Sing-Off, Season 4, Episode 2

I'm jumping straight to episode 2 because I saw it more recently. I'll go back and hit episode 1 later, promise!

The opening number was another medley (episode 1 opened with a medley too). It was OK, but not that exciting, so let's get right to the performances!

First up we had Vocal Rush, the high school students from Oakland, doing C&C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat." The girl who sings the "everybody dance now"s has a great voice, and the performance is fun and high-energy. The judges generally seem to really like this group. I definitely think they are the best high school group the competition has seen (there have been three so far, and the first two were eliminated in episodes 2 and 1, respectively). I didn't buy this track, because really, there's just not that much to that song.

Next is the country boys from Minnesota, Home Free, doing Rascall Flatts' version of "Life is a Highway." It's a really good performance, and I bought the track. However ... while the boys have a really excellent bass singer with a super-sexy low voice, so far in both of their performances they have featured him stepping forward and taking a solo. That's fine ... but ... change it up a bit, please, guys. Don't be a one-way monkey.

Digression time: in a lot of ways, Home Free and Pentatonix are similar. Both are five-person groups with incredible bass and percussion (meat and potatoes, TM Shawn Stockman). Last night Charlie said it would be cool to see them collaborate on a song. I agreed, and immediately thought of the perfect song: "Boondocks" by Little Big Town. Just thinking of them doing the breakdown at the end is making me drool. HF? PTX? Make this happen please.

Batting third we have Voice Play. So far, I'm not a fan, but I will admit that they redeemed themselves somewhat with tonight's performance of "Play That Funky Music White Boy." They have a ways to go to win me over, but who knows: at this point in season 3, I hated Pentatonix. Anything can happen. The judges praised their improvement, and I have to agree. I still don't think Honey (the one female singer in the group) blends well with the guys. You can tell that she is a recent addition to the group.

Street Corner Renaissance is next. Man, I love these guys. They are my surprise favorite of the season. Five lovely late-middle-age black guys doing doo-wop. The comparisons to Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town (season 2) are inevitable, but I like this group better. Tonight, they give us a doo-woppy rendition of the Contours' "Do You Love Me?" Charlie turned to me halfway through and said, "I hate to say it, but I think this is going to send them home." Spoiler: he was wrong. Whew! He thought so because this performance is very, very expected for a group like this (as opposed to their episode 1 "What Makes You Beautiful," which is just freaking awesome). I don't think I'll buy this track.

Another digression: I accused One Direction of using Autotune on "What Makes You Beautiful," and listening to it now, I think I was probably wrong. It's not a bad little record, actually. I still prefer Street Corner Renaissance's version, though.

Next up is the all-female group Element, with Pink's "Raise Your Glass." Meh. It's an improvement on their first outing, but it's still nothing special. For such a raucous song, the performance is kind of blah. I mean, there's a lot of shouting and fist-pumping, but it's still underwhelming. Jewel criticized them for having two singers share the lead instead of one, and maybe that's part of why this whole thing seems a little subdued. I did not buy this track. At this point, I'll be surprised if I buy any of Element's tracks.

Now we have the AcoUstiKats (seriously, most annoying name ever, to type) doing Outkast's "Hey Ya," which is one of my all-time favorite songs. Andre 3000 isn't a big guy, but those are still some huge shoes to fill. The guys have some adorable choreography, and their performance is fun and energetic, but it still comes up short. The problem: the lead, sung by Ron. Ron is an attractive and charming young man who happens to have been classically trained. Unfortunately, it shows -- the kid cannot belt, and sometimes, a song needs to be belted, or shouted. "Hey Ya" is one of those songs. His delivery is just too freaking legato for this one. I didn't buy this one. A swing and a miss, for me.

Calle Sol is next with "Livin' La Vida Loca." No es bueno. I like these folks, and the ladies can certainly dance. But this performance is oddly subdued (the guy they have sing the lead should not be singing the lead on this song), and, really, Calle Sol needs to decide if it wants to be a dance group or an a cappella group. So far, trying to be both is not working out for them. I didn't buy the track.

Now we have Ten, doing Nelly's "Hot in Herre." Despite my better judgment, I like that song, and Ten does it justice. It's sexy and energetic and fun, and most importantly, it's cohesive. They're in no danger of going home on this performance. I bought the track, though it's not as awesome as Urban Method's take on the same song in season 3 (they did it as a mash-up with "Fever," and it was fantastic).

