IF EYEDEA COULD go back in time and redo his life, he'd probably be erasing things that every fan of underground hip-hop associates with him: the mastery of battle emceeing, the win at HBO's Blaze Battle in 2000, the touring with Slug of Atmosphere. Basically one half of the rap duo Eyedea & Abilities said he has a career made out of "a series of, a string of, bad mistakes."
"Well, when I was young, I assumed that battle kind of stuff was necessary for me to have a career, make a name for myself," said Eyedea (real name: Michael Larsen). "But it was more just a means to an end — I wanted to get enough people to know who I was, and then just have them buy my records. ... But looking back on it, it kind of fucked shit up. When you're young and you do something and you kind of blossom in some way, people really, really define you by that, and since it was something I never wanted to anchor to my identity, it may have been something I shouldn't have done. It was really hard for people to get used to the fact that I didn't want to make music about being that guy."
The guy that Eyedea does want to be, though, is the person he is right now: Back with DJ Abilities (born: Gregory "Max" Keltgen) after a break-up a few years ago, the two put out their latest full-length album, "By the Throat" (Rhymesayers), in July, their first release together since 2004. And each of them has an array of side projects — such as Eyedea's rock bands, Carbon Carousel and the new Puppy Dogs and Ice Cream, and his free jazz group, Face Candy — that keep them occupied when Eyedea & Abilities isn't.
Eyedea spoke with Express about moving past the artistically unfulfilling world of battling, hooking back up with Abilities and the gratifying feeling of putting music out under his real name. Watch out, "16-year-old dumbass hip-hop kids" — Eyedea has no qualms about calling you out.
WITH HIS THIN frame, throwback wardrobe, flowing beard and wispy delivery, Devendra Banhart was the freakiest of the freak folkers, that wave of lo-fi acoustic strummers who prized the weird, offputting intimacy of off-the-map '60s folk. He's also arguably the most successful: the Houston-born, Venezuela-raised musician has opened for bossa nova legend Gilberto Gil, remixed Oasis, exhibited sketches in museums and dated Natalie Portman.
Success, however, seems to have left him a bit aimless. His 2007 album, "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon," sounded as formless as a cloud of marijuana smoke, delivering only a mild contact high. "What Will We Be" improves on that sedated haze, indulging a range of sounds and styles over the course of 13 tracks. The fragile "Angelika" breaks for a trippy bossa nova interlude, while "Baby" melds R&B rhythms to one of Banhart's most straightforward compositions. "16th & Valencia" thrums electronically, as if he's covering the Strokes, and "Rats" forays into a dark, Doorsy jam.
At some point, however, that diversity becomes the main point of "What Will We Be," suggesting a willful scrambling of influences rather than a natural synthesis.
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WEDNESDAY: Eccentric Venezuelan folk-rocker (and former flame of Natalie Portman) Devendra Banhart will be at the 9:30 Club tonight with his usual Indian-inspired folk music.
Worried that Banhart lost some indie cred when manic pixie dreamgirl Portman took her leave? Check out his new album, "What Will We Be," or the videos below. You'll find his vaguely stoned-sounding hits beautifully unchanged.
» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; Wed., Nov. 25, 7 p.m., $30; 202-393-0930. (U St.-Cardozo)
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo courtesy Alissa Anderson 2003
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