are hopeful, despite the lyrics that speak of the dysfunctional, obviously! The guitar work here is some of the most gorgeous acoustic stuff one has heard in a while and Pete's punky melancholy vocals are accompanied by the legendary folk guitarist Bert Jansch. The Brit-punk rogue sounds light-hearted, strumming through an assortment of guitar sounds. It is a giddy fantasy about dropping out of school to "make pretend it's 1969 forever," and although the lyrics are barely comprehensible, this track sure is a nice bit of fun!

Keith Urban Shine The ravishing Nicole Kidman's beau, Keith Urban usually doesn't take a lot of musical or lyrical risks. Lyrics are clean and infused with heartbreak, longing, and just a touch of sexual innuendo, all wrapped in predictable country and western poetry and one can often hear the influences of other popular musical forms in his songs, such as rock, blues and even jazz. He sure knows how to draw on a variety of pop influences to create one satisfying, comfortable contemporary country hit after another. In his single 'Shine,' blistering rock guitar riffs and strong rhythm serve as counterpoint to sentimental lyrics that would be over-the-top sugary in more traditional country arrangements. Cliché'd lines like "When the sun is hard to find/when it's rainin' in your eyes…when you just can't see the light/baby, I'll find a way to shine" get a fresh new life with Urban's raucous rock-
influenced guitar playing and over pounding drums. The stellar vocal performance, intensity and drama almost make up for the cheesy-quotient, and portrayd a really handsome guy who wants you to know he has a playful side, too. Predictable and comforting as the sunrise, Keith Urban's lyrics cover a lot of old territory with just enough vivid poetry to keep tedium at bay. The seductive finesse he has in this track is something to marvel at. He is as passionate and provocative as he is playful with this song. Calculated or not, Keith Urban knows how to put a catchy song together with taste and style, so that the whole is inevitably greater than the sum of its parts, and that is a talent all by itself.

Coldplay Violet Hill Coldplay's fourth release has been billed as their experimental record, as well as their political record. And it is both, relatively speaking. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends opens with 'Violet Hill,' an anthemic riff played not on guitar but on a Persian santur. It describes a scene in which "priests clutched onto Bibles/Hollowed out to fit their rifles." Fun, right? It is, weirdly enough. Viva la Vida is Coldplay's effort to raise the creative bar in the wake of both huge
commercial success and some not-insubstantial critical drubbing. But it's still about stadium-scale melodies and singalong choruses. And while the experimentation makes this their most musically interesting album to date, its political messages are too vague to be heard amid its outsize hooks.

In 'Violet Hill,' there are some stomping guitar chords which Gwyneth Paltrow's eye-candy hubby Chris Martin sings to perfectly and the great thing about the song is how hushed Martin's vocals are. It starts off with a synthesizer that bubble away which then lends itself in guitar fuzz. It all starts of quietly and then slowly manages to fill the room. Then there are the vocals from frontman Chris Martin, he starts of singing about "a long and dark December / From the rooftops I remember there was snow." That's when things pickup and start to stomp, it is a startling change from a whimsy start then to powerful pounding muscular guitar and piano chords. However; it does not stop there the momentum seems to build and build until we reach the point where guitarist Jonny Buckland gives a guitar solo, Buckland then brings things down again with a smooth and sexy midsection with a little crooning from Martin in the background.