Finally, it's Filharmonic. Before they sing, though, we get some backstory on one of the boys: he's dedicating his performance to his sister, who died of an allergic reaction not long ago. That sucks, and I'm very sorry for him. But I don't want to spend the whole season hearing about it, Sing-Off, mmkay? Anyway, they sing "This is How We Do It," which I had always assumed was a boy-band song but is in fact by Montell Jordan. It's awesome -- very energetic and with nice harmonies. Bought it.

Most of the groups are safe: Filharmonic, Home Free, Street Corner Renaissance, Voice Play. The remaining four are divided into two pairs: Vocal Rush and Calle Sol, and The AcoUstiKats and Element. Of those, Vocal Rush and Element are safe (but nervous), and Calle Sol and the 'Kats (as I will call them from now on, because, jeez) are in the final Sing-Off, doing, "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson.

For a third time, Calle Sol shows that it is a dance group that sings, rather than a singing group that dances. The 'Kats do a better job with the song, and have some cute moves, too. Long story short: Calle Sol gets la bota, and the 'Kats will return on Thursday night (and, I hope, put someone other than Ron out front).

Woot! Three episodes in one week. They're spoiling us!

The Sing Off, Season 3, Episode 4

It's week two of "radio hits/60s classics." I'm glad they scaled the show back for season 4. I loved the abundance of Sing-Off, but it was weird seeing each group only every other week for the first several weeks.

Anyway, our group sing this time is "Rhythm of Love" by the Plain White Ts. I love the song. Love, love, love it. This performance ... it's a bit cheesy. The set is all blue sky and flowers, and it almost turns this pop song into a show tune. I do like how the background singers are imitating the rhythm of a ukulele. How freaking cute is Guy (from North Shore)? I didn't buy this track.



The Deltones are up first with Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory," which is definitely my favorite Gaga song. The lead singer (Cortney) had laryngitis this week, and although she pulls off the performance, it would probably have been a lot stronger if she had been feeling well. I think, for me, what ruins it is the background singers during the chorus. Cortney's "I'm on the edge of glory" is strong enough, but when they echo her, it sounds cheesy. I didn't buy this track. I wish Pentatonix would record this song; they did a video of it that is much better than the Deltones (the video below is not great quality, but their delivery of the song is).



Speaking of Pentatonix, they're up next with Ke$ha's "Your Love is My Drug." I don't want to get hung up on the clothes, but Kirstie's outfit looks like something a hooker would wear. A cheap one. Anyway, the performance is fine, though it's one of the few PTX tracks I did not buy. I like that they tried to do something different with it -- it's a live a cappella remix, and how many of those have we heard? This performance did not get much love from the judges, though. Fortunately, (spoiler) they really bring it with their fifth performance.

The Collective is next with Far East Movement's "Rocketeer," a song that I was not familiar with. This performance didn't do much for me. The whole thing comes off kind of lounge-y, and not in a good way. Apparently the lead singer, Rachel, had laryngitis. Why not have another woman sing lead then? I didn't buy this track.

Oh hell yes! Next up is North Shore, the doo-wop dads, with Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song." It's kind of a dumb song, but these guys make it ADORABLE. They really nail the song, and it's one of the most fun performances this show has ever seen. Guy, will you be my spare dad? (Also, Tommy, the bass man ... amazing.)



The Dartmouth Aires are next with "Animal" by Neon Trees. It's an energetic performance, and Brandon does a good job with the lead. It's not innovative or exciting, but it's not bad at all. I didn't buy this track.
It just didn't make a big impression on me, and that's unusual for an Aires song.

Finally, we have Sonos with "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. I'm not ashamed to say that I love that song. I was all set to rip this performance to shreds, but listening to it again, it's not half bad. The guy singing lead is no Chris Martin, but he's pretty good. If I were going to buy a Sonos track, this is probably the one I'd buy. Why did I think this sucked when I first watched it?

Time for the 60s songs!

Pentatonix is up first with "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin. This is a pretty sexy performance from PTX. (Is it OK to say that, when Kirstie, Scott and Mitch were just out of high school when this was recorded?) Damn, Kevin ... that horn bit was awesome! And Avi's there holding down the bass as always. I don't think they were in danger from there Ke$ha song, but if they had been, this pulled them right back into contention. Shawn Stockman points out that this had a reggae feel, which I didn't catch, but yeah. He's right.  I bought this track.

North Shore brings us "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers. It's a beautiful song, and they perform it just fine, but it's very expected. Then again, I'm not sure what 60s song these five could do that would be unexpected -- maybe something by the Doors, but who wants to see that? They didn't get a lot of love from the judges for this one, I think because it was a letdown after the joy of "The Lazy Song." I didn't buy this track.

