Wired Mesh

Greaseball Heaven

I don't know where exactly I stand on that crucial world issue of file sharing, but I do know that I don't see much need for it, not so long as there's a truckload of fantastic music on the Net that's both free and legal. I've been stacking my iTunes collection for the last few weeks, thanks mostly to a spectrum of MP3 blogs. So it seems like time to join Andy in offering a free download of my own each week. If you scroll down the menu at right, you'll see a new category, The Thursday MPThree. Just stop by each Thursday, right-click on the artist icon, and select "Save Link As" to take home my favorite bit of tuneful goodness for the week.

I don't know much about Devendra Banhart, other than some odd biographical details about a childhood in Venezuela. I wasn't a huge fan of his last album, Rejoicing in the Hands. I found his little-boy-lost voice distracting; he sounded like he was hyperventilating on each folky track. But I haven't been able to stop listening to "At The Hop," a song from his upcoming release, Nino Rojo. It's got some kick to it, a tiny, slapping backbeat in the first few moments that breathes rhythmic life into Banhart's always-lush guitars. If Victoria Williams and Sam Beam had a child, and said child grew up to record doo-wop records, this would be one of his songs.