}

Friday, June 6, 2008

Airborne Toxic Event to release 10 videos of 10 debut album tracks



The Airborne Toxic Event, this site's first big interview and an Ipod favorite around here for the past couple months, sent word out yesterday that each week between now and August 5th, when their first full length record is released, that the band will post a video a week on their Myspace page. Each video will be an acoustic version of each of the 10 tracks from their record in disc order, in one take, and in different locations around Los Angeles. "Wishing Well" (the first (of the series) was shot in Thayer Hall at the Colburn School of Music in downtown L.A. (across the street from Disney Hall)," they said.

What a brilliant and innovative strategy, both artistically and marketing-wise. Artistically, this is something Bob Dylan has been doing for years, the whole idea of tearing apart of a song to build it back up into something new, which I've always found really interesting (plus, if you've ever seen Dylan live, it allows you to play the "What the hell song is he playing?" game, because his voice is now so grizzled you can barely make out the words). The possibilities for a thing like this are endless, and I'm sure it also breathes new life into songs for a band, especially if they've been playing them awhile. Marketing-wise, it's a great idea, especially on Myspace, because it gives new folks exposure to your record in advance, which could mean more folks buying it when it comes out, and provides something extra for folks who already dig you and and are already planning on buying it. Very smart move indeed.

Update: Woops, seems some things didn't transfer properly with my initial posting so here you go...

Thought you may want to check out the first in the acoustic series yourself. See what I mean, the song takes on a different feeling doesn't it? It still rocks out but it's more...mournful. In the album version, it's a heart breaking but with a brave face on like it doesn't matter...with the acoustic, it's a heart breaking in its fully exposed form.

Album Version
Download: Wishing Well-The Airborne Toxic Event (2006 demo)

Acoustic

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

watched the video. i see what you mean but personally i prefer the other version. this one seems whiny and posed. almost too wanna be arcade fire for me.

Anonymous said...

I think someone forgot to remind the singer that it's important to sing on key.