The Collective is next with "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam and Dave. Great song. It's probably my favorite of the Collective's performances, but I didn't buy the track. They never fully jelled for me. Groups formed just for the show often tend to sound like collections of individuals rather than real groups, and that was the case for these folks.

Sonos is up with "I Want You Back" by the Jackson Five, and it's a pretty big misstep. They give it the "speed it up and make it darker" treatment that worked (for me) with "Wicked Game." It doesn't work this time. Shawn Stockman nails it in his critique -- if you watch the clip, stick around for his part. I didn't buy this part.



Finally, we have the Dartmouth Aires with "Pinball Wizard" by the Who. Having Michael O. sing lead on a Who song is a great choice. I can think of several Who songs that I would like to hear him sing. What an amazing voice he has. And not every guy can make wide-leg jeans and a fringed leather vest look sexy ... I bought the hell out of this track. Ben Folds points out that the performance reminds him of "Jesus Christ Superstar," and now I want to see Michael O. play Jesus. Or Judas. Either one.

Sonos is out, and for their swan song, they do a Boyz II Men song. Cute choice, since Shawn Stockman used to sing with Boyz II Men.

Next time: the final 10 groups come together for guilty pleasures, and one group walks away with the competition.

The Sing-Off Season 3, Episode 3

The group number this time is "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane. I actually thought the title of this song was "Simple Thing." Dork. Pretty good song. I love these group numbers. Deke Sharon (who arranges them) is a wizard. Seriously, how would you like to take a pop song and arrange it for a vocal choir? And make it sound awesome? If that sounds easy, I would like some of what you're smoking. I didn't buy this track, but I'm going to.

Tonight's theme is radio hits and 60s classics. First up is Vocal Point. Once again, we get to hear about Ben's ailing dad. Ugh. I'm sorry his dad was sick (and then died), but I didn't need to hear about it all the damn time. Less of the contestants' personal lives, please! Anyway, they sing Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never," and it's pretty good. Something about Vocal Point is just too ... slick? ... for me. And they chose a Justin Bieber song. Blech. I didn't buy this one.

Next, we have Delilah doing Adam Lambert's "What Do You Want From Me." I like the way they do it, all breathy and serious, one girl joining in at a time. I'm still blown away by the fact that an all-girl group has a bass. Another strong outing from Delilah. I didn't buy this one but maybe I should have.

Hmm. Urban Method does "Just Can't Get Enough" by the Black Eyed Peas. I'm not a big fan of the Peas, and I didn't buy this track ... but I'm a *huge* fan of Urban Method. I liked this performance. Putting Troy out there to sing the lead was a good choice: he has a great voice and he's a good frontman. And of course, Myke's rap was great. Yeah, I'll have to go buy this track.

And here we have one of my all-time favorite Sing-Off performances: Afro-Blue singing "American Boy." Oh man. Christie's scat singing at the beginning? The adorable dance moves? Danielle's lead? The boys? It's just a great rendition of the song (way better than the original), done impeccably. I bought this track and so should you. If you watch the video, stick around long enough to see Shawn Stockman's critique. It's worth watching. Hang on, I'm gonna watch this one again.



OK, moving on. The Yellowjackets sing "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz, and it's OK. Not that special -- I think this could have been it for the boys in yellow, but they (spoiler) really brought it later this episode. Jamal sings the lead, and he's such a little cutie pie, but I'm not sure I liked his performance. I think the guys really sold this song. They have a ton of energy, and that always helps. I didn't buy this one.

Finally, Kinfolk 9 does "Price Tag" by Jessie J. It's OK. I was never a big Kinfolk fan, but this was probably their best performance. I didn't buy it.

No mid-show elimination ... we're off to the second part, where the groups sang 60s hits.

First up is Delilah, doing "Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vandellas. It's a great song, and they don't do a bad job with it, but something's lacking. It's not innovative. Ben Folds thinks they don't have the altos for this song, and I think maybe he's right. I didn't buy this track.

Urban Method does "Dance to the Music" by Sly and the Family Stone. It's a fun song, and they do a great job with it. It's probably their only performance that doesn't have any rap to it, but Troy gets to show off his amazing bass, and Kim really kicks ass on the lead. This is another UM track that I didn't buy, and will likely buy now.

Vocal Point, I must admit, does a really good job with "The Way You Look Tonight." It's very rat-pack jazzy, and the Jake's voice is perfect for the lead. I didn't buy this track, but it's probably my favorite VP performance.

Afro-Blue is back with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." The girls' background vocals are quintessentially 60s -- really well done. The judges didn't have much love for this performance, but I don't think it's bad at all. Maybe it's just too iconic a song. I didn't buy this track, but it's good.

