Jessica Svendsen

I spent most of my evening discovering (and re-watching) LaBlogotheque videos—a Parisian who films rare acoustic performances with alternative musicians and bands. I had already seen how he exceptionally captured The Arcade Fire performing amidst a concert crowd, but when Paul directed me to his film of Phoenix performing beneath the Eiffel Tower, I quickly succumbed to watching most of his videos with everyone from Beirut, to The Shins, to Andrew Bird.

Most of the films merely consist of following the musicians as they play through the streets of Paris (and it’s a happy coincidence that La Blogtheque lives in a city where these musicians can still beautifully subvert a streetscape of calm restraint). And though his familiarity with the camera becomes increasingly more artful, as with Phoenix above, all of the films seem to capture the essence of not just the concert experience, but the music experience—the “take-away” show is stumbling upon these musicians, playing in their purest form, in pure acoustics.

Here are some of my favorites, but you can see the entire video list on the La Blogotheque channel.

Above: Phoenix (and there’s also their incredible music videos for 1901 and Lisztomania)

Beirut

The Shins, who deserve to be included for longevity alone:

The Arcade Fire