Tag: Northeastern University

Haunted Harmonies To Air LIVE on Acaville

Halloween Month is officially underway and we are kicking off our live streams for the 2019-2020 season with Haunted Harmonies in Salem, MA! Now in it’s 5th year, Haunted Harmonies is a spooktacular event featuring a day full of masterclasses, busking on the busy streets of the witchiest place on earth and a concert featuring six competitors and this year’s headliners, HIVE.

Can’t make it to Salem? Here’s what in store for you at home – either with free audio on the station or a video feed here on our site for Acaville members! The contest kicks off at 7 pm Eastern, followed by a performance by HIVE.

HIVE
Featuring some of the biggest names in a cappella, HIVE makes all vocal music and tries to make the world a better place. They’ll be joined by special guest Sarah Mercedes of Upper Structure who will sing with them on the debut of several original tunes.

This year’s competitors:

Elevate
Founded in 2018, this 7-member contemporary group challenges the boundaries and expectations of the a cappella audience. Their goal is to create dynamic, sophisticated music and vibrant moments.

NOTEorious
This co-ed group from North Reading high school finished 2nd in the ICHSA Northeast Semifinal last spring and are preparing for a featured performance at Walk Disney World this year.

Pitch, Please!
The newest a cappella group at Northeastern University, this women’s group came out swinging, with immediate successes in ICCA and studio recordings. They’ve also competed on local TV show, Sing That Thing!, where they won top collegiate group.

Rogue
Rogue is a barbershop quartet affiliated with Harmony, Incorporated. Based in Virginia, the quartet features a two-time Harmony Queen, a former Broadway star, and longtime contemporary a cappella singers with goals of bringing something new and exciting to barbershop. The group is currently preparing to compete in International Contest, where they are ranked 9th.

The 18 Wheelers
Fro The Wheeler School in Providence, RI, this high school group is renowned for their top quality performances and studio releases.

Unisons
Founded in 2008 to fill the gap in all-male a cappella groups at Northeastern, the Unisons first qualified for ICCA in 2011, moving onto Semifinals twice. In 2012, they released their first album: Off the Cabeza and then another, None the Wiser. They were featured in a short snippet on POP’s Sing it On! and competed at BOSS in 2019. The Unisons continue to perform at events around Boston and across the Northeast.

Voices Only 2019 Tracks Announced

After several years of separate scholastic and professional compilations, Voices Only Productions announced a combined double album featuring groups of all categories and styles. From Boston to London to Australia, we can’t wait to dig into this album.

Here are this year’s selections:

Volume 1
1) Between Us – Voices
2) This Is Gospel – Voicebox
3) Something – Fermata Town
4) Breathin’ – The Nor’easters
5) Sober Up – Toccatatones
6) We Can Work It Out – m-pact
7) Rowboats – Lark
8) Love Drought – Faux Paz
9) On And On – From the Roots
10) Sleep – Twisted Measure
11) 715-CR∑∑KS – Exit 245
12) Garands – The Coda Conduct
13) Never Gone – All-Night Yahtzee
14) Greedy – TAG – The A Cappella Group
15) iRobot – Reverb
16) If U Love Me Now – Unaccompanied Women
17) Freedom – Upper Structure
18) Like Real People Do – The Michigan G-Men
19) Flying – OneVoice

Volume 2
1) Hammer – The SoCal VoCals
2) You Go Down Smooth – Hyannis Sound
3) Goldmine – RHS Walk the Line
4) Tokyo Sunrise – The Swingles
5) Strange Birds – Brandeis Starving Artists
6) Get Pumped – Stiletta
7) Walls Could Talk – Notes Over Storrs
8) I Know A Place – Forte A Cappella
9) Heart of Gold – The Beltones
10) Target Locked – Drums of War
11) La Lune – Run For Cover
12) Dazed and Confused – E V O C
13) Butterfly – AA Skyline Blues
14) Tell Me How – The BluesTones
15) My My My! – Evolve
16) Yo Vivire – Business Casual
17) Vessels – DJs A Cappella
18) Sound of Awakening/Sirens – The Beartones
19) KARATE – The Sons of Pitches

New Tunesday – The Summer Wrap-Up

While we were out enjoy the sun, the sand, the surf, and all of the other spoils of summer, the titans of a cappella still churned out some great new music. Here are the highlights:

Pentatonix

There were a lot of mixed feelings about the Lion King remake, but there no questioning the PTX take on this classic song off the soundtrack.

