Straight No Chaser – With A Twist
Whew! Been a LONG time since I’ve posted anything here on Majoda! I’m feeling unusually not lazy about blogging so I figured I’d take advantage of it!
If anybody knows me personally, they know that I pretty much love to do vocal percussion ALL over the place (in the car, while walking to work, at the urinal, etc.). I attribute this, fun to me/annoying to others trait to my time spent with Not Too Sharp. Ever since I first sang with those awesome guys, I’ve been completely obsessed with all things A Capella. While I’m certainly not an expert critic when it comes to reviewing albums, I do know that there are just some albums that MUST be shared among everyone I know. One of these albums is Straight No Chaser’s most recent album, With A Twist (Deluxe Edition).
At the very least, listen to these songs on their website (the picture above brings you directly to their album page with audio samples available) and if you’re like me, you’ll buy their album right on the spot on iTunes. Their arrangements are incredible and that last song, “Til’ There Was You” completely blows me away. THIS is what contemporary A Capella should sound like. In a genre where people strive to emulate instruments with their voices, groups for many years have done whatever they could achieve perfect instrument replication. A group would essentially listen to a song, do a cover of it, and replicate all the instruments in the song. Nowadays, the use of studio effects have become standard and I unfortunately think this has become a double edged sword. I personally enjoy the different studio effects (autotune, distorted guitar, etc.) and they have the ability to make songs interesting. However, like today’s pop songs musicality and raw talent tend to get lost in the bath of effects (looking at you Britney Spears). Depending on the album, you’ll barely recognize voices other than the soloist! Is this A Cappella? I’ll leave you loyal Majoda reader to decide.
Thankfully, this album is NOT over-washed with effects and has a wonderful organic feel to it. All of the incredible voices (my god that bass is ridiculous) are showcased and again, I must say the arrangements really separate this group from everyone else. The songs are clean, precise, not overly complicated with too many syllables and importantly, all the songs have a “feel good” vibe. My only VERY slight complaint to this album (due to personal song preference) is that almost ALL of the songs have the jazzy, really tight sounding vibe. While I love this style (and is certainly is THEIR style), unfortunately I think many of the songs sound simply too familiar. With the exception of “You & Me & The Bottle Makes Three” and perhaps “Tainted Love”, there aren’t songs that bring make a strong statement with hard-hitting, pop/rock, and that in your face sound. I think throwing in one or two of these types of songs would help accentuate just how down right smooth some of the other songs are.
Regardless of this minor tidbit, I absolutely LOVE this album…and in fact, why are you even reading this part of the article? Shouldn’t you be listening to the album right now?!?!?!!
Also, if you are thinking… “Hm, Straight No Chaser sounds familiar, are they on youtube?” Indeed they are and these are the same guys who brought you this gem back in their college days:
Trying to bring some Ma back to Majoda!
Mark
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