Confession: I am not a fan of February. In fact, if forced to pick my least favorite month, it would without question be February. Why? Because by the time it rolls around, I'm officially over the cold. It's not so bad at first. Living in the South, the cold is initially a welcome relief after all the crazy heat of the summer. It's the perfect time of year to curl up with a good book, a soft blanket and a delicious cup of tea. Better if it snows - not that we usually get much here in Nashville. Snowfall is usually pretty wimpy and tends to disappear within a few hours. All the more reason to enjoy it when it appears. I will say that having grown up just north of D.C., watching the way Nashvillians tend to overreact to the tiniest amount of snow amuses me.
Anyway, by the time January hits, the novelty of the cold has worn off, but I don't hate it. Not yet. Then we get to February. Yet another month of the cold and this year seems colder than last. Of course, February also brings with it what is easily my least favorite holiday. Good ole Valentine's Day. Now look, I'm in no way down on love. I'm very much pro-love and, hey, if you've found love than I'm happy for you. Truly. I just think it's a ridiculous holiday.
Anyway, by the time January hits, the novelty of the cold has worn off, but I don't hate it. Not yet. Then we get to February. Yet another month of the cold and this year seems colder than last. Of course, February also brings with it what is easily my least favorite holiday. Good ole Valentine's Day. Now look, I'm in no way down on love. I'm very much pro-love and, hey, if you've found love than I'm happy for you. Truly. I just think it's a ridiculous holiday.
I digress. The point is that I'm ready for warmer weather. More than ready. I long for the days I can go outside and not feel like I'm freezing to death. To be able to go outside without having my hands and face go numb from the cold. Those days are coming, but not soon enough. In the meantime, I figure that I can least find some videos that remind me of summer. What better place to start than with an ACA-Top 10 countdown from those oh-so-lovable VoicePlay gents? Their ACA-Top 10's are easily some of my favorites of all their videos. I love this series so much and can only hope that there might be others down the road. Forever hoping for a country one. Honestly, I imagine there'll come a point when they won't want to do them anymore and that'll be a sad day indeed. In any event, they've done two ACA-Top 10's of summer hits. One for 2014 and one for 2015. Today is all about the latter.
Check it out.
Some of you will already know who each of the guys are, but for the ones who don't? In the back, to the left, you have Eli Jacobson with Earl Elkins, Jr. in the middle and Tony Wakim on the right. In the front we have Geoff Castellucci to the left with Layne Stein on the right. Of course, the real MVP of this video might just be Tony's Starbucks cup. The first time I watched this, I was half-expecting the lid to pop off at some point. That could've made things exciting. It also looked like Layne was going to whack Geoff in the face with the signs a couple of times. Maybe it wasn't as close as it looked.
In any event, I give these guys credit for both making these songs work together and also for making some not so great songs sound good. Looking at you "Can't Feel My Face". What kind of lyric is that? I do enjoy Geoff highlighting the absurdity of that song. This might just be their catchiest ACA-Top 10 to date. I've been constantly getting it stuck in my head and would be interested in hearing full versions of a couple of these. Namely "Fight Song" and "Shut Up and Dance".
Now. Geoff and Layne. The rhythm section. If the bass and drums (vocal percussion, in this case) don't sync together right, it'll throw everything else off track. Watching these countdowns always makes me think how well Geoff and Layne work together. Sometimes I think they're the most interesting part of the countdowns. Especially when you make a point to really listen to them - with headphones on, of course. You'll miss a bunch of good bass notes otherwise. Focusing on the rhythm section further cements my belief that vocal percussionists are a different kind of human.
Meanwhile, it seems like we've been hearing more Tony as of late and I'm all for it. I just love his voice and it's great seeing him get featured a little more. Not to take anything away from any of the others, mind. There's something special about each of their voices that makes them stand out when they're on lead. Explaining this might get odd, but just go with me. With Tony, there's an energy in his voice and a definite Broadway influence in there. He keeps it under wraps a lot of time which makes the times he brings it out all the more awesome. Then you have Geoff whose voice is very rich and, shall we say, boomy. Yes, that's a real word. With Earl, it's more about the tone. His voice has a delightful brightness to it that adds a lot of color to their sound. Last, but certainly not least, is Eli who brings the soul. Some of his vocal runs are just insane. Also, his expressions during "Bad Blood" make me laugh. Way to sell the lyric, Eli. Great effort all the way around and you just gotta love Earl at the end. Well done, gentlemen.
Need more VoicePlay in your life (and don't we all)? Here ya go:
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