DEVENDRA BANAHRT

Now, more than ever, eccentricity in music is something to be actively encouraged. With all the nice, safe, dull music in circulation, there's an urgent need for the different, unusual and unexpected to jolt the tastebuds. It's why Antony & The Johnsons deserve their time in the Mercury sun, and it's also probably why Devendra Banhart's time is now.

Banhart is the singer-songwriter who makes all other singer-songwriters currently in vogue look and sound like lumpy turnips. Over the course of four or so albums, Banhart's brand of beardy freak-folk has won many admirers, the playful charm and infectious, freewheeling nature of his songs pining for a return to the 1960s but quite happy to make do with the here and now.

Though it's the first album to feature a Banhart band, the Woodstock-recorded Cripple Crow is cut from much the same cloth as Rejoicing in the Hands and Nino Rojo, with all manner of compelling out-there hippie pop lapping gently around your ears. Naturally, a couple of the album's 22 tracks are more throwaway, lightweight whimsy than anything else, but the magnificent poppy groove of Long Haired Child, the gorgeous blues of Little Boys, the drifting magic of Lazy Butterfly and the brittle, bittersweet Luna de Margarita will probably not be bettered by Banhart's peers this year. www.xlrecordings.com