May 06, 2013

SATB and a Beat-Boxer

I've grown up in a family of singers. We had enough singers and a pretty much equal distribution of vocal parts to form a family choir. In fact, for one wedding all the music was sung by our choir. 

Even the four of us at home love singing quartets. Despite fighting over parts and arguing over what arrangement sounds better, my parents and brother are my favourite people to sing with.

Of late, I've started loving groups that sing a cappella (voices and no instruments). And this isn't just the usual 4 part harmony, but a superb addition of beat-boxing and vocal percussion which often sounds like a full blown orchestral backup. 

Here are some of my recent favourites:

PENTATONIX:

The group of 5 won The Sing Off in 2011 and have since released 2 albums and a number of singles. They stepped out of their a cappella zone recently and added a cello and violin in one of their covers.

My favourite by far is their version of 'Carol of the Bells' It was in my head the entire December.



I am not a fan of the genres; electronic dance or house, but this mashup of two popular songs by Swedish House Mafia is pretty awesome. 



I would move to Slovenia just to join this choir. Their energy shows just how much they are enjoying themselves. They have such innovative arrangements and some really talented soloists. Their conductor is brilliant (no question where they choir gets their energy from). I think they should do 'Bohemian Rhapsody' next.



Their most famous song is their cover of Toto's 'Africa'. I listened to it with my eyes closed to realise how realistic they sound. 



This cover of Rihanna and Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' is my favourite. I've tried to count how many parts there are, but in vain. What a performance!


Just recently, they released their first music video. A mashup of some of the greatest hits of ABBA.
P.S These people even dress really well!



ECLIPSE:

This group has been singing together for over a decade. So many great covers. I just wish these groups would start composing their own stuff.



In this one they sang along with Jake Coco.




This group rose in popularity when their cover of Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' with their 5 members playing one guitar created a storm on YouTube. I love all their crazy videos and catchy covers, though only a few are a capella. They are quite a fun bunch. 




THE RESCUES:


These indie group is not really an a cappella group, but they have perfect harmony in all their music. Here's one song that is a cappella. Such perfection.



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