Phonogenic
My favorite a cappella group, The Claremont Shades, released Phonogenic today. Track list with MP3 samples of 4 songs:
- Beautiful Day (u2 / bono)
- Sexual Healing (marvin gaye / brown)
- Walking on Broken Glass (annie lennox)
- Push It (garbage)
- The Way It Is (bruce hornsby)
- Techno Fusion (paul oakenfold, alice deejay, sonique)
- When There's Nothing (jake oken-berg (shades member))
- The Boy Is Mine (monica / brandy)
- What's Love Get to Do With It (tina turner / britten / lyle)
- Time After Time (cyndi lauper)
- Freedom 90 (george michael)
Pomona College Magazine gives the history of my favorite track, Techno Fusion:
"We're taking three different techno songs and basically doing what a DJ would do at a club, which is take them and mix them all together." [Jake Oken-Berg]
"Techno Fusion" was arranged by the Shades' newest member, Pomona College freshman Rob Breahrs. The piece makes liberal use of vocal percussion and combines Paul Oakenfold's "Ascension," Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone" and Sonique's "It feels so good."
"I realized there are a lot of parts in the background we could write, and a lot of things going on in the middle parts that make it more interesting," Breahrs said. "Then, I also realized that one song would be too boring: techno's kind of repetitive, so I decided to take three different songs that most people know and then put them all in the same key and then kind of go back and forth between them during a medley."
I am disappointed that Phonogenic doesn't include the great versions of Harder to Breathe (Maroon 5) and Don't Speak (No Doubt) that I've heard at recent Shades concerts. I wonder if those songs will be on the next Shades CD.
Full MP3s of songs from old Claremont Shades CDs:
- I Can See Clearly Now (Johnny Nash) from Prescription Only
- Isobel (Dido) from Color
Photos from the CD release party/concert: friends who were there, the Shades singing.
