how often do we say thanks to the people that care most about us? i know i don't do that very much, but from the heart-to-heart talk we just had, i'm really thankful for the friends i have, who share a real stake in each others' lives. so too was brooklyn's yeasayer, who take an unexpected detour on "red cave", the last song of their stunning debut all hour cymbals album with a heartfelt mention to the family and friends who they deeply care for. some of you may remember that as the song they performed on the metro in paris and the spontaneous party that simply emerged. if only our gratitudes were as free-flowing as that. well if yeasayer can do it, so can you.

mp3: yeasayer - red cave

There are four videos that you can view or download- Dream is an acoustic version and is simply stunning- both in the sound and filming. Living In A Tree is from the same session and shows a bit more of the technical side- quite a bit of pedal work that really adds to the tunes. Are We Different and The Moon are two outdoor sessions that are quite good as well. Have a look at her official site as well for her blog- great when artists share and you can feel her enthusiasm in some of her posts...or if you watch the videos from her laugh!

Had a listen to the album A Good Day as well and there are some good tunes on there. Dream is superb- clear vocals which highlight the strength of her voice and nice string work with subtle drums. Wallflower and Red Cape are others that standout along with the last track A Good Day (Morning Song) which has some lovely sampling.

For the lazy fingers some YouTubes below...

Dream- Official and acoustic version- slightly shortened version of what is up on La Blogotheque

Dream- Fan take on the song- professionaly done and uses album version of song

Boob Song- humourous and good sound but video a bit shaky- story behind song quite good!

Neon Bible in an elevator. A perfect short piece by Vincent Moon at La Blogotheque

The much-blogged about video interpretation by J. Tyler Helms. Epic song and epic film (Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America"). The conceptual thread that ties these two artistic statements made at different times couldn't be stronger.

Arcade Fire and David Bowie bringing church to the masses. Hollywood has been served. Can I get a witness? It'll give you chills.

From Paradise Rock Club this past April (with Yeasayer) to the streets of Paris (with La Blogotheque), Honus Honus, Pow Pow, Cougar, Sergei Sogay, and Chang Wang can always draw a crowd.

This, demonstrated in the most recent installment of La Blogotheque's Les Concerts A Emporter.

Embrace the magic that is Man Man.

"Engwish Bwudd" - Man Man (2006 Ace Fu) Six Demon Bag

i love whistling songs (high on the list: andrew bird's "a nervous tick motion to the head". nobody whistles better than him.) and i can't explain why. whatever it is, when i heard the first whistles on man man's appearance in the latest issue of la blogothèque's the take-away shows, i got really interested. i happen to love the take-away shows a lot too (also high on the list: the elevator sequence for the arcade fire, the staircase orchestra for beirut, and the metro sing-a-long party for yeasayer). by the end of the man man episode, i had placed an order for their latest album rabbit habits released earlier this year on anti-. oh, and for that first take-away show song they did? it's an older song called "van helsing boombox", a little paradox with a big heart that's got a bit of something for everybody to have.

mp3: man man - van helsing boombox

I love La Blogotheque and not only because they're French. Unfortunatley my French isn't good enough (nor is Vivek's despite what he may tell you) to read them regularly. However, I still appreciate their performances and whatnot. Obviously, you folks know that you prefer Umbilcal Chord for your reviewing needs.

Warmup before Performance MP3
Man Man - Live @ La Blogotheque
Watch a streaming video of the performance

A little MySpace bulletin courtesy of Pattern Is Movement gave me some news of grizzly proportions. Yes yes, y'all. Daytrotter and La Blogotheque have been showing PIM some love lately, and it's about damn time that this Philly duo is getting some hipster-blog attention! Check out the Daytrotter session they recorded on April 8th, the article is splendid--including live recordings of "Bird", "Peach Trees", and "Right Away"--and paints a picturesque image of the burly, bear-like glory that members Andrew Thiboldeaux and Chris Ward both flawlessly embody.

But if that wasn't enough, check out the Take Away Show the two recorded during CMJ '07 with Vincent Moon from La Blogotheque:

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Me pareció una idea estupenda, los vídeos eran bastante bonitos, una actuación en vivo bien grabada, con alta definición de imagen y sonido aceptable (menos cuando cantaba la pobre Christina, pero creo que no era culpa de Macadamia). Pero al poco tiempo descubrí que no era una idea genuina sino que estaba tomada de los grandes genios de La Blogothèque.

¿Quienes son esos? La Blogothèque es un weblog francés integrado por "amantes de la música" que en abril de 2006 decidió crear la iniciativa o sección "Concerts à emporter" (conciertos para llevar, show to take away). Cuando un grupo o cantante que les gusta visita la ciudad (París), le graban tocando un par de canciones en algún rincón de la ciudad, bien sea un bar, un apartamento o una lavandería. En muchos de ellos la gente que se encuentra en el lugar acaba cantando con los artistas y en general, los vídeos son una alegría.

Como dicen los creadores de estos conciertos grabados en la calle, muchos realizadores del resto del mundo decidieron hacer su propia versión, como la gente de Macadamia Jam en Barcelona. En el caso de Beirut, La Blogothèque filmó cada una de sus canciones en Brooklyn y colgaron el resultado final en el blog francés.

Los vídeos pueden verse en streaming en la página de La Blogothèque y en Youtube (menor calidad y no se si están todos). Alguno de ellos, como el de los Arcade Fire tocando en un montacargas se han hecho bastante famosos, al menos en la Red. Tienen una luz característica, un tanto amarillenta y en todos ellos la gente que participa, tanto los grupos como los viandantes y los realizadores aparenta estar pasándoselo genial y el sentimiento se contagia al espectador.

