Paris

The show in Paris was an afternoon show, at the Parc de la Villette, a huge public park where the Villette Sonique festival was on-going for the whole week. Artists this year ranged from Animal Collective to Current 93, Glenn Branca to Thurston Moore & Emeralds just to name a few. There are two huge stages on each side of the canal, and these shows are free.

Here's Oxbow (crossing paths with them again) - by the 2nd song, Eugene Robinson had stripped down already:

We weren't part of the official programming. We were playing a showcase for one of our label Basses Fréquences at the Villette Sonique's Village Label - which is a record fair representing several labels, bands, distros & stores in Paris and all over France, such as Music Fear Satan and Souffle Continu. We also only had a 30-minute slot for both of us - so Aidan & I decided to do a collaboration, fitting as we were on tour to promote our CD/LP re-issue of "Orange". The bands played inside of this red thing:

When we got there, we weren't really sure about this... It seemed like a big mess, and the park was filled with families having pic-nics and kids running around. Who knows if people were actually going to show up for us.

As we were setting up before playing, Aidan saw that there was an available drum kit. So he told the sound guy that he wanted to play drums instead, while I went: "...??!?!@#%!". Next thing I knew, Aidan was playing the drums on top of my improvised soundscapes... Yikes, talk about putting yourself in danger on stage, but hey we're er... professionals. But I noticed that the room filled up pretty quickly and everyone was sitting and being really receptive (i.e. quiet and in their bubble)... Here's a youtube, notice the children playing football behind us:

At the label's table of the Village Label - from left to right: Arnaud (three:four Records, just met!), Jerome (Basses Fréquences), thisquietarmy & Aidan Baker - photo taken by Vincent of (MesseBasse/Douleur Fantôme). Some networking & record sales happened.

The Valley LP was supposed to be on the table, but as you may know, it got delayed again at the pressing plant. The fair ended around 9pm, we packed up and headed to the Japanese 'hood (I didn't even know there was one! Japanese restaurants and Japanese people everywhere!) to eat some noodles, near Place de l'Opéra. We also took a walk to the Louvre.