Vocaldoings
There is so much going on in the world, even within the a cappella world, that it is difficult at times to keep track of it all. So I figured I’d do a quick summary of some noteworthy things that are going on now or in the near future.
Live A Cappella
— Festivals
-This weekend, there are not one but TWO vocal festivals going on in New England and tickets are still available for both.
Amplify A cappella Festival, in Rhode Island- details here. (Transit and Duwende headlining)
N.E. Voices, in Massachusetts- details here. (Firedrill!, Redline, and Pitch Slapped headlining)
-Sing Strong Festival in VA in March has announced a ridiculous lineup that includes Pentatonix, Afro Blue, The Edge Effect, Blue Jupiter, MAXX Factor, and more. Get tickets here.
-VoCALnation in D.C. in July has also announced a great lineup, including Cluster and Afro Blue. Info available here.
– Get Vocal, festival in Australia, just announced its lineup, including The Idea of North. More info here.
— Currently on tour
Naturally 7– details here. They will be at B.B. King’s in NYC on Feb. 16th, and then doing a free show at Penn State on Feb. 17th before heading out on an international tour with Michael Buble.
Voces 8– details here. Not only are they in the middle of a U.S. tour across the midwest, but they are also posting videos from stops along the way which you can watch here.
Studio A Cappella
Pentatonix have released a terrific track (audio for download and video on YouTube) of “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. More info here.
The collaborative track from SoJam, featuring members of The Boxettes, Naturally 7, Musae, the UNC-G Sapphires, and others is now available for listening here. And it’s very good (icanhazmoreElbowacappellaplease?!)
Groove for Thought, featured on Season 2 of the Sing Off, has released their new album. You can find out more info here.
Voices Only Forte, a great collection of non-collegiate a cappella tracks, is now available for purchase. More info here.
Peter Hollens has a new video and a (different) new track available for purchase on iTunes. His website is here.
An unreleased track from the Committed album, their cover of Usher’s “You Got it Bad,” is now on YouTube here.
Kickstarter Projects
Just announced today, U of Oregon’s On the Rocks have a Kickstarter project for their 6th CD and a midwest tour. Support them here.
The guys from the A Cappella Blog have a publishing project relating to their first book, “The A Cappella Book.” Check it out here.
The Green Tones, a mixed group from University of North Texas, are looking to produce their debut album. More info here.
Forte, a mixed group from Centerville High School, are looking to record an album of all original tunes. I will repeat: all original. Help fund it here.
UPDATE: “Those Guys,” from Winnipeg, are working on “That Album” on a Kickstarter clone called Rockethub. Support them here.
A cappella Blog doings
Over at Vocal Blog, Line Groth from Postyr Project has offered a glimpse into the exercises which her group uses to improve intonation and blend. Check it out right here.
With the first round of ICCA competitions nearly completed, the fellas at The A Cappella Blog have written some reviews and summaries right here. Rob Dietz also reviewed the West Coast ICCA regional on his website here.
Relatively new blogger (but longtime aca-Twitter-azzi) LovedeAcappella has a poll for the best #basslove song right here.
Miscellany
James Wallace, VP from Transit, has been working on a series of instructional videos on YouTube. The latest is up here.
Dakaboom (aka Ben McClain from Sonos and Paul Peglar formerly from Sonos) with a fun new video here. (and outtakes here).
I’ll do these updates periodically, but for now, feel free to email me anything I missed at [email protected].