Thursday, February 4, 2010

La Blogotheque

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

I have found yet another way to kill hours on the internet. It's amazing what people can do. La Blogotheque, a French website that brings together bands for random, small, intimate performances and films them with a stunning visual style. The Fleet Foxes vid above is one of the better ones, part of their Take Away Shows series - bands performing in public, unplanned venues. Phoenix did a walking/bus tour of Paris for a few songs. Bon Iver pulled off something similar. They put Vampire Weekend, acoustic version, in front of a small, packed crowd - what they call a Pocket Party. The site has been around for a while, and they have just about everyone you might care about (or at least that I do) doing something awesome.

There are a few reasons why I have grown to love this site. One - reimagining how these bands are supposed to sound is absolutely fantastic. You get a little glimpse into how this particular group of people started laying down the bones of a song - how it all sounded before they got into a studio with synths, amps, multiple takes and tracks. It also let's you feel the music in a much more immediate way. You get to see the emotion up close, experience the joy these musicians have when they play without the one-layer remove of the recording. Not to mention you get to see these guys hear their own music in a completely new way, and sometimes it catches them off guard. And of course, it's just really well done. Go waste some time.

2 comments:

limmy said...

Since finding out about this site a few months ago, I've spent many a lunch hour looking at all the various videos wishing that I was a French tourist. Laissez le bon temps rouler!

EricMLeventhal said...

The Bon Iver clip is awesome.