BYU Vocal Point

Not to be outdone, the men of Vocal Point released their own Lion King harmonies with their cover of Circle of Life.

MICappella

It was a busy summer as always for these Singapore superstars and rumor has it there will be even more music coming soon. Get your abbreviated Chinese music history lesson now.

N’Harmonics

It is almost time to submit your applications for the 2020 ICCA season. Be inspired by the set from the 2019 champions.

Nor’Easters

They may not have made an ICCA appearance last season, but these collegiate powerhouses did take their talents to Memphis to win the NACC Collegiate Competition.

m-Pact

There’s never a bad time for Earth, Wind & Fire, especially not when covered by m-Pact, who we can’t wait to see in November for the m-Pact Vocal Festival in Kansas City.

From The Roots

SING! Texas is just around the corner, but not before you can relive this gem of an original written by Hannah Lewis.

Plus, they released another new original “Broke My Window.”

Midtown

This year’s BHS International 5th place medalists have been making quite a slash with their music videos. Have a little fun with this cover from the Goofy Movie, a follow up to their Spiderman Theme Song.

Pitch Slapped

If this is how the ladies of Pitch Slapped are kicking off the new year, we’ve got a lot more amazing music coming our way.

New England Voices in Harmony

Harmony, Inc. unleashed part of the winning set from the 2018 International Champions. Enjoy “I See The Light” arranged by Kevin Keller.

Nor’easters Capture NACC Title as AEA Announces Huge News

Some of the best a cappella groups converged in Memphis this weekend to participate in the National A Cappella Convention for showcases, competitions, and educational sessions from the best in the business.

For the first time, the high school competition was swapped out for a showcase of ten top high school groups. While groups received full feedback from judges, the stress levels were reduced as no winner was named. Instead, the audience was the winner as each set was remarkable. With performances from groups like Limited Edition, Unstrumental, Forte, and G-E-T Vocal Point, this showcase was a true highlight of the weekend.

Saturday kicked off with a convention-wide TedTalk-like session from Convention founder and AEA President, Dr. J.D. Frizzell. His motivational talk put all attendees in the right mindset to learn and use their music to leave an impact on their audiences.

The day was a mix of classes, masterclasses, and more showcases, including performances from RESOUND, OneVoice, and Impromptu before the Convention came to a close with the Collegiate Invitational featuring:

EQ Blu
No Comment
The Green Tones
Voices In Your Head
The Nor’easters
Texas Songhorns
Mosaic Whispers
All-Night Yahtzee

With visually creative and emotional sets, the judges chose to honor:

Outstanding Aesthetic – All-Night Yahtzee
Outstanding Scene Painting – Voices in Your Head
Outstanding Choreography- UNT Green Tones
Outstanding Soloist – Anthony Rodriguez (The Nor’easters)

2nd Place: UNT Green Tones
WINNER: Nor’easters

The evening also featured a guest performance by Nomadic, the first group formed out of the June Foundation.

And just when we thought the weekend was over, Dr. Frizzell and Executive Producer A.J. Marino took the stage with a huge announcement – NACC would not happen in 2020. But before the audience could get too upset, Frizzell shared that the reason was that AEA will be hosting an even larger Convention in the Spring of 2021 in Orlando. Make your plans now, a cappella fans – it’s going to be the biggest event we’ve seen in a cappella yet.