Mis preferidos son los de Beirut y Herman Düne (conocerles es amarles). Buscad los vuestros (¡y contádmelos!)

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And another.

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From La Blogotheque

We first suggested this idea just like we use to, hoping it will work, because we loved the artist. We just suggested that Bon Iver could play a private show, a Pocket party in an apartment. We didn’t really know if we should believe in it until May, when Nora and I met Justin for an interview in a small backyard. At the end of it, we mentioned what was on our mind and he immediately told us that this is what he kinda dreams of, that his album is meant to be played in front of small crowds, and he’s looking forward to it.

[...]

Time does fly : thirty people were already waiting in the courtyard when we went back from our little shoppinga. We couldn’t make them come up; we were not ready : Moon and Bon Iver were still shooting "For Emma" in Ethel’s bedroom. In the end, it’s the band who came to them... The three guys just popped without us expecting and started singing this newborn version of "Flume". A divine surprise. The band was already gone in the streets but we were still flabbergasted. We had to make the audience come up, prepare the show. But this is another story... And other videos...

More audio/visual pleasantness after the jump...

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Now buy his record, you damned freeloader!!

Below is a list of influences that informed and inspired the project, DANSE magnet. I share this with you in hope that it may give more of an understanding to what generated this idea, and you might find something here that inspires something for you. If you have any connecting threads, tangents, ideas or thoughts to add - leave them in a comment. I look forward to talking more about this topic.

sound artists
architecture in Helsinki - heart it races
When I first saw this video I was like - yes, this is what I'm talking about. Gathering people to just sing and enjoy music. I LOVE this blog, as well - http://www.blogotheque.net/ - more about them further down!

animal collective
for their organic nature - sound initiatives. A friend of mine gave me this cd last year some time and at first I didn't get it, but I tried again and it resonated with me strongly. This bands approach to sound and experiment greatly inspires me to push myself out of the protective containers I like to fit myself into. This is also a reason DANSE magnet is so essential to activate - I need to push myself out.

fela kuti
This guy is amazing. He's Nigerian and he's very popular there and amongst African communities. A friend from Martinique turned me on to him and I ran into him soon after when I was doing research on Cream's drummer - Ginger Baker (insane guy!). *If you're a music person I'd love to talk to you about Cream - seriously.

cultures
Brazil, Nigeria, Senegal, Martinique, and Jamaica.
There isn't much to expand upon by mentioning these cultures, but I wanted to just show where I am coming from geographically and socially when I talk and perform this piece. It's from these cultures (but not limited to) that I derive the spirit of this piece. I find that in latin and african cultures persons are more inclined to external forms of expression and I feel very comfortable amongst these cultures, they balance my anglo-cool-calm-and-collected hibernation tendencies nicely. 

music
Calypso, Black Marching Bands & stomp troops, street performers, and drums, drums, drums!!!!
The feel of this piece is to be moved by music to dance and to really feel the music, and I believe drums and percussion hold this energy - but of course not all of it.

fantasy/reality
musicals
There is a sort of fantasy musical element to DANSE magnet. I'm actually not into musicals because I could never understand if they were to be taken literally or not. My common response being "people don't do that in real life" and secretly - "but I wish they did."

artistic references
Allan Kaprow & fluxus
Kaprow is the grandaddy of "happenings". I'll let your research give you more accurate information, but of course i could not go into this project without looking at this form of artistic expression. The same can be said for Fluxus.

Improv Everywhere
An anthropologist friend of mine turned me on to this group after I explained my thesis interests to her. I had no idea how similar and fitting it was for DANSE magnet. They are a really cool team of people and I would LOVE to start a dialogue with them. I've sent them information through their blog, so I hope to hear from them.
[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dkYZ6rbPU2M]

anne cremieux
A friend of mine who will record this performance.

La Blogotheque
This blog is awesome - they are really more than a blog. They are a sort of gathering spot for new and underground musicians. They record these musicians performing in the streets or in public and post them on the blog. They've got tons of stuff on youtube - I first came upon them through checking out the band Beirut. They've done some really read stuff with them. I think they are based in Paris.

TANGENTS
prom danse, organized danse, celebratory danse
Just trying to think about forms of dance that are juxtaposed to the organic and freestyle functions of DANSE magnet. I'm not sure what to do with this connection, but I thought it was important to note.

Okay, if you're still reading - *high five. you deserve a cookie. Leave a comment and I'll give you a cookie. come on, you know you want a cookie!

We all have favorite bands and favorite songs and its video clips. Perhaps some live bootlegs. But there's a project - wow - it's called La blogotheque. It's an outstanding way of registering live versions. It's based in Paris, France. All the videos are decently separated by artist and its songs.

As it's an indie bands project, it's an amazing resource for you to view your loved ones registered in a peculiar way. Oh... you'll need to use your French skills! In case you don't have it, here's the link to the index of bands page.

My favorite one is #62, by Menomena and #10, Grizzly Bear. I'll talk about it later. What's yours?

La Blogotheque, in collaboration with Fresh Media, is a French music blog. What La Blogotheque is most famous for is hands down the improvised music videos that are posted on their site.

Acts include the Arcade Fire, Liars, Animal Collective, O'Death, Au Revior Simone and much much more. Not only are these performances amazing but they also include little snippets of artists just hanging around and being...dudes.

Its much more intimate and thusly very enjoyable for music fans and/or creepy voyeurs alike. Check out the Vodpod for two of my favorite perforamces featured on La Blogotheque:

The Arcade Fire - PARIS 03/19/2007 Neon Bible & Wake Up (Time 15:30

Liars - PARIS 06/07 Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack (Time 4:23)

Enjoy! Or as the French would say: Appréciez !