Taken Away

Well, life has been abnormally hectic... and that's completely okay; I've actually enjoyed it. However, it has reminded me of the importance of slowing down, and actually feeling what life  has to offer. For me, that usually means becoming more involved with music. Out of anything that I have come in contact with in life, I think music has had the deepest, most uplifting impact on me... nothing inspires me more. Although our drummer is still in China for another month, the band has decided to recommit to a weekly practice and a new direction. I'm extremely excited to get back into writing and playing music and we have some big goals for this summer as far as writing and recording go.

Anyways,  I wanted to share something that I believe is an  under-appreciated and unrecognized art form that is worth a person's time. Again, I am sharing media, but I think it's a pretty pure form of musical expression. This movement is called the "Take Away Show". Some of you might be familiar with these performances but for you that aren't, the Take Away Show is a live performance recorded in a place, whether public or private, that can evoke the emotion of the songs played in a stronger, more visual way. Something about these performances speak a language deeper than music to me. Some of these performances are just awesome for the sake of being awesome, but others bare a person's soul, show the human condition, or expose the beauty in life. Please explore these videos, and you'll see what I mean. The best manufacturers of these videos that I have seen so far are LaBlogotheque, and The Black Cab Sessions... Both can be found on youtube. I have also found that the bands our artists that have the strongest impact on me are those who produce these videos. People like Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Lykke Li, Local Natives,  Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, St. Vincent, Portugal. The Man... seriously all of my favorites.

Here are a few that really hit me hard:
(if you can't invest the time to watch them all now, please revisit and watch... they are all very inspiring)