June 2, 2011

Vybration - Vybration

Southern California’s hottest contemporary a cappella sextet, formed in 2001 to perform at Disney’s California Adventure under the name “Groove 66,” led by musical director and vocal arranger Deke Sharon. The band became the park's most popular atmosphere group, and performed every day at Disneyland for almost three years; now they exist primarily outside of Disney, making appearances on TV and radio, headlining on cruise ships, corporate events and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. We had the pleasure of watching and hearing Los Angeles-based Vybration's wonderful set at the Harmony Sweeps Finals, which won them 2nd place against a very strong field of Regional winners, and Best Original Arrangement for Sharon's arrangement of "Route 66." That finger-poppingly jazzy song is one of our favorites among the 12 songs here, other ones are the Eagles' "Fly Like an Eagle," a jazzy "Blue Skies," "Fly" medley, Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," Otis Redding's Bay Area anthem segueing into the Doo-Wop hit, "Dock of the Boardwalk" the Mamas and the Papa's iconic hit "California Dreamin', Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People," and "Disco Medley." Vybration's stage act was completely fun—these three men and three women obviously love what they do, and it adds up to great entertainment! 5997 CD 14.95
Listen to "Route 66

Posted by acapnews at 12:00 AM

June 1, 2011

Throat - Throat

We had the pleasure of hearing Mister Tim and his four other singers, Kate, Emily, Peter and Matt, onstage at the 2011 Harmony Sweeps Finals, where they performed a powerful set and won "Best Original Song" for "Monsters, Animals." Winning the Rocky Mountain Regional, Throat's Mister Tim, according to his website, is associated with a number of groups who have graced Harmony Sweepstakes stages, Mouth Beats, moosebutter (one of our favorite groups), and the 2010 Sweeps Champs Plumbers of Rome, two members of which joined Throat for their set at the Finals. The personnel changes are all pretty confusing, but the music, which reminds us a lot of another one of our longtime favorites The Bobs, is great! There are 12 songs here, the first five performed by Throat, and 6 through 12 performed by, who uses a repeat loop recording machine to sing leads and harmonies with himself. All songs are written by Mister Tim, with the exception of "Monsters, Animals, which was written by Emily Bedal. With a heavy, driving vocal percussion beat, lyrics that are funny, surreal and bizarre, great leads and background harmonies, Throat and Mister Tim kick butt and take no prisoners! Some other favorites are "ala Floyd," "On and On," "Softly," "Full Set of Heartbreaks," "Momma," "Bang on the Door," "Zombies" and "180." The songwriting is reminiscent of Bob Dylan crossed with Peter Gabriel, with a touch of a young Leonard Cohen. But don't take our word for it, have a listen—Mister Tim is a world-class poet and his Throat can sing their tails off and put Tim's lyrics out with style, power and attitude. And to us, and to the appreciative Sweeps Finals audience, that's entertainment! 5995 CD 9.95
Listen to "Monsters, Animals

Posted by acapnews at 12:00 AM