Les vidéos «super-cool» de Chryde

French über-vloggers force us to romanticize the indie we've come to take for granted.

Through Sam's personal blog I found a video of Beirut performing "Nantes" in a new and interesting way--Zach Condon, frontman, descending the stair singing the lyrics as strategically placed bandmembers meet him on landings, some following, some not. At first, I thought this was a homemade music video à la OK Go's dance classic. Turns out, however, that it is instead one of a treasure trove of indie vids, the brainchild of Vincent Moon and someone named "Chryde". Most of these "Take Away Shows" («Concerts à emporter») are shot somewhere in Paris--Montmartre seems to be a popular locale for the more prominent ones--and mostly by the same crew. There are some major exceptions, including everyone's favorite Argentine-Swede José González singing "Hints" in the back of a pickup in a Texas pitstop town, and Sufjan Stevens (and friends, including My Brightest Diamond) in a Civil War era concert hall in Cincinnati.

The videos are brilliant. The whole thing has the air of an art project, a collection of mostly indie performers doing their thing acoustically while the camera pulls in the surroundings. Some are brilliantly layed out, like the Beirut "Nantes" performance or the Shins' "Australia" in a Montmartre apartment, some are spontaneous and amazing, like Jason Mraz playing with a Bulgarian busker or Final Fantasy aka Owen Pallet taking off at an awkward gallop while playing "Your Light Is Spent". Some are just normal, some are a little disappointing. That's what makes it awesome. Also, everything's written up in French, so be warned. My French 202 skills paid off, but not quite enough.

There isn't an actual explanation of the reasons behind the project, and given the amount of time they've had to put one up, I wouldn't be expecting anything other than "lorem ipsum" anytime soon. Great indie videos are reason in themselves, says I.