Seven Great Websites for Out-Of-Context Concerts

Harvey's Kitchen
It's not just musicians sitting down in the Greensboro, N.C. kitchen of Monkeywhale Productions' Harvey Robinson (the site profiles local movers and shakers, too) but performances by recent Paste favorites Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers (above) and Blind Pilot, plus The Everybodyfields' Sam Quinn's new outfit, are our favorite part of what this "new media experiment" is tinkering with. Sometimes move take the show outside, but I guess we can forgive them for not calling the series "Harvey's Kitchen and/or Front Porch, When It Gets Too Stuffy In The House."

Pitchfork.tv

Pitchfork's infamously snarky tone may tempt some musicians to throw themselves from high buildings, but brave ones like King Khan and My Brightest Diamond play on top of them for the Don't Look Down series.

Black Cab Sessions
Everyone from Fleet Foxes and Amanda Palmer to Richard Thompson and Brian Wilson have loaded into the titular vehicle for a one-song spin around London. The visuals are a little wobbly at times, but the performances are pretty much always worth the mild carsickness. Here's Jens Lekman playing a suitably meta version of his song "Black Cab" on the kalimba. Buckle up.

NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts
From the looks of it, the desk of NPR's Bob Boilen is actually quite sizable in itself, but the All Songs Considered host's office sure can get cramped when a full band is crammed in for one of these great mini-shows by great artists like Thao Nguyen, Dr. Dog and, yes, even Tom Jones. (Also, just because I'm kind of a creep, I love these little glimpses into NPR Music HQ. I spy with my little eye a blue lava lamp, a Neil Young Archives box set, and, oh, is that a vinyl copy of Shearwater's Rook hanging out on the shelf behind the very band itself? I believe it is.)

Bandstand Busking
The folks behind this London-based site aim to breathe some life back into their city's mostly-forgotten park bandstands, and they've pulled in a bunch of their local favorites (like Fanfarlo and Alessi's Ark), plus a few of Paste's neighbors (Black Lips, above, and Of Montreal) and other artists from all over to do just that. The mostly-acoustic, mostly-overcast performances are simply lovely.

Athens Soundies
Befitting of Athens' legendary music scene, Soundies films local acts and national bands alike at locations classic (the original 40 Watt Club), homely (front porches) and potentially hazardous (railroad tracks, swimming pools). These videos have a definite La Blogotheque-gone-South feel to them, and that's a good thing. Here's Hope For Agoldensummer playing on the roof of The Grit, a combination of two wonderful bits of Athenia.