At 15 I discovered girls and '90s ska.
— Devendra Banhart
I don't make art to make money, I make art so I can make art.
Whether I'm on a major or an indie, I don't think this is important, but at the same time I do.
We all have our vices, you know. One of my vices is ice cream.
Am I a pro-cult person? In no way!
Pay attention to your breathing.
Anne Imhof is a powerful artist from Germany making work that is totally interdisciplinary.
When anyone dies, it's sad.
I'm deeply conservative and I'm profoundly boring.
I aspire to feel like a child, how about that!
I grew up around so much new agey stuff. Part of me takes it lightly because I'm so used to it. It was my parents. It wasn't some path I discovered and want to share with people. It's just been a very natural part of my life. There's humor to it and there's seriousness to it, too.
It's all about sensitivity. If you have sensitivity then mysticism will be part of your life.
I meditate.' That's like saying 'I eat.' Think of all the food there is! And there are almost as many varieties of mediation.
In the past, I had this open-door policy where everyone was invited. And that was awesome, but you end up releasing songs that you don't really like and justifying it in your head.
As anthropomorphic and surreal people have said my early writing was, to me it was really stock and almost banal in the sense that it was just description, the poetry of comparing: 'Your feet are like A, and your eyes like B.'
I sit around and try to play along to certain songs that I really love. It helps you explore new territory.
This is my definition of selling out: When you change what you do or do what you do as a reaction to someone else's expectations or lack of expectations.
R. Kelly is my favorite singer.
I live in a total bubble where I assume everyone is super-liberal and democratic.
I can see my songs in a movie as long as it's a movie no one will watch.
I don't even know what a hippy is. I mean, hippy is an evolution of the Sixties movement. A time when people were trying to make a difference, trying to write songs that were political. People grow old. The hippy camp kind of breaks off into different sects.
It's very powerful to shut down your computer and escape into the real world.
I love Oasis.
Basho is the great poet of Japan, writing in the second half of the 17th century, but his work is still incredibly fresh.
I love almost every Britpop band.
I'm getting older and I'm just coming to terms that I'm stuck with me so I better try to like myself.
I know that there are energies that vibrate frequencies that are so subtle you could say that they exist in a different territory or realm or sphere, and people mistake these frequencies for ghosts.
I sometimes think a movement as rich and wild and incredible as Tropicalismo wouldn't have survived without incredibly catchy music.
Good art doesn't really have an expiration date on it.
I like California a lot. There's a lot of space, but it's actually the most populated place in the nation.
When the Internet came along, the first thing I did was look up Wu-Tang so I could print out their symbol and glue it onto my skateboard.
I can't tell you how many times I've had a friend tell me, in this tender and discreet voice, 'It's just you and me bro, and I want to tell you the truth: make a record of you and an acoustic guitar. Please. That's what everybody actually likes.' That's so funny to me.
I want to do a record with Adam Green of all German schlager songs.
My gadabout days are over.
Dad had four world records, and they happened to be Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Farka Toure. I tried singing like these people, and it didn't work.
I support things that are very close to my heart: mostly LGBTQ rights.
I don't think I'm getting better, quote unquote, as a singer or guitar player. But I'm more comfortable in this particular space. I get better at being a bad singer, so to speak.
Real hippies don't like me at all. They can smell a real hippy.
The only real moment is now.
My number-one hero in terms of interdisciplinary art is Laurie Anderson, but I've always admired anyone who can think way beyond any one medium.
I'm just trying to make rent and do my work.
I collect head shots from bands.
As I get older, there's this new realisation and it's almost like a relief, and that is that I can never be who I once was, but only who I want to become.
As an adolescent I saw the Specials at the Glass House in Pomona, and that was life changing. I dressed the part - except not well, because it was a thrift suit. I looked more like David Byrne than a rudeboy; I still have a hard time finding suits that fit me. But I had my braces and I had my Docs. It was unbelievable.
I'm interested in Qawwali and the blues.
I've got a long list of things I consider to be selling out. But amongst that list, one of them is when you make art without putting your guard down.
Generally, I can't really do much without music playing - even writing or thinking. Peace and quiet means putting on a song.
I might have some delusions of grandeur.
I try to listen to as much as possible. I know some people really try to avoid music when they're writing and recording, but I am very inspired by so many different musicians, and I need to learn.
Grizzly Bear's 'Knife' is one of the best videos of all time - everything Encyclopedia Pictura has done is really incredible.
