Live Sessions

Blog Blog is a blog about blogs. In this blog, Angora examines some interesting blogs having to do with live music.

As a people of leisure, we don’t get out of the Manor too often to see live music. We don’t like crowds–they smell of mediocrity, sweat, and day jobs. The clubs that book the bands we like have VIP sections with far too few hookers to sate old Benny St. Maur. And they never honor our riders.

For that reason, Donnybrook loves the LIVE SESSION. The session is a concert, in-studio recording, interview, and delicious behind-the-scenes YouTube footage rolled up and delivered to your laptop. In this special edition of Blog Blog, we feature our favorite sources for live sessions with ones you’ve heard of, and maybe some you haven’t.

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Lake Fever Sessions
Location: Nashville, TN
Who are these people? Located on Music Row, Lake Fever Sessions are devoted to joining musicians, sound engineers, film kids, and bloggers together to find meaningful music below the Nashville radar.

Keegan DeWitt “Tired of Love” from Lake Fever Sessions on Vimeo.

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MOKB/Laundromatinee
Location: Indianapolis
Who are these people: The newer project of Dodge from My Old Kentucky Blog fame, MOKB and Laundromatinee are basically a musical universe unto themselves: they present shows, create new ones in their live sessions, have photo recaps of concerts in the blog, plus features and interviews.

Deer Tick – Houston, TX from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

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Hooves on the Turf: the Secret Garden video series
Location: Brooklyn
Who are these people? Brooklyn blogger Sarahana Shrestha believes in the power of the live performance to capture a speck of humanity we might not have been aware of having just listened to it. With Blogotheque as an influence, she launched the Secret Garden series in July of ’08 and records artists in Brooklyn staircases, rooftops, and even the Botanic Gardens.

Secret Garden Series: Motel Motel from hoovesontheturf on Vimeo.

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WOXY
Location: Cincinnati
Who are these people? This superstar internet radio station records live sessions with amazing bands that have nice banter and interviews in between. They also take photos of the band that, as simple as they are (white background?) really pop.

Click here to listen to the Duke Spirit on WOXY

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Luxury Wafers
Location: Los Angeles
Who are these people? The founders of Luxury Wafers, Peter and Landry Malick, run this studio with their little daughter Grace with a chilled out, welcoming California vibe.

The Antlers – Two – Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo.

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Hear Ya
Location: Chicago
Who are these people? Hear Ya is in indie music blog through and through; they’re music fans devoted to cutting through the clutter and getting to the good stuff. With contributors in California and Chicago, they record live sessions at Shirk Music and Sound in downtown Chicago.

Click here to check out Dusty Rhodes and the River Band (recommended listening: “End of the Rhode”–wasn’t this a BOYZ II MEN song? Thanks Heather Browne!)

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Baeble’s Guest Apartment
Location: NYC
Who are these people? Founded in 2006, Baeble set off to capture emerging artists’ live concerts and stream the whole things for free, even offering single tracks from the concerts for download. Now they’ve set up a Guest Apartment series, where the artists come to them, record a live session, and do an interview.

These United States at Washington Square Park: Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

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NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts
Location: Washington, DC
Who are these people? NPR’s Bob Boilen created a venue for bands that might easily get overpowered by a gigantic, noisy venue packed full of drunks–and that venue is his desk. Now you can actually hear Laura Gibson’s gorgeous voice and intricate angelic pluckings of guitar.

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Daytrotter
Location: Rock Island, IL
Who are these people? According to the site, “Sean [Moeller] is a homegrown Iowan with a penchant for bearding and hyperbole, though neither have ever been life-threatening.” And it’s true; this heartfelt blog has gained massive appreciation the world over because of their live sessions complemented by Sean’s passionate, inspired written odes to bearded musicians (and non-bearded ones, too). He even draws portraits of the bands that come through. It’s just the kind of place you just want to visit.

Click here to check out Andrew Bird

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Black Cab Sessions
Location: London
Who are these people? Conceived and produced by Just So Films, artist selection by Hidden Fruits, this group of Brits hail a taxi cab in London with the coolest bands and capture a live song in the backseat: “One song. One take. One cab.”

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La Blogotheque’s Takeaway shows
Location: Paris
Who are these people? Do you seriously not know? Blogotheque is a Parisian blog that records Concerts à Emporter, aka, Take Away shows: bands play stripped-down versions of their songs in strange environments, walking down the streets of Paris, in elevators, courtyards, libraries–it’s a cool way to see your favorite bands interact with the messy, bustling world.