Anti-Climacus

A Take Away Show is a web concert series that features hipster-compliant bands playing their music while traveling around Paris. It's half Unplugged and half outdoor concert. Not all the performances are great. The format prizes talent and charisma, which are not always in supply, and sometimes rather surprisingly: The National are slightly underwhelming, and while Phoenix are good, their lead singer is a little too embarrassed to commit properly. It makes clear that St. Vincent is female Jeff Buckley, with great guitar skills and a jazz-friendly voice.

The episodes I like best are Bowerbirds (hipster alert: once saw them in Chapel Hill with Heather MacIntyre's pre-Mount Moriah band) and Yo La Tengo. Bowerbirds are good at making their music fill the space--though, as always, I'm not sure how much I like the songs. Yo La Tengo does simply incredible things with their set-up: "Sugarcube" and "Periodically Double or Triple" sound credibly like their electric versions--Ira Kaplan even does an electric guitar-style solo on the latter. I find something really compelling in their shyness.