Here is the performance where the Yellowjackets show they have more than just showmanship. "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" is just freaking perfect. The boys are ON. The vocal horns are awesome, the lounge-y percussion is beautiful, and the lead (sung by Aaron) is spot on. Thankfully, he didn't try to imitate Frankie Valli -- he just delivered the song, and it was excellent. One of my favorite performances of the season. This is definitely the one where they earned another week. I absolutely bought this track.


Last, and least, we have Kinfolk 9 doing the Beatles' "Let it Be." It was time for them to go home. I hope their individual careers took off, but they weren't really a cohesive group. Moi Navarro really is an excellent singer/frontman, and I would be happy to see him again ... but a great frontman does not a great group make.

Kinfolk is eliminated, and does "Loser" by Beck as its swan song. This was my favorite performance of theirs. It had more energy than all the others put together.

It's a snow day, so I'm going to plunge right ahead into episode 4!

The Sing-Off, Season 3, Episode 2

I'm going to try to finish blogging Season 3 of "The Sing-Off" before season 4 starts (in less than a week). Anyone want to place any bets on whether I'll make it? I think I'd bet against me.

Let's get right to it! In this episode, we meet the Dartmouth Aires, Pentatonix, Messiah's Men, Sonos, The Collective, Soul'd Out, North Shore and the Deltones. The group number is "Sing" by My Chemical Romance, a song I hadn't heard before and didn't buy.

First up is the Dartmouth Aires, singing Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground." It's a great song choice, and Michael Odokara-Okigbo (henceforth to be known as Michael O.) is a great choice for the lead. He has an incredible voice (he's also just absolutely gorgeous). The Aires really show their energy and cohesiveness here, and I think they were always the collegiate group to beat. I bought this track.




Pentatonix is next. I absolutely love them ... and when I saw their intro video, I viscerally hated them for this one little bit where they go into a coffee shop and order a coffee by singing. Something about that just made me barf -- it was just too cutesy. Somehow, from that low point, I ended up adoring these guys by their fourth performance. That's real talent, I guess.

They sing Katy Perry's "E.T.," and it's good. I especially like the moment at 2:50 (in the video below) where Mitch takes a solo. He has one of the prettiest tenor voices I've ever heard. Anyway, I'll be saying a lot more about Pentatonix as this blog goes on. Let's drop it for now and move on. I bought this track.



Messiah's Men is a group of West African men who immigrated to the U.S. after some sort of hardship (I don't remember and I'm not going to watch their intro video again). They do "People Get Ready" and it's not terrible, but it's nothing special either. I could've done without the religious stuff in their intro. I didn't buy this track.

Last group before the elimination is Sonos, a five-person group from LA that relies heavily on effects pedals when they perform. Of course, they couldn't use those on TSO -- it's just them and their microphones, and unfortunately I think that got the better of them. For their first performance, they did a speeded-up version of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" that actually works pretty well, and makes the song seem a bit darker (to me). I didn't buy this track, but it's not bad at all.

Elimination time! It's Messiah's Men, naturally. Of the four groups, they were the one that brought neither energy and excitement (Dartmouth Aires) nor anything new and innovative (Pentatonix, Sonos). Their swan song was "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," which ... whatever. I felt bad for them being the first eliminated.

Four more groups!

The Collective is a group formed by Jeremy Lister (frontman of the season 2 runner-up Street Corner Symphony), made up of professional musicians from Nashville. The lead singer, Ruby, has an interesting voice, but I don't feel like she has a really good handle on "Rolling in the Deep." Maybe it's simply that I don't like this rendition. I don't feel like The Collective ever lived up to its potential -- it's more of a group of singers, than a singing group. I didn't buy this track.

Soul'd Out is the second high school group to compete on TSO (the only one for season 3). They're from Wilsonville, OR (just up the road from me). I wanted to like them ... but then they did "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" with really stupid fake-60s style choreography and stupid headbands and I just fucking can't. It's cutesy and dumb and I'm neither surprised nor sorry that they were the first eliminated. Oops. Spoiler. I didn't buy this track. Obviously.

Let's have a palate cleanser! Next up we have North Shore, five middle-to-retirement-age guys from Boston who sing street corner doo-wop. After last week's summary elimination of the Cat's Pajamas, I was worried for these fellas ... but there's something special about them. They're not nearly as slick as Pajamas (thank goodness) and they seem like they can have fun. They sing "Runaround Sue," and it's about what you'd expect. But I love them. It's like watching your friends' dads sing (if your friends' dads were good singers). Amazing bass. (Oh, and their frontman, Guy, is just adorable.) I don't think I bought this track, but I kinda want to now.



