The Black Cab Sessions

May 16, 2008 10:01 AM

Death Cab For Cutie. Live, in a Black Cab.One Song ("No Sunlight"). One Take. One Cab.
Also: Daniel Johnston, Bill Callahan, The New Pornographers, The Raveonettes, Okkervil River, Spoon, & The Futureheads.
posted by msalt (28 comments total)

How original.
posted by patr1ck at 10:06 AM on May 16, 2008

Baby, don't do it!
posted by sy at 10:07 AM on May 16, 2008

(referring to this, of course)
posted by sy at 10:09 AM on May 16, 2008

NO!

Well, OK...
posted by Pecinpah at 10:17 AM on May 16, 2008

Hmm, not working here at the workspace. Oh well. Here's a nice animation of "Black Cab" by Jens Lekman.

Oh no, goddamn, did I kill the party again?
posted by sleepy pete at 10:26 AM on May 16, 2008

In February we discussed Beirut doing something similar through La Blogothèque.
posted by anifinder at 10:50 AM on May 16, 2008

Love the Bonzos.

"Over there, Eric Clapton on ukelele! Hi, Eric!"
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 10:50 AM on May 16, 2008

I love the internet.

Music loves the internet.
posted by carsonb at 10:53 AM on May 16, 2008

The Take Away Shows are also cool along these lines, it's true. EG REM, Animal Collective, The Shins, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, The Ex, The National, Grizzly Bear, and, yes, Jens Lekman.

The BEST website of this type is, of course, Daytrotter. (previously)
posted by msalt at 10:56 AM on May 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this—I enjoyed seeing such a stripped-down version of the New Pornographers.

While my heart will always belong to Neko, my crush on Kathryn Calder has grown exponentially.
posted by kwaller at 11:10 AM on May 16, 2008

Cue jonmc moaning that Winger, Journey and Status Quo aren't featured.
posted by chuckdarwin at 11:28 AM on May 16, 2008

Nice :)

And they have one with Scout Niblett; which means they win.
posted by vertigo25 at 11:30 AM on May 16, 2008

Oooo, the Nats and many others dear to my cold, dessicated heart. Only I think I may need a dramamine before watching any more of these.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:31 AM on May 16, 2008

How original.
posted by patr1ck at 11:06 AM on May 16 [+] [!]

Sadly, being snarky and dismissive is not that original, true.

Apparently this is chapter 41, so they've done this [calculates...] 40 times previously, with other bands.
posted by mecran01 at 11:40 AM on May 16, 2008

Oh man, that Daytripper site is cool (as is this one). Loads of fodder there though:

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage:

Architecture in Helsinki!
Deer Tick!
Harry and the Potters!
Holy Fuck!
O'Death!
posted by jimmythefish at 12:01 PM on May 16, 2008

Cool. Also cool to know that The Ex have a Take Away Show now. I should revisit that site...
posted by unknowncommand at 12:01 PM on May 16, 2008

I've never seen Carl Newman with a beard before. It totally does not square with his voice. When he opened his mouth I half-expected him to emit a seafarer-style growl.
posted by decagon at 12:02 PM on May 16, 2008

It's funny, because, when I first saw the Take Away Shows, I smacked my head because I hadn't thought of it first. I thought, well, now that idea's been done, and done well. No point in doing it again.

Now I watch this and I smack my head again, because I realize: Nobody cares if it's been done before. Just do what you want.
posted by fungible at 12:30 PM on May 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I skipped straight Daniel Johnston, myself, but the whole project is pretty nifty.

And thanks to a blessedly LOW concept website it's actually navigable without the sort of built in "find the link" adventure game that cripples so many artsy efforts.
posted by rokusan at 12:41 PM on May 16, 2008

Laura Marling's pretty good too. She had an amazing set on Later w/ Jools Holland a few weeks ago - only 18, too.
posted by Flashman at 12:42 PM on May 16, 2008

Just wanted to chime in that this was pretty awesome. In spite of the somewhat gimickiness, all the performances were really great.

And St. Vincent? Who the fuck and holy shit.
posted by Alex404 at 4:18 PM on May 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wow, this is lovely.
posted by gwint at 5:03 PM on May 16, 2008

When did rockstars stop looking like rockstars?
posted by decoherence at 5:09 PM on May 16, 2008

Oh, yay for the Cold War Kids. That's a good 'un.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:14 PM on May 16, 2008

Very blogotheque-esque, but hey, if you gave me a thousand blogotheques, I would be happy.
posted by tmcw at 5:49 PM on May 16, 2008

Exactly. One great thing about the webs is, more direct - honest - simple works well (and is affordable), big slick n cheesy tends to look ridiculous. Where's Marshall McLuhan when you need him?
posted by msalt at 7:44 PM on May 16, 2008

Excellent, thank you!

The Phosphorescent track is really lovely and alone makes the site worth it. Lykke Li's is also good and a track I hadn't heard yet.
posted by dobbs at 6:09 AM on May 17, 2008

When did rockstars stop looking like rockstars?
posted by decoherence

Around the time when music channels on TV stopped playing music and people started looking for music elsewhere. And it's only starting.
posted by micayetoca at 7:38 AM on May 21, 2008