La Blogotheque: Concerts A Emporter

3 comments

La Blogotheque: Concerts A Emporter

Friday, February 05, 2010

Have you ever wanted to see your favorite bands performing songs in a location that isn't quite so boring, non-moving, and doesn't smell like stale tobacco and pee? Well Vincent Moon and co. have a treat for you. Check out La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows!

Reviewer
Brad
Categories
Websites

Reviewed by Brad Cook

La Blogotheque: Concerts A Emporter

I'm not particularly one for French cinema. In fact, the extent of my cultural exposure to France might be limited to what I learned from Last Tango in Paris. Calm down, that's a joke. However, when you combine a visionary cinematic eye with a variety of amazing indie bands, I cannot ignore it. Such is the case at La Blogotheque's Concerts A Emporter page. That roughly translates to Take Away Shows, and if that sounds to you like it might be a cool idea, you are correct.

A Take Away Show takes a band or performer and puts them in atypical locations for music to be performed, usually in France, but in various other countries as well (including Copenhagen, Montreal, Quebec, Seattle, New York, Buenos Aires, amongst others). Wikipedia refers to these as "field-work music videos". Concerts A Emporter started out at the intersection of the owner of La Blogotheque's (Chryde) desire to find an innovative way to share music, and local artist Vincent Moon's wonderfully creative imagination. While he's not the only director of these videos, he's certainly the most prominent, and he has helmed many of them.

The locations of the Take Away Shows are half of what makes them so fantastic. Sigur Ros plays an unbelievable rendition of their song "Vid Spilum Endalaust" in a small pub that can barely fit them. Hardly anyone is paying attention, people are being served at the bar, a man is walking around, and a woman is on the telephone with someone. Yet somehow Moon manages to make it one of the most intimate performances I've ever seen. The performances are mostly acoustic obviously, due to the fact that most of the time they're moving around, rather than setting down and playing in one spot. Sometimes they're even in vehicles, which makes for a undeniably more interesting backdrop than a concert venue. For example, Brooklyn-based band Yeasayer was filmed playing songs a capella in a subway car, which makes for a great percussion instrument until one of the window's shatters. Anand's reaction to it breaking is priceless. Delta Spirit is filmed in San Francisco playing on a Cable Car. How badass is that? Yes, they're all written in French, but there's a "Read in English" link at the top of each individual page if you feel like intaking the textual content as well as video.

If you're in the business of actively searching for new bands to listen to, there really is not a better, more natural way to experience what a band can do than to view them through the Take Away Shows lens. Even if, perhaps especially if, it's done by a band you know, it's worth checking out. You'll never see them perform in a more interesting, artistic, and inspired backdrop. The reactions of the real-life bystanders and tourists just enhance the experience that much more. Concerts A Emporter will provide you with plenty of new and amazing bands, and will make you appreciate the ones you love already so much more.

Read more Music