Destiny's Child Gets an A Capella Makeover

All right folks, it's June, the best month of the year! I have one heck of a month in the works for you, too, so make sure your bookmark is set properly and keep stopping by regularly to catch all the excitement as it unfolds. But rather than pounce in without looking and charge on through gracelessly, I thought I'd start off with a song for the day that provides a fun change of pace while remaining entirely relevant.

As loath as I am to admit it, I found myself this Saturday sitting in an auditorium on the campus of that other school across town, also known as ucla (Bruins are either too good for or unable to recognize capital letters), where my brother was singing in his final concert with the co-ed acapella choir The Scattertones. For those who don't know, acapella choirs are popular, typically student-run groups of singers primarily at colleges and universities nationwide who perform reimagined, ingeniously arranged, and completely instrument-free renditions of songs either popular in themselves or originally performed by popular artists. The annual division championships of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCAs) routinely sell out theaters and concert halls in a way probably rivaled only by Yo-Yo Ma or a former President, and these musical institutions of the college experience almost always manage at least to bring excitement and joy to all within earshot.

Opening for the Scattertones was another group of song-happy Bruins, the all-female Random Voices. Since my aforementioned brother just happens to be going steady with one of the outgoing members of this girl group, I had already had the pleasure of hearing the recent studio cut of Random Voices' second and final song of the brief opening set, which they had performed for the university's big "Spring Sing" competition earlier this term.

 UCLA Random Voices 2009-10

Any fan of the pioneering R&B girl group Destiny's Child would get an easy kick out of a well-arranged and well-performed acapella medley of several of the group's early hits, including "Say My Name," "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Jumpin' Jumpin'," and "Survivor" (whut?). But even the neutral onlooker would have a hard time not bouncing to the effervescent beat of the solid arrangement, from its love affair with the alto line, team efforts from all parts on backup and accompaniment duty (most impressive on "Survivor"), and some seamless and clever segues between songs (I especially admire the sliding chords that guide "Bills, Bills, Bills" into "Jumpin' Jumpin'")?

 NOT the UCLA Random Voices

In a group with, at my estimate, but one black member (the soloist on "Say My Name," natch), you have to admire the tenacity of these mostly white and Asian gals as they convincingly tap into their ghetto sides for this enjoyable acapella romp (bolstered in its studio recording by some healthy but not obviously false bass line assistance). Whut?

"Keep On Survivin' (Destiny's Child Medley)"

UCLA Random Voices

UCLA Spring Sing 2010

\"Keep On Survivin\'\" - UCLA Random Voices

Inked

Pensive

Statuesque

Kneeling on Sand

Agnes' "Release Me" - A Tale of Patience Paying Off

Sometimes a song can absorb a certain connotation based on the situation in which one is first exposed to it. That can have a positive or negative impact, or none at all, of course; a relatively unremarkable song can become a thrilling track if discovered at a moment of great joy, and vice versa. For me, for instance, the exciting and intense situation in which I first heard an advance copy of Britney Spears' album In the Zone, then still months from release, helped make "Toxic" transcend its already inherent greatness to something bordering on orgasmic in my mind.

Not so, though, years later, when I first heard "Release Me" by Swedish singer Agnes during an undesired jaunt in the company of those I'd have preferred to avoid. Carlsson, who usually goes by the nom du microphone Agnes, won the second season of the Swedish rendition of the Pop Idol series in 2005, and by 2008 had pumped out three albums, the third of which, Dance Love Pop, was given international release over the next three years (the U.S. release was just this March).

The very trance/deep clubhouse sound of the song at the outset turned me off at first, and I never really bothered to give it much play after that for a while. Then the singer came up in my blog reporting when Spears, who shares a manager with Carlsson, made mild waves when she appeared at the White Party in Palm Springs to watch the singer perform at the closing concert (from a giant secluded cage, but still), and somewhere in there I added the song to my library, but didn't touch it again until recently when it found its way to a playlist I ran while doing some chores, at which point I actually listened to the track in its entirety. It was then I discovered that after thirty seconds of hard trance production, the song mutates into an upbeat, danceable blend of, say, Donna Summers, Samantha Mumba and September - and instantly became one of my new favorites of the moment.

So I submit "Release Me" to you for your own consideration - or reconsideration - in hopes that my little spoilers may help clear the road to enjoyment of this good, loud, fun dance party.

"Release Me"

Agnes

Dance Love Pop

(Roxy, 2008)

\"Release Me\" - Agnes

Stairway to Heaven

Jerzee Shoar

Kylie Minogue Finds the Love in New Single

Fans from all over the globe are celebrating the return of dance music goddess Kylie Minogue, whose new single "All the Lovers," from upcoming album Aphrodite (due July 5) dropped Friday on YouTube and various blogs and websites across the net. Having conquered breast cancer and an unsympathetic American radio industry, Minogue looks to conquer a post-Gaga club scene energized and de-marginalized by the fabulously popular performance artist with a downtempo summer love song in the vein of recent club favorites like Lady Gaga's "Dance in the Dark" and "Monster," Ke$ha's "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" and Robyn's upcoming "Dancing On My Own."

I admit that at first listen I was not much of a fan of the song, despite recognizing its technical merits. But since Minogue is one of my favorite artists and a musical force that should be treated with a certain extra amount of respect, I sat on my review for a few days over the weekend to see if it indeed had much in common with Gaga's music in its ability to initially elicit cool response but eventually invade the senses with pleasure and acceptance. Sure enough, on my ride home today I gave it another go, and everything clicked.

Lyrically, "All the Lovers" contains a depth and feeling uncharacteristic of much of Minogue's popular tracks, enough so to please even the Pitchfork crowd:

Dance. 

It's all I wanna do

So won't you dance?

I'm standing here with you

Why won't you move?

I'll get inside your groove

'Cause I'm on fire, fire, fire, fire

It hurts.

When you get too close

Oh baby, it hurts.

If love is really good

You just want more.

Even if it throws you

To the fire, fire, fire, fire

When Minogue coos these poignant words of desire, does anyone really think she's actually talking about dancing? Of course not, and when paired with the chorus, wherin she sings "All the lovers that have gone before,/ They don't compare to you./ Don't be frightened, just give me a little bit more," it is clear that the still uber-sexy forty year old isn't just all about sex, despite what her previous singles might suggest - and really never was, after all.

Musically, the single recalls Minogue's sizzler "Slow," although where the 2002 hit utilized the then-nascent minimalist trend in production to great effect, "All the Lovers" celebrates the similarly fresh style of deep, legato sound, which in this case comes to a head in the glorious, ecstatic climax. In those loud, joyous moments, you know that the immobile object of Kylie's affection has finally given in, and despite the fears that go along with the intensity of feeling that is love, begun to dance. It's a wonderful song, and it has all the potential to make this summer's club scene as uplifting and positive as Katy Perry's "California Gurls" does for mainstream pop. And that's something to really make you dance.

\"All the Lovers\" Kylie Minogue

Look Down