Music fest is a many-octaved thing
Outsider artists come together for "5 Nights of Soleros and Bandoleros" to give "folk" a punky, esoteric, jazzy tinge.
By Ann Powers, Times Staff Writer
Helene Renaut:
"Prone to catching dreams and melodies from the salty air of the San Francisco Bay Area, Brittany native Helene Renaut usually weaves them on guitar and vocals and delivers them in either French or English. Her songs have been described as 'tweedy tunes with literate lyrics, languorous like red wine' (Pat Johnson, West Coast Performer) and 'pastoral beauties that call to mind Donovan, early Joni Mitchell, Hope Sandoval' (Tim Sendra, AMG). She released a debut album with her band, Beam, in 2003 (Antenna Farm Records), and produced a collection of acoustic songs, Perfection's somewhere near your bones, in 2004. A new album is in the works right now (winter 2006)." -Antenna Records
Messes:
"With finger picking that would make Sam Beam blush in awkwardness, and a voice that scratches through the throat of David Bazan, Messesis a refreshing and familiar sound in a city that seems to be as alienating as it is intriguing." -RewriteableContent.com
Elisa Randazzo:
"Randazzo is the daughter of hit makers Teddy Randazzo and Victoria Pike. If you've ever heard the Zombies' version of her father's "Goin' Out Of My Head" you already know where part of her musical heart comes from. She has played and recorded with a diverse amalgamation of artists such as Spiritualized, The Red Krayola and Tim Burgess of the Charlatans (to name a few)." -CDBaby.com
Devendra Banhart was as pleased as tequila-laced punch, holding his empty margarita glass proudly in the El Cid courtyard Tuesday as the first installment of the ambitious five-night outsider folk music festival he programmed slowly turned into a sellout.
He laughed when someone commented on all the bearded males in the room. "It doesn't take any work to grow a beard," he said. "You just let it happen." That's rather like the scene the gifted singer-songwriter has helped define, made up of lone wolves and outsider collectives emerging out of dusty corners from Venice to Granada...
...The only truly notable performer Wednesday couldn't have been more different. Ruthann Friedman took the stage with unassuming sweetness, looking more like someone who'd headline a community picnic than a hipster gathering. The 62-year-old Los Angeles resident, who recorded one album in 1969 that was recently reissued, is best known for writing the Association's vanilla pop classic "Windy," but her set at El Cid showed her talent beyond one-hit-wonder status.
Friedman, a former housemate of David Crosby and the Jefferson Airplane, showed the influence of her peers, but her jazz-touched, melodically complex songs went beyond mere hippie confessions. One reflectively mourned her sister's suicide; another she dedicated to Astrud Gilberto, and, though Friedman's voice and guitar-picking showed the effects of years not performing, she captured that Brazilian lilt. As she shared stories from her long, strange trip, many of the festival's other performers sat rapt, grateful that Banhart had rescued a mentor from obscurity...
windiest1
LATIMES.COM.com July 22, 2006
Music fest is a many-octaved thing
Outsider artists come together for "5 Nights of Soleros and Bandoleros" to give "folk" a punky, esoteric, jazzy tinge.
By Ann Powers, Times Staff Writer
Helene Renaut:
"Prone to catching dreams and melodies from the salty air of the San Francisco Bay Area, Brittany native Helene Renaut usually weaves them on guitar and vocals and delivers them in either French or English. Her songs have been described as 'tweedy tunes with literate lyrics, languorous like red wine' (Pat Johnson, West Coast Performer) and 'pastoral beauties that call to mind Donovan, early Joni Mitchell, Hope Sandoval' (Tim Sendra, AMG). She released a debut album with her band, Beam, in 2003 (Antenna Farm Records), and produced a collection of acoustic songs, Perfection's somewhere near your bones, in 2004. A new album is in the works right now (winter 2006)." -Antenna Records
Messes:
"With finger picking that would make Sam Beam blush in awkwardness, and a voice that scratches through the throat of David Bazan, Messesis a refreshing and familiar sound in a city that seems to be as alienating as it is intriguing." -RewriteableContent.com
Elisa Randazzo:
"Randazzo is the daughter of hit makers Teddy Randazzo and Victoria Pike. If you've ever heard the Zombies' version of her father's "Goin' Out Of My Head" you already know where part of her musical heart comes from. She has played and recorded with a diverse amalgamation of artists such as Spiritualized, The Red Krayola and Tim Burgess of the Charlatans (to name a few)." -CDBaby.com
Devendra Banhart was as pleased as tequila-laced punch, holding his empty margarita glass proudly in the El Cid courtyard Tuesday as the first installment of the ambitious five-night outsider folk music festival he programmed slowly turned into a sellout.
He laughed when someone commented on all the bearded males in the room. "It doesn't take any work to grow a beard," he said. "You just let it happen." That's rather like the scene the gifted singer-songwriter has helped define, made up of lone wolves and outsider collectives emerging out of dusty corners from Venice to Granada...
...The only truly notable performer Wednesday couldn't have been more different. Ruthann Friedman took the stage with unassuming sweetness, looking more like someone who'd headline a community picnic than a hipster gathering. The 62-year-old Los Angeles resident, who recorded one album in 1969 that was recently reissued, is best known for writing the Association's vanilla pop classic "Windy," but her set at El Cid showed her talent beyond one-hit-wonder status.
Friedman, a former housemate of David Crosby and the Jefferson Airplane, showed the influence of her peers, but her jazz-touched, melodically complex songs went beyond mere hippie confessions. One reflectively mourned her sister's suicide; another she dedicated to Astrud Gilberto, and, though Friedman's voice and guitar-picking showed the effects of years not performing, she captured that Brazilian lilt. As she shared stories from her long, strange trip, many of the festival's other performers sat rapt, grateful that Banhart had rescued a mentor from obscurity...