XL Recordings

Devendra Banhart, Matt Sweeney, Archer Prewitt contribute to liner notes

Cat Power is great, but her music's not exactly a picker upper. And Malkmus is sometimes funny, but in more of a heady way than a spit-coffee-at-your-computer-screen way. Thus, Matador has rectified its comedy void with the forthcoming reissue of Earles and Jensen's out-of-print double-disc Earles and Jensen Present... Just Farr a Laugh: The Greatest Prank Phone Calls Ever! Vols. 1 & 2. After a few delays, the record finally arrives April 22.

The duo consists of Brooklynite Jeffrey Jensen and Memphis resident Andrew Earles, both writers and jacks of several other trades as well (e.g., Jensen was once the bass player for Homestead Records' Smack Dab). The Just Farr a Laugh reissue package comes with a book of photos, drawings, and written forewords from a host of cool contributors. Devendra Banhart, Matt Sweeney, and Archer Prewitt all lend drawings to the book, and the list of foreword writers includes Matador co-head Gerard Cosloy, Gregg Turkington (aka Neil Hamburger), and Neil Pollack.

As for the audio contents of the record, the title pretty much says it all, although the MP3 samples linked below say it even better.

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Hollywood actress Natalie Portman is dating folk artist Devendra Banhart, according to various reports.

Natalie Portman stars alongside Devendra Banhart in his new video

And many other sentences completely inconceivable in 2003

We knew actress Natalie Portman and singing beard Devendra Banhart were tight; he did, after all, lay down an exclusive song for her Big Change: Songs for FINCA charity compilation last fall.

But apparently they're a lot tighter than that. MTV.com points us to this little tidbit: late last month, Nat and Big D collaborated on a video for "Carmensita" from Devendra's three-songs-too-long-player Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. No word on just when we'll get an eyeful of these two frolicking to the strains of D's chugging cut, but, shit, it's a far better Portman + facial hair guy equation than that thing that came on before The Darjeeling Limited.

Other than frolicking with movie stars, Devendra's got a few gigs coming around, including a stop in late June at the Hollywood Bowl with one Gilberto Gil, and an appearance at Outside Lands in August. Though any time you want a little D in your life, you can always head this-a-way. [MORE...]

KCRW's World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles will return for its 10th year this summer. The SoCal public radio station will celebrate a decade of collaborating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association by infusing Sundays throughout the summer with sweet tunes and inspired matchups.

The weekly festival's six installments feature such stellar lineups as Devendra Banhart, Gilberto Gil, and the Album Leaf with Mike Heron from the Incredible String Band, Feist and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Gnarls Barkley, Deerhoof, and Youssou N'Dour, and Thievery Corporation with Seu Jorge.

KCRW's World Festival begins on June 22 with Thievery/Jorge headlining a show that also features Bebel Gilberto, Los Amigos Invisibles, and Federico Aubele. The full lineup is after the jump.

The Hollywood Bowl also has several notable non-World Festival shows scheduled throughout the coming months, including Brian Wilson on September 12-14, Nick Cave and Spiritualized on September 17, and Etta James and Solomon Burke on August 13. [MORE...]

So do Au Revoir Simone

Many moons ago, we reported on the Yellow Bird Project, a fairly ingenious bit of rock'n'roll largesse. The Montreal-based non-profit drafts indie rock stars like Devendra Banhart, Stars, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and My Brightest Diamond to design t-shirts, with money from the sale of the shirts going to the charity of each band's choice.

Well, a little birdie-- or, rather, the Shins' MySpace blog-- reminded us that Yellow Bird's still doing their thing, and whaddya know, they've got a few noteworthy new designs since we last checked in. Experienced shirt designers the Shins contributed a sad sack guy standing in front of an exit sign, to benefit the Nature Conservancy. Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade scrawled a bird-like creature about to get swallowed by a dragon tail (or something), with the proceeds going to Eugene, Oregon's Glass Casters Union. Rilo Kiley doodled a leafy branch, to benefit the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund. And Au Revoir Simone have a little fun with squares on theirs, which gives it up to Transportation Alternatives.

All of these t-shirts are $25, available now. Many of the designs we mentioned way back when are still available as well.

Here are the Wolf Parade, Shins, and Rilo Kiley designs:

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Devendra video YouTube page!cheers,Nothin' But The JZA

Director also does video project with Devendra Banhart

Photos by Luke Gilford and Natalie Rodgers

From Sonic Nurse to..."sadistic doctor"? That's the big screen turn we can expect out of Kim Gordon in the previously reported, forthcoming short film from director/screenwriter Alia Raza.

Pure White Light, as they're calling it, has been in production most of this month and also stars Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark, OK Go's Damian Kulash, and writer and fashion maven Liz Goldwyn.

According to Raza, "The movie is about self-identity in the age of aesthetics and consumerism. It tells the story of a woman's journey from insecure, lonely ingenue to jaded sophisticate."

That story was penned by Miranda July, who met Raza through a Me and You and Everyone We Know producer and suggested the budding director choose a short story from one of July's collections and adapt it for the screen.



Stark plays the aforementioned "lonely ingenue" (that's her with Raza pictured above), while Kulash plays Stark's husband "who may or may not love her," according to Raza. Goldwyn portrays "a catty friend."

Pure White Light will be submitted to festivals, with screenings in New York City and Los Angeles planned but not yet set in stone.

And Raza's brush with indie rock royalty will hardly end there. In February, NYC gallery Greene Naftali will...

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That is all.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!JZA JZA