As an addendum to our review posted last wee on the new Hey Rosetta! record, I present you a new Take Away Shows video starring the pride of The Rock.
New to me, anyway. This was posted by la Blogotheque last summer, but I’ve only just now run across it.
Recorded in a parking garage, the camerawork quite deftly reveals just how much work goes into a song that at first blush seems to have a relatively simple arrangement. The beauty of the album version is not diminished at all, despite the liveness or the location. One can only imagine how it would have sounded to be there in person, the harmonies ringing off the walls of the enclosed space and cascading into the city itself.
Anyway, my prediction of the band’s growing profile seems to be coming true, if Google is any indication. Good on them.
Remember when Bloc Party used to be awesome? When their first album came out they were on top of the world, their frenetic blend of fast-paced guitars, break-neck drums, dance beats, and yearning vocals forming the foundation of what was easily one of the best records of the year. I’ll always remember the first time “Banquet” came on my iPod while I was doing dishes at my parent’s house. I had downloaded the single, probably after some hyperbolic Pitchfork hype, and from the first spin I just wanted more. I must’ve hit the back button eight times in a row.
I got the CD for Silent Alarm the day it came out, reveling in its energy and enthusiasm. Even the goddamn love songs have galloping drums and driving guitars. “This Modern Love” has been a favourite right to this day, still making the cut on mix tapes every once in a while.
Today I stumbled on the Take Away Shows website for the first time in a few months and I found a stirring performance by Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke and guitarist Russell Lissack. The video is much more intimate than usual, but the singing is what really takes an already great song to another level.
If you haven’t seen any of the Take Away Shows, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one to start with than this one. This is everything the internet ought to be, taking an incredible idea, executing it flawlessly, and making for some great, unique content.Beirut is a different sort of band, and this is a different sort of Take Away Show. They actually recorded one video for every song off Beirut’s latest album, the Flying Club Cup. A previous take on this song is on the Take Away site. This second, far superior take is seen above.Also good: the Arcade Fire crammed into a freight elevator, tearing pages out of a magazine for percussion. Jens Lekman performing in an empty hotel bar. Malajube taking over a Parisian subway car, whether the people riding it like it or not. Owen Pallett inexplicably running from the film crew in the middle of a song. There’s ever so much material there to drink in. Check it out.
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