POST NO. 30: EVERYONE'S FAVORITE BILINGUAL BEARDED HIPPIE BOY

What separates Devendra Banhart from the pack isn't his modern hippie chic or his wacky Marc Bolan-esque voice. It's his songs, stupid. Devendra Banhart's songcraft is remarkable by any decade's standards, and he slips effortlessly from middle-eastern psych-folk to adult-AM folk to harmless, boy-meets-girl ballads to Spanish-sung ethnic folk to mystical freak-folk to trippy, happy folk-rock. He's a chameleon by design, and the fact that he's so capable of adapting to disparate musical environments is what makes his music so entertaining. Sure, he's enlightening, too -- "deep" at times and silly at others. But he's simply got -- pardon the phrase -- bigger balls than most anyone else, present or past, in the category of folk music.

If the media coverage of Devendra or his "movement" has soured you on him, please attempt to wipe your hard-drive clean and erase any perceptions. In doing so, you might just find his new record entirely approachable. On Cripple Crow, he plays up his playful self more frequently, and the results are an accessible album that's full of subtle depth. That depth comes from a slightly fuller sound, compliments of the collective of musicians that Banhart surrounded himself with while recording in Woodstock. I think time will prove this record to be his best, so far. It's certainly his longest, for better and worse.

I couldn't choose just one tune to represent a 22-song album, so here's a couple that showcase Banhart's ever-expanding sound. The first, "Canela," is a pretty piano ballad. The second, "Long Haired Child," is the most rockin' song Banhart has recorded to date, complete with -- ohmygosh -- lead guitar!

Devendra Banhart - "Canela"

Devendra Banhart - "Long Haired Child"

Neither of these songs are truly representative of Cripple Crow as a whole, so if you're a newcomer to Banhart they might not serve as the best introduction. To see Devendra get his T. Rex on in person, check out the video for "I Feel Just Like a Child," also from this record.