Devendra Banhart & Friends - The Golden Apples Of The Sun (2004)

Some of the best acts in the US neo-folk scene gathered together in an excellent (and not so easy to find) compilation assembled by Devendra Banhart.

«How classic is this – the compilation that defined a genre. I get asked time and time again ‘what the hell is this New Weird America thing?’ well, beardy bloke Devendra Banhart managed to put together this disc in 2004 when the scene was just a murmur on the lips of David Keenan and looking at the tracklisting now you’d think the man was Nostradamus. It’s a veritable who’s who of the scene, with Six Organs of Admittance, Espers, White Magic, Diane Cluck, Joanna Newsom, Josephine Foster, Vetiver, Jack Rose, Matt Valentine, Cocorosie, Antony and many more. It’s hard to comprehend how Banhart roped all this stuff together so early on in the scene’s inception, but hearing it now it hasn’t dated one bit and surely stands as a museum piece which will be remembered for a long time to come. Compilations this important don’t come around so often any more, and not since Warp’s ‘Artificial Intelligence’ has one so clearly defined an entire genre.» (Boomkat)

Longer reviews on Cokemachineglow and Pitchfork.

Link in comments