Stereogum Home
July 22, 2008

New Devendra Banhart Video (Feat. Natalie Portman) - "Carmensita"

thumbnail icon: New Devendra Banhart Video (Feat. Natalie Portman) - "Carmensita"

"Carmensita"? More like "Bhagavad Gita," am i right? No, I am the worst. But that means DevBan and his his girlfriend are, too, for making this morning about hammy jokery at the expense of sacred and Hindu things. The track title, the sounds, and the lyrics' language don't do much to evoke Hindustan, but Devendra roots this vid -- for a track from the long gone Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon -- in older (as in ancient kali yuga) era Bollywood. Not that the cross-cultural mish mash should be surprising; this is a guy who's cultivated an image equal parts forest-dwelling Venezuelan gypsy and starlet-devouring Hollywood scenester. He's good at playing it two ways. And so to wit, here's the vid for his Spanish song featuring Kali, Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Natalie Portman, and series of silly subtitles.

Nice mudras, Devendra. Smokey Rolls is out via XL.

Posted at 10:00 AM by amrit in
Tags:  |




-->

14 Comments

The Spilken8r

That was batshit loco.

And awesome.

Posted by: The Spilken8r profile link at 07/22/08 10:58 AM | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

If Devendra wasn't so boring, he'd be unbelievably annoying.

Posted by: No Thanks at 07/22/08 11:11 AM | Reply
Score = -4 Vote up Vote down

could this guy do anything to make me hate him more?.... probably not, at this point

Posted by: Jonathon at 07/22/08 11:13 AM | Reply
Score = -3 Vote up Vote down

Whatever. I love the guy. And this made me love him even more.

Posted by: Anonymous at 07/22/08 12:32 PM | Reply
Score = 2 Vote up Vote down
k

Double Fantasy. [Opposite Day = SLIMED!]

Posted by: k profile link at 07/22/08 12:36 PM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

I just don't get him. I dig the video and the song. at the end of the day he is more image than talent. I always think back to the Human Giant skit where the record stor guys are serial killers. Their victims are anyone who doesn't take music as seroiously as they do. In it they mention that Devandra is playing in a dumpster. So true...

Posted by: Amigos de Los Monos at 07/22/08 2:02 PM | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

Smokey sucked balls hardcore style. About two good songs on the whole album, the rest was yawn-inducing. And come on, the guys nauseatingly pretentious. Nino Rojo is the only really good thing he's done. This video made me want to throttle him with his beads.

Posted by: Stephen profile link at 07/22/08 3:03 PM | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

Wow, someone needs to listen to "Smokey" again. It's too long, yes, but the songs are solid all the way through.

And "DevBan"??????? Please shut up. Please. Try NOT being clever and cute for a day and see how much better this blog will get.

Posted by: christian at 07/22/08 5:23 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down
aaron

Smokey wasn't that bad, yet it wasn't that good. Devendra has some good stuff, but when it comes to reply value, he pretty much fails in every single way.

Posted by: aaron profile link in reply to christian's comment at 07/23/08 10:27 AM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

well i love it

Posted by: kate at 07/22/08 7:22 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

that was too good too be true! so great!

Posted by: nadsat profile link at 07/23/08 2:54 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

crap

Posted by: crap at 07/23/08 1:13 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

natalie portman is sexy always.

Posted by: steve at 07/24/08 2:57 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I like this. Devendra Banhart goes on uncriticized, for the most part, because he is well humored. I read once, I think in a Pitchfork review of 'Cripple Crow'; "the slightest bit of hippy smugness would ruin him." Something like that. Anyway; goofy video, decent music, and it made me smile a bit.

Posted by: Frogmandu at 07/25/08 4:48 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


 

The 'Gum Drop

Get our newsletter. MP3s and giveaways weekly.

Search




Sort by:date relevance

Information

  • Contact:
  • About
  • Press
  • Advertising
  • Stereogum RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
  • MP3-Only RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon

Staff

Founder/Editor-In-Chief
Scott Lapatine
Executive Editor
Amrit Singh
Senior Writer
Brandon Stosuy
Columnist
Jon McMillan
Technology & Operations
Jim Jazwiecki
Angela Williams

The Cool Kids

All Stereogum Posts

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Fredrik

Earlier this year we shined a light Swedish pop outfit the LK and their electro lovely, wintry gem "Stop Being Perfect." Had we known the band had a side project sooner, we probably would have written sooner. Instead, we came...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: Megafaun

Raleigh-via-Eau Clair BTW Megafaun debuted impressively earlier this year with Bury The Square. The trio nip-and-tuck experimental tendencies (tape splicing, white noise colliding with banjo, junkyard-laced spring reverb, screeching feedback at the tail end of a quiet back porch lament)...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

Skeletal Lamping is anything but skeletal. When we took a close listen to album closer "Id Engager" we mentioned it wasn't the strangest, most ambitious, or best tune on of Montreal's new one, but after absorbing the other 14 tracks,...

MORE »

Video Hangover logo

Video Hangover: Marcy Playground - "Saint Joe On The Schoolbus"

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. This week: Marcy Playground blows their one chance at video immortality.

MORE »

Oldstand logo

OldStand: Rolling Stone, September 13, 1984

Take our ink-stained hands and join us at the OldStand, where Jon McMillan goes to remind everyone what an honest-to-goodness music magazine is supposed to look like. Lots of Huey Lewis (and the News) news lately, so let's go back...

MORE »

The Outsiders logo

The Outsiders: Vol. 17: Bird Show, Hair Police, Hush Arbors

Not all of Stereogum's favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment's virtual...

MORE »

The 'Gum Drop logo

Horse Feathers - "Father"

Portland songwriter Justin Ringle's evocative vocal twang and sharp lyricism are at the center of Horse Feathers' bedroom Americana. The band's second album House With No Home, which follows 2006's Words Are Dead, finds Ringle's vision fleshed out by multi-instrumentalist/composer...

MORE »