The Acapodcast

The Dissipated Eight from Middlebury are one of the older groups around (over 50 years young), and are one of the many bright jewels of all-male a cappella in the New England region.  They’re bookending this show with a pair of Dave Matthew Band covers.  Both show off one of the D8’s greatest strengths: clean arrangements that aren’t overcomplicated, but also aren’t bland or simplistic.  Not a lot of reliance on block chords or parallel octaves.  And on Two Step, take a listen at those fabulous high notes sprinkled on top!  If that’s not enough, go check out ‘Windmills’ on the BOCA 2000 album.

And let’s not forget the boatload of great music from the other groups as well!  Here’s what’s in the show:

Route 66 and An Octave Above can both be seen at next weekend’s Acappellafest 2008, along with Vocal Chaos, elmoTHUMM, and Scott Leonard of Rockapella fame.  If you are anywhere near there, you owe it to yourself to go check out this great show.

Just a reminder to the listeners; if you like what you hear, leave a comment in the iTunes Podcast Directory!  The more favorable reviews I get, the more likely others are to find the show in their searches, and that helps us all out.

Take a listen to Show #49!

My is it hot out!  And with tracks like these, it’s only going to get hotter!  Not to keep you waiting, here’s the cure for your a cappella fever, Episode #48 !

Heard on this episode:

Also, go check out AC100 and the BACS!  Stay cool, and I’ll see you around…

I said last time that I would have to give up regular updates, and post new episodes as I could.  Here I am posting a month after the last show, as if to prove my point.  But this is a special show.  This show has just as much music as usual, but it has way more interview.  And because I was interviewing Deke Sharon and the members of The House Jacks, all of the tracks on this episode are by them.  Here’s what you’ll hear on show #47:

With the exception of All You Need Is Love (which you can find on Come Together: An Acappella Tribute to The Beatles), all of these tracks come from the 2006 CARA award winning album Get Down Mr. President, and were included in the playlist from the recent concert (in a Firehouse!) where I conducted the interviews.  In addition to the music, we also talk about the new guy Jake Moulton (entering in where Wes Carroll exited), the upcoming book (and possibly feature length movie) Pitch Perfect, and the new thing (which has me very excited as a post-collegiate a cappella singer) the Contemporary A Cappella League.  Thanks again to the group, and I’m looking forward to their forthcoming album, which they’ve just started working on.

ERRATA: At one point I say that Jake Moulton sang with Hookslide.  What??  No, , no, I meant Kickshaw.  You know, that same band that spawned Blake Lewis, of American Idol fame?  Blake was apparently brought into Kickshaw to help replace Jake.  And yes, Jake did sing in M-Pact with Rudy Cardenas, also an Idol.  So, Roo, will you be on the next season then?  And my apologies to Jake, Hookslide, and Kickshaw for the mistake.

You’ve all been waiting, and here it is, Show #46!

In this long awaited episode, you’ll hear:

Thanks for your patience!

We’re in the middle of Harmony Sweeps season, a series of regional competitions, with the winners of each region going on to a knock-down drag-out winner-take-all vocal throwdown in San Rafael, California.  Many regionals took place in March, and there are more regionals happening across the month of Apri.  This year the final battle of the vocal bands will take place on May 3rd.  In show #45, I’ve got a number of competitors from different regions.  These groups all fared pretty well, even if they aren’t going on to San Rafael.  All the reports I’ve seen have said that 2008 is one of the fiercest years, and that the caompetition is raw.  Kudos to all of these groups, and I look forward to the May lineup.

Oh, and do yourself a favor and check out MAUF on YouTube!

Here’s the second ECAS ‘radio’ Advert.  Smooth, isn’t it?  Go to the show!

ECASAd2

I’m talking about the East Coast A Cappella Summit of course.  I can’t make it to ECAS this year, but I had a blast last year, and this year’s looks to be even better.  If you do go, how about taking a few notes (ha, get it?) for me and letting me know how it goes.

The summit starts tonight, and goes all weekend long.  I’m including the ‘radio’ ads for the summit, because they’re fun commercials.

ECASAd1

Shalom! It’s a Jewish A Cappella special episode. Six songs from some very talented menschen. Also names full of puns and references. Six13 (there are 613 commandments in the Torah), Shabbatones (from Shabbaton), Shircago (Shir means song), Kaskeset (‘Fish Scales’, a Kosher/Music joke), and Manginah (“Melody”).

Some of my favorite parts of this episode: Six13’s rythyms. Manginah’s extra echo to bring out the choral effect. The imagery in Kaskeset’s lyrics. Oh, and a tip that came in e-mail: Ani Shelach was soloed by Rachel Fried, sister to Ilana Fried of Kaskeset. It’s a family episode! All of these groups can also be found on BOJAC 2006 (Best of Jewish A Cappella).

Enough already, go and listen to Show #44!

It’s that time of year again, when various groups and organizations help highlight the best of contemporary a cappella music.  We’ve got competitions, in the form of the ICCAs and the Harmony Sweeps, which are already underway or starting in just a few months.  We’ve got compilation albums like BOCA 2008, BOHSA 2008, Voices Only 2007, and more.  And we’ve got awards and accolades like RARB’s best albums of 2007, and the CARA awards, the Grammys of A Cappella (Although I keep hoping to see an A Cappella category at the actual Grammys).  To give you a sample of groups that have made it to the top recently, I present to you:

You’ll find all of the above great music on Show #43 of The Acapodcast!

2008 is here, and The Acapodcast is back! Here’s some brief notes on the songs in Episode 42!

All this and more! Press the play button below to hear this episode.