« IP Podcasting | Main | Risk and Reward » "Combat Baby"22 Sep 2007 09:13 am An Ithaca College a capella band covers a great song, "Combat Baby," by Metric, one of my favorite bands: Unfortunately, this mostly comes as a reminder of why, back when I was in college and there was a lot of a capella kicking about, I really hated a capella. It's not a subject I've had cause to think about much over the past four years or so, but it still seems basically hate-worthy. Here it is with instruments: Much nicer. Comments (18)
A cappella music is a part of Northeastern/Ivy League college culture I could never understand. I had never come across any a cappella singers or groups during my collegiate years in the great state of Texas, and I must say I was rather surprised by its popularity among some elements of the population (not my friends) when I came across it when I went to law school at Harvard. (At last, I get to drop the H-bomb in Matt's blog!) While I don't hate a cappella like Matt does, it does strike me as a very strange and extremely lame way to spend one's time. Whenever I met a young man who admitted participating in it, I generally wanted to give him a wedgie. Whenever I met a young woman who admitted participating in it, I generally found an excuse to exit the conversation, such as by going to refresh my drink or by faking an injury. 
agreed, matt. a capella is one of the most noxious influences affecting our elite universities.
As someone whose upbringing and higher education were entirely performed well west of the Mississippi, I always found the East-Coast Ivy league a capella thing charming, in a Whit Stillman sort of way. Being unapologetically nerdy can be very appealing in an otherwise "cool"-obsessed world.
I'm all for unapologetic nerdiness, but in my experience the people who did a cappella in college thought they were the cool kids. Even cooler than the guys who rowed on the crew team. I suppose it's part of the vestigial class system that still percolates through northeastern universities. Actual class distinctions have largely withered away, but the more superficial badges and incidences of it persist.
As a singer who has attended some bad college a cappella concerts, I think the problem comes from the extremely lame arrangements pasted onto what are often very boring melodies. I promise, JS Bach and Orlando Gibbons don't sound that bad, even when done by amateurs.
I don't think collegiate a cappella can be safely assumed to be confined to east of the mississippi: http://www.varsityvocals.com/icca/2007results.shtml
The problem is you have to wade though a lot mediocrity to find the good stuff. But when you do, it's impressive. Try listening to Tufts Beelzebubs' cover of Everybody wants to rule the world, or UVA Academical Village People cover of Kate, by Ben Folds, or Firedrill's cover of Sledge Hammer. If Matt had linked to one of these, people would had a much different take. (Though, the studio version always seems to be better than live.)
noone has it right: a capella, like karaoke, is for the singers, not the audience. If you find yourself at an a capella performance in the audience rather than on stage, something has gone awry.
It's for the singers and the people who know the singers so they can go "WHOOO! Go ! You are so sexy! I genuinely believe that you are a rock star! In no way is this a mediocre performance of music I dislike!" That sort of thing. It has its charms. Also you might get a little (ersatz) thrill if they decided to sing a radiohead song for once instead of michael jackson or red hot chili peppers. The thing I always disliked about the performance (very much in evidence in that clip) is how overwrought it was. Actual singers do not infuse every line with so much manufactured emotion. It's just very amateurish. But yeah, it has its charms.
Interesting. That line should have been "Go [insert name here]! You are so sexy!" etc. angle brackets make text disappear!
A capella is fine to watch, as anyone who has seen Take 6 perform can attest to. The problem is that it is a very pure art, and highlights every deficiency in each person's voice...there's nowhere to hide. Thus, since there are very few truly excellent singers around, a capella arrangements have to be very simple, the musical equivalent of nursery rhymes. You Tube Take 6's Star Spangled Banner recording...it's an excellent rendition of a song that most people don't even like. People good enough to sing a capella generally don't do it as a hobby.
Led is entirely right: the Crap-a-pellniks thought they were totally hot shit. It was amazing; I remember attending my first (and, I think, last) a cappella concert freshman year at an elite New England liberal arts college, and everyone was gaga over this utterly insipid excuse for music. I felt like I was on a bad acid trip, or in a Kafka novel -- could I be the only one to get how bad this shit was? To judge by the self-satisfied smiles lighting up the audience after a particularly horrifying rendition of Tom Jones' "Sex Bomb," yes, I was. I think the main thing was the after-party where they all got to screw.
A capella works for about 30 seconds, as long as it is followed by a rocking instrumental passage - see "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Come Sail Away." It builds tension, but doesn't release it. Kind of like the rest of the liberal arts experience...
A capella singing is wonderful fun for a capella singers. It's a do-it-yourself project, like building a backyard deck. When somebody you know is singing in an a capella concert, go, listen politely, and clap enthusiastically when it's over. They'll feel great and you'll have a mildly nice time. But, just as you'd be more likely to tour the Gothic Cathedrals of Europe rather than the Great Backyard Decks of America, you don't have to be a passive consumer of a capella music made by strangers.
Rock generally doesn't work for a cappella because rock phrasing is short and repetitive with spaces that are filled with sharp percussive rhythmic patterns (drums and guitars). Voices can't do that. (Well, the Swingle Singers could have done it if they were still around, but ordinary untrained voices can't do it.) So Combat Baby doesn't make it. It's not surprising that Everybody Wants to Rule the World works, because that song has long melodic phrases and synth rhythmic patterns - things that voices can handle very well. And it's true that a lot of a cappella is lame, but that's because a lot of a cappella groups aren't very good. Good a cappella is an impressive phenomenon. I wouldn't call it cool, because the values it celebrates and the discipline it requires are awfully 1950-ish. But it's not lame, whether you love it or hate it.
Metric. Guh.
i don't know anything about this whole a cappella phenomenon, having gone to school in florida, but combat baby is one of my favorite songs, largely because of the play of intensities inherent in the music and the cleverness of the personal/political interplay of the lyrics (something metric is really good at; i consider their work to be one long refutation of the studied apathy of urban cool). i got about nine seconds into the a cappella version before screaming and shutting it down. it's like they gave the song a lobotomy. it makes me very sad. i can only hope that as those folks age a bit they will realize the error of their ways. i mean, we all do (or did) stupid things in college. but for crying out loud. when did it become okay to turn punk rock into muzak? there is truly something wrong with america when we have to take the sting out of a canadian band's music.
Comments closed October 06, 2007. |
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Heads in the Sand
A cappella is more fun to sing than to listen to. Of course, I had a band teacher in high school say "Bach is more fun to play than to listen to, but nearly *everything* is more to play than to listen to"
Posted by noone | September 22, 2007 9:36 AM