Athens Soundies

From a group called Athens Soundies comes a charming website filled with video of impromptu music performances around Athens, aka “The Greatest City on Earth.” The videos, which are beautifully shot and only a couple of minutes long, feature local and not-so-local bands playing acoustically on railroad tracks, gas stations, alleys, former cult temples (what?), rooftops, front porches, etc. It’s great to see the random parts of Athens, although I don’t think that you have to be familiar with Athens to appreciate the videos. Make sure to check out Dr. Dog, Wakey! Wakey! and The Empties.

Elephant 6: Live?!

NPR’s All Songs Considered is a great way to find new music; their concert podcast is also a great resource to find live (and sometimes rare) versions of your favorite songs. But the concert podcast can also make you incredibly jealous that you weren’t at a particular show, as is the case with this amazing reunion of sorts with 15 members of the Elephant 6 family. Most of the ASC concerts are recorded at Washington’s 9:30 Club, but a special trip to Chicago was made for this show. Featuring songs from some of my all-time favorite Athens bands (Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control and Elf Power), the concert is the type where you can tell that the band members are having a blast. I haven’t even finished listening to it yet, but am in love already. I am also missing Athens like crazy.