Music. According to Kim.

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...

That's it. I seriously need to go back to Orlando at some point. Orlando, Florida is a hotbed for a cappella music. From what I can tell, it's kind of like what Nashville is for country music. It's a treasure trove for harmonies down there. The last time I was in Orlando was during a band/chorus trip as part of the women's choir when I was in high school. Meaning that I haven't been there this millenium. This, my friends, is a problem. I must go back at some point. I've written a ton about one Orlando based a cappella group, my beloved VoicePlay. Now it's time to write about another: Voctave. As of right now, they only have a few videos on their YouTube channel, but if you've never heard them, I've got you covered. Let's start with a run down of the line up.There's the sopranos - Kate Lott and Tiffany Coburn. Alto/soprano Ashley Espinoza and alto Sarah Whittemore. There's the tenors - E.J. Cardona, Tony de Rosa  (who also serves as th...

Peter Hollens gives me the exact same problem that his wife does: all of his Disney covers are great, so trying to pick one? So difficult for me. Times when a cloning device would come in handy, I tell you what. That way I could just assign a clone that strictly designed to write about each of them so I could gets posts done for each of them. It would speed up the process, that's for sure. But alas, no cloning device here, just me. I'm still on a mission to write about all of their videos, it's just going to take some time is all.I'm pretty sure I must have changed my mind about 8 times about which of Peter's Disney video I was going to write about next. But as you can see, "You'll Be In My Heart" came out on top. It's from Tarzan , another underrated Disney movie, in my opinion. Lots of great songs in that one. I mean, Phil Collins was involved, of course the music is good. At the end of the video, you'll see Peter talking about how this was...

As I said at the beginning of Disney month, I feel like I could have done a month of the Disney videos by Evynne Hollens and her husband Peter Hollens alone. So it was really only a matter of time before featuring one of them again. I kicked off the month with Evynne's fabulous "Evolution of the Disney Princess" and have been in a quandary about which of her other terrific Disney covers should be highlighted next. I love that it was hard to choose - I know that no matter which one I went with, there was no way I could possibly go wrong. Ultimately, as you can see, I decided to go with her version of "Almost There" from The Princess and The Frog . While Evynne is the special kind of singer than can pull off any song she wanted, I really feel like her voice was made for this song. She gives such a wonderful performance in this. A performance that was made so much better by the backup band and all the extras. It's so well done. Watch.

VoicePlay + Disney? Magical. VoicePlay + Broadway? Equally magical. VoicePlay + Disney on  Broadway? Extra magical! Or, to quote Igor from Young Frankenstein (the musical), it's " Right up there with the world's greatest pairs! Like Laurel and Hardy/Like Coke and Bacardi/ Like Juliet and Romeo/ Ebb and flow/ To and fro...destined to be a great pair!" Sidenote #1: I cut out a good chunk of the lyrics from fro to destined, but you get the idea. Sidenote #2: VoicePlay + Young Frankenstein?  Oh, the hilarity that could bring. But back to the issue at hand. VoicePlay's aca-DISNEY. What, you thought I was going to dedicate a month to Disney and not   feature VoicePlay at some point? Have you met me? Actually, it occurs to me that maybe you haven't. If that's the case, let me introduce myself. My name is Kim and I am a VoicePlayaholic. I've long accepted the fact that there's no help for it. It's no one's fault. Actually, scratch that. It...

There's something about the violin that takes a song and makes it even more timeless than it may have been previously. I'd say that "Circle of Life" is one of the most iconic Disney songs. Especially among people like me who remember when The Lion King  first came out. Still one of my favorite Disney movies and the musical version is easily one of my favorite musicals. Seeing the movie is one thing; watching it play out onstage is quite another. That's one of those shows that I'll always want to see if an opportunity to do so comes up. Of course, this post isn't about the musical or even the movie. It's about an iconic Disney song being beautifully played on violin. Taylor Davis is so talented and she manages to make songs her own while staying true to the original. So here it is. Her take on "Circle of Life".

Going in a different direction with this one. If you've never heard of The Piano Guys, you're in for a treat. Well, it's a treat for all of us. There's four of them: producer/videographer Paul Anderson, pianist/songwriter Jon Schmidt, cellist/songwriter Steven Sharp Nelson and music producer/songwriter Al van der Beek. What I love about these guys is that they take modern hits and pair them with classical pieces of music with gorgeous results. It's a great way to bridge two different styles. I've loved everything I've heard from them and would love to catch a show of theirs at some point. I did another video spotlight on them in May that you can find here  and have been wanting to write about them again ever since. Safe to assume that these guys will be featured in many other video spotlights down the road. But seeing as how I've deemed August to be the month of Disney, I clearly had to go with this one. It's "Let It Go" like you've m...