This post isn't about an artist; it's about another blog site. But it's probably my favorite blog site ever: Concerts à Emporter. The site is known as Take Away Shows in English, and is a dual language French/English site. Now here's the even cooler part: the guys that run the site record great artists giving mini-concerts all over the world, with a large portion of them being taped in Paris. Each show comes with an explanation of where it was shot, what event it was at, and something about the artist.
Over the years that they've been doing it (the numbering system has lost me a bit, as not all clips are numbered anymore--I think that means that the clips weren't part of a "Take Away Show" specifically for them--but they're about to hit 100 shows!), they've managed to hit up some of my favorite artists. Most of the videos are rough, hand-camera recordings, leading to the occasional bit that is harder to watch if you're not great with shaky visuals. The music more than makes up for this, in my opinion. The shows are usually shot in public, leading to great acoustic versions of songs and intimate performances. The Arcade Fire show comes to mind immediately as one that wasn't exactly a small show; it's amazing what these people can get all of these artists to agree to do. In short, I wish I thought of this and had that kind of access to so many great groups.
If you're looking for new music, I'd suggest you head over and click around a bit. There are a few must-sees in my opinion, so here they are:
Sufjan Stevens-The second song on the roof is actually an Innocence Mission cover.
Bon Iver -Great versions of all of the songs, but the video of For Emma, Forever Ago gives you a good idea of how these shows come together (they end up singing an a cappella version of a great song in a stairwell for an apt building, dogs and confused residents included-then do it all again outside!)
José Gonzalés-who is actually Swedish. Another great song of his to check out is Heartbeats. Monica and Emily may recognize it as The Song I Play On My Phone At 2 AM.
Beirut-Zach Condon may be a bit crazy (see Nantes), but entertaining.
Yeasayer-Beer bottle/floor slapping rendition of Tightrope? Priceless.
There are other names you'd all recognize as well...I definitely can't recommend les Concerts à Emporter enough!
So now that I have officially started to be Very Busy, I doubt I'm going to get to a post a day/every other day/what I've managed so far. This is inevitable with three classes going on, but oh well. Hopefully I/you won't be deterred!
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