Almost done! Finally we have the University of Delaware's Deltones, who made virtually no impression on me the first time I watched. They sang Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home," and ... maybe a ballad wasn't the right place to start? At least, it wasn't the right place to start with me. I didn't buy this track, and I don't have a lot to say about it. I didn't buy it.

Elimination time! It's Soul'd Out. Their swan song is "Mama, I'm Coming Home" by Ozzy Osbourne, and it's way better than "Aquarius." Damn.

Next week: another shitload of groups. Maybe season 3 really was bloated ...

Sing-Off 4: Let's Meet the Groups!

I may as well admit it: I'm completely obsessed with "The Sing-Off." It's the only music competition show I bother with anymore, and for one reason: it's still about the music. TSO has never been about personal drama (though season 3 did give us entirely too much of a couple of the contestants' sob stories -- not to sound heartless, but I could have done with a lot less information about the Australian kid's dead dad.) This show is about the music, and the music is incredible.

Let's get to it, then! This time around, they've scaled it back to a holiday treat instead of a season-long competition. 

My favorite group for now is Home Free, a five-man country group from Minneapolis of all places. Listen to this and you'll see why -- especially the moment at 1:17 when the lead tenor opens up his amazing voice. (I like the bass guy too. I'm a sucker for a good bass.) There's also a snippet (in the NBC promo for the show) of them singing "Ring of Fire" that *really* makes me want to hear the rest of the song. (I'm also a sucker for Johnny Cash.) Last season a rap-a-pella group made it to the final three (Urban Method, and they were awesome). Why not a country group?

Next we have Street Corner Renaissance -- no relation to season 2's Street Corner Symphony. This is another quintet, made up of middle-aged black doo-wop singers with great voices and some pretty adorable dance moves. I was skeptical -- didn't we do this already in season 2, with Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town? But their cover of One Direction's "Beautiful"  won me over. They took that auto-tuned, over-processed piece of prefab pop and turned it into something charming and fun. Well done, gentlemen!

The Filharmonic -- six young Filipino guys from LA -- are fine, but as I watched their clip, I didn't feel like I was seeing anything new or exciting. I think this group is largely going to come down to song choice for me -- I'll like them if I like the songs they choose. We'll see.

Let's knock out all the collegiate groups at once. First, we have the AcoUstiKats (I'm not sure I capitalized that correctly, and really, who cares). I have a definite weakness for the all-male collegiate groups, but we'll see if these boys from the University of Kentucky earn my love despite their stupid name.

The other collegiate group this year is The Footnotes, from Princeton. Wait, didn't we already have a Princeton group on the show? (No, we did not. The only university that has repeated is Brigham Young, which had a female group in season 1 and a male group in season 3.) They will probably get the benefit of my soft spot for the college boys. Here they are singing at Disneyworld (or Disneyland -- I don't know). Not a great video, but it's cute. 

Calle Sol is a group of six professional musicians from Puerto Rico, formed for TSO. I like the Latin flair, and I'm sort of intrigued by their group's structure (the four women sing lead, and the men provide bass and beatbox). This is another "we'll see" for me.

Ten is a gospel-inspired group from Dallas. True to its name, the group has 10 members, but there is also apparently some religious significance to it that I just can't be bothered to repeat. My gut reaction to the religious stuff is to barf, but then, Committed made no secret of its origin as a gospel group, and I freaking loved Committed. So, I'll reserve judgment until I hear Ten sing. I couldn't find a clip of them.

How to describe VoicePlay ... maybe a cross between Pentatonix and Manhattan Transfer? That's at least 50% not a compliment coming from me -- I hate Manhattan Transfer. I'll try to reserve judgment until I see them sing on the show. I think they'll probably be a serious contender, whether I like them or not.

Another season, another high school group. This one, Vocal Rush, come from a performing arts high school (jealous). The video is not high quality, but their singing is. Vocal Rush could be the first high school group to make it past the second elimination.

Finally, we have Element, this year's only all-female group. All I can tell from the scant material available is that there are 10 of them, they are from New York, and they seem to have some background in musical theater. I couldn't find any clips of them singing. Dammit, groups: put out some YouTube videos! How hard can that be?

At the judges' table: Ben Folds and Shawn Stockman are back. Hooray!!! Sara Bareilles is gone. Boo! She's replaced by Jewel. Shrug. As long as she's better than Nicole Scherzinger, I'll be satisfied. 

Woot! I didn't think we were going to get a fourth season. Now watch it, people! Let's show them that it's worth making season 5!