Music. According to Kim.

In a perfect world, I would have gotten this up while it was still 2016. Alas, the world is not perfect and neither am I. But you know what? That's okay. I still wanted to do this because I wanted to give these acts some love. There are four total and they're all acts that I wrote about in 2016 to surprising success. You never really know how something will be received, especially when writing about someone new. And especially  when it's someone you're really excited about. So the fact that the posts about these four did well makes me very happy.  As the title states, these are my four favorite musical discoveries of 2016. If you know me, you know that one of my favorite things is coming across more acts to love. As if I don't love enough already. Honestly, it's never enough. Not with all the time I spend listening to music. How about we get to it?

In getting ready to write this, I had to chuckle at how Christmasy November turned out what with all the Christmas albums I ended up reviewing. This, from a person who usually prefers to only listen to Christmas music in December. Yet here we are about midway through December and none of the posts so far this month have had anything to do with Christmas. Time to remedy that, I think. What better way to do so by saving ECHO's Christmas for the end of our little ECHO trilogy? The first two installments are right below this one on the main page. But if you're feeling lazy, the first installment about their album can be found  here  and the ECHO mishmash can be found  here . "Home for the Holidays" is a beautiful medley. The perfect medley to bring us back to Christmas, if you ask me. So how about we get right to it?

For this second installment of this mini-ECHO series or whatever you wish to call it, we have a mishmash of things. This was originally only going to be a song review, but where's the fun in that? Actually, I was thinking that this would be a good way to cover as many ECHO related things as possible. Because sometimes you need to go all out with something. In this case, that something would be introducing the world (well, my readers) to the wonders of this group. We have an EP review, a mini-video spotlight and a song review all mixed up together.  This is the first time I've attempted something like this, so we'll see how it works out. Go with it.

All a cappella roads appear to lead back to Geoff Castellucci. I say this because it seems like a bunch of the a cappella artists that I've come to love have had something to do with him. Those of you who know the story of how I became such a fan of a cappella music know that it all began with a medley. A medley that was performed by Home Free. A medley that I would later learn was arranged by Geoff and his arranging and rhythm producing partner in crime, Layne Stein. A medley that sparked my love for Home Free which in turn led me to VoicePlay. If you've spent any time on here over the past couple of years, you are well aware that I am a full-fledged VoicePlayaholic. It was through Geoff that I learned about ECHO earlier this year. Geoff Castellucci, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of a cappella music, y'all. It is here that I feel obliged to offer a word of warning for anyone who may dare to keep reading past this point.  If you choose to proceed, you must do so with the utmost...

Pop quiz: what is one of the best ways to find out about new artists? Pay attention to who your favorite ones talk about. I found out about ECHO through Geoff Castellucci of VoicePlay. As it happens, some of the guys from ECHO have filled in for VoicePlay as needed and that already starts them off on the right foot, in my book. Anyway, my point was to always check out the artists that people you like talk about. Always. It might lead you to great acts that you may not have heard about otherwise. As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to see if they had any music out and they do. They released a self-titled album earlier this year and it's really good, so definitely check that out and see what you think. They're another a cappella group based out of Orlando - I seem to be developing quite a weakness for those. This aca-addiction is getting more serious all the time, but I'm good with it. ECHO is made up of Bryce Larsen, Antonio Fernandez, E.J. Cardona, Erik Winger, Deejay Yo...