The concept is simple but I can’t say it any better than they do on their own website;

“Every week, we invite an artist or a band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, or even in a flat or in an elevator, and we film the whole session. Of course, what makes the beauty of it is all the little incidents, hesitations, and crazy stuff happening unexpectingly. Besides, we do not edit the videos so they look perfectly flawless, instead we keep the raw sound of the surroundings. Our goal is to try and capture instants, film the music just like it happens, without preparation, without tricks. Spontaneity is the keyword.”

Lately more mainstream bands (Bloc Party, Sigur Ros…) have been making appearances on the shows. While some may miss the indie focus, I’m excited to see a wide range of bands opening up to the raw acoustic on the street feel of Take-Away Shows. Watching the shows you can feel that these artists are opening themsleves up by performing often with no backup, improvised instrumentation and in unplanned public places around Paris, New York and a few other locations around the world.

The exhibitionism and vulnerability of these recordings is consuming and a great way to be introduced to new artists or to see those you thought you knew in a whole new light. Below are my Top 5 Take-Away Shows but I suggest you visit the website and browse through some of the previous recordings. The easiest way to keep up is tosubscibe to their podcast. Enjoy!

1. Architecture in Helsinki – Heart it Races
2. Andrew Bird – Spare Ohs
3. St Vincent – Marry Me
4. Tom Jones – We Got Love (yes I’m serious, this is really good!)
5. Amanda Palmer – Amsterdam

I’m not big on Boxing Day sales but this year I stumbled across a great mp3 sales on one of my favorite music websites. Zunior which features a great selection of indie music from Canada and beyond was selling many of their cd’s at cut throat prices. I took advantage of the opportunity to get a few discs from bands I’ve never heard of before and one of those discs was Forest City Lovers.

Off the bat Forest City Lovers remind me of a one gender Stars with airy female vocals that draw foggy stories of love. As you listen more the folk side of things comes through and you can close your eyes and feel yourself floating away on a roadtrip. I’m guessing this cd might have been written while touring across Canada or at least spending lots of time at some cabin on a lake somewhere.

I’d highly recommend checking out this cd. If you got the bands Myspace you can hear a few of the best tracks of the cd including my personal favorite “Country Roads” (not a cover of John Denver but almost as good).