A Capella Wars

Lisnaholic · 12-12-2015, 10:39 AM

"The original instrument; the most soulful instrument; the human voice." That´s what the sleeve notes say on one of my cds, and it´s a good point. The human voice pre-dates every other instrument (apart from banging things with a stick) by millions of years and yet people are still experimenting with its possibilities.

I wanted a couple of selections that showed the historical range of a capella, and came up with these:

Not sung by Australian aborigines, but this song has its roots in "the world´s oldest living culture":-

VS. Modern experimentation from Meredith Monk:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enbHYaF8Vas

DwnWthVwls · 12-12-2015, 06:04 PM

Tiddas - 1
Meredith - 0

The first video was nice and relaxing to listen to. I enjoyed the second one also but it was a little slow for me. The progression build up was cool.

Gonna be taking a break from this thread unless we get more activity, seems like you and I are the only ones interested which doesn't make for very good battles. I'll still post acapellas though if you're interested in sharing good finds.

Lisnaholic · 12-13-2015, 09:18 AM

^ Thanks, DWV. Yes, I think you´re right; not enough interest here to sustain any proper battles, but I´m still interested in sharing a capella tracks as and when we find some good ones.

In fact, both the ones I just posted I find irritating at times. After a few listens, the Tiddas one is just a little too sweet, and I also suspect that it turns up in a Disney movie, which is pretty damning in my eyes.

But as you say, the Meredith Monk is too slow; it gets interesting in the middle but she could´ve easily chopped off a minute from the front and back to make it more compact.

Pet_Sounds · 12-14-2015, 08:03 PM

Hey, Lisna and DWV! Sorry for my lack of participation--I haven't been on much during the past couple weeks.

I'd suggest making this thread similar to the Country, Folk & World Recommendation Thread: somewhere we can leave cool a cappellas for others to enjoy. I'm not active enough to vote regularly on "battles," but that's probably my favourite thread on MB, and it seems to thrive.

Lisnaholic · 12-16-2015, 03:15 AM

^ Thanks for looking in here, Pet_Sounds. I know you have various things going on irl and can´t post as often as you used to:

As you and DWV suggest, this might be best as a recommendation thread, so I´m going to go ahead and post a song I have fallen in love with recently:-

DwnWthVwls · 12-16-2015, 06:21 AM

That was okay. I like his voice and the way he holds some notes (almost sounds tribal at times), but idk wtf he's talking about.

Do you like hiphop acapellas at all?

Silent Knight Acapella Fella

Lisnaholic · 12-16-2015, 05:00 PM

TBH, DVW, I´m not really a fan of hiphop, though with the clip you posted, I liked the guy´s natural, almost conversational delivery.

I think the closest I came to hiphop was when I first heard the Last Poets music back in the ´70s. Although a lot of their material sounds like a capella there´s always some jazz percussion going on in the background. Here´s a pretty good example:

Quote:

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

That was okay. I like his voice and the way he holds some notes (almost sounds tribal at times), but idk wtf he's talking about.

^

That´s one of the things I really like; you think he´s singing English, then he completely loses you with stuff about "makmabe soo"

grindy · 12-16-2015, 05:04 PM

Some nice a capella from Zorn's mind:

And some alpine shamanism from Christian Zehnder

Lisnaholic · 12-16-2015, 05:36 PM

That Zorn clip was a lot less unconventional than I was expecting; quite delicate and melodious, in fact.

The Christian Zehnder was really strange, though! Is that some tuvan throat singing technique he´s using, do you think?

grindy · 12-17-2015, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

That Zorn clip was a lot less unconventional than I was expecting; quite delicate and melodious, in fact.

The Christian Zehnder was really strange, though! Is that some tuvan throat singing technique he´s using, do you think?

It's grounded in tuvan singing, but he takes out to lunch.

12-12-2015, 10:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	"The original instrument; the most soulful instrument; the human voice." That´s what the sleeve notes say on one of my cds, and it´s a good point. The human voice pre-dates every other instrument (apart from banging things with a stick) by millions of years and yet people are still experimenting with its possibilities. I wanted a couple of selections that showed the historical range of a capella, and came up with these: Not sung by Australian aborigines, but this song has its roots in "the world´s oldest living culture":- VS. Modern experimentation from Meredith Monk:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enbHYaF8Vas __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

12-13-2015, 09:18 AM	#3 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	^ Thanks, DWV. Yes, I think you´re right; not enough interest here to sustain any proper battles, but I´m still interested in sharing a capella tracks as and when we find some good ones. In fact, both the ones I just posted I find irritating at times. After a few listens, the Tiddas one is just a little too sweet, and I also suspect that it turns up in a Disney movie, which is pretty damning in my eyes. But as you say, the Meredith Monk is too slow; it gets interesting in the middle but she could´ve easily chopped off a minute from the front and back to make it more compact. __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

12-14-2015, 08:03 PM	#4 (permalink)
Pet_Sounds Remember the underscore Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: The other side Posts: 2,488	Hey, Lisna and DWV! Sorry for my lack of participation--I haven't been on much during the past couple weeks. I'd suggest making this thread similar to the Country, Folk & World Recommendation Thread: somewhere we can leave cool a cappellas for others to enjoy. I'm not active enough to vote regularly on "battles," but that's probably my favourite thread on MB, and it seems to thrive. __________________ Everybody's dying just to get the disease

12-16-2015, 03:15 AM	#5 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	^ Thanks for looking in here, Pet_Sounds. I know you have various things going on irl and can´t post as often as you used to: As you and DWV suggest, this might be best as a recommendation thread, so I´m going to go ahead and post a song I have fallen in love with recently:- __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

12-16-2015, 05:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
grindy . Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: . Posts: 7,201	Some nice a capella from Zorn's mind: And some alpine shamanism from Christian Zehnder __________________ *A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.*

12-16-2015, 05:36 PM	#9 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	That Zorn clip was a lot less unconventional than I was expecting; quite delicate and melodious, in fact. The Christian Zehnder was really strange, though! Is that some tuvan throat singing technique he´s using, do you think? __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953