I heard somewhere that A Cappella is Italian for “empty orchestra.” I think that’s hauntingly beautiful.

Actually, A Cappella means “in the style of the church” and it is one of the most entertaining genres of music. Singing a song A Cappella just means singing a song without instrumental accompaniment, but often the back up vocalists fill in for the missing instrumental by creating the melody and rhythm vocally. Can be very impressive, if done correctly.

I was first introduced to this style of singing through “Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?” where the A Cappella group Rockapella (see what they did there?) blew my tiny mind every time they sung the show’s eponymous theme song.

One. Two. Three. HWUAAH!

They’ve aged pretty well, I think.

Anyhoo, now that I have the Internet, I don’t need to watch geography-based games shows on public television for my A Cappella fix. Let’s binge.

Here’s the Pokémon theme.

And here’s a Medley of Disney hits.

And last, but not least, is the theme from Star Wars.

Cheers,
JD

What’s up, World!

If you haven’t heard of DeStorm Power before today, you’ve been doing YouTube wrong for the past three years. With over 222 videos online, prolific doesn’t even begin to describe this triple-threat, who has collected over one million subscribers to you YouTube channel.

Wait. Singer, rapper, song writer, and producer. Make that quadruple threat.

DeStorm first came to my attention when he was did a series of videos called Soul Toons, where DeStorm covers popular cartoon and TV theme songs as a one man a cappella group.

Check out the entire series here. Over 8 videos, he manages to hit a lot of old favorites, and introduce me to some new ones.

He’s also done covers of popular songs in the same beat-box a cappella style. Hmm, I guess if you add beat-boxing, that would make him a quintuple threat.

But those are only the tip of the iceberg. Another big part of his YouTube Channel are the challenges, where his viewers challenge him to create a song or video with a certain style or theme. From rapping using the titles of movies and video games, to rapping whilst Skydiving. Yeah.

He’s also appeared in online sketches, like this one with Freddie Wong. Adding acting to the mix, this brings his threat multiplier up to… Sixtuple? Hextuple?

And last, but not least, are his original songs. For example, Finally Free featuring Talib Kwali.

This song is on his first mixtape, Be Careful, which came out May 1st. It’s available on iTunes and in physical and digital format here.

And if you haven’t already, subscribe to his YouTube channel here.

And don’t forget to follow him is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Peace!
-JD

Released back in 2010 (making this post nostalgic in a meta kind of way) After School Special is a hip hop mixtape where each track is based off of a popular TV theme song from the 90’s. Sounds like a recipe for a cheap and gimmicky album, but instead the young rapper A-1, along with producers WooStaar and Sac Masta, deliver fun and flawless lyrics over incredible instrumentals that feel tailor made for all the 80’s babies out there.

For example.

All and all it’s a very fun album. The instrumentals range from The Price is Right to Reading Rainbow to Nickelodeon’s Doug. And although the occasional nod to the source material is heard in the lyrics, A-1’s goal isn’t to give you a rap rundown of your favorite shows. He delivers original and inspired rhymes over these instrumentals, attacking a range of topics from his quest to capture all his dreams on the track “Charizard”, to recounting an entertaining narrative and flexing his story telling skills on the track “Golden Girls.”

With a runtime of around a half an hour, After School Special is one 30 minute long nostalgia-gasm for anyone who enjoys hip-hop and grew up in the 90’s.

Listen to the whole album free at A-1’s YouTube page here. Or download it for $7 here.

Cheers,
JD

Happy Mass Effect 3 Day, Knurds. Ready to finish the fight?
And unlike some other space marines, when Commander Sheppard finishes a fight, it will stay finished.

To get you in the mood to defeat the Reapers and take back Earth, here are two free mixtapes of Mass Effect inspired music.

First is Adam WarRock’s Mass Effect 3 EP. Download all 5 tracks here.

Adam WarRock is becoming one of my favorite nerdcore rappers. His latest album, You Dare Call That Thing Human?!?, is a must-listen for fans of comic books and hip hop. I’ve been enjoying his free mixtapes, but his work on this album is in a different league. Check it out here.

Next is The N7 EP by Kabuto the Python and BC, available here.

With more original instrumentals than WarRock’s EP, this mixtape is filled with Mass Effect samples and sounds more like a mainstream album with it’s catchy beats and simple lyrics. But instead of yakking about Racks on Racks on Racks, Kabuto is rapping about the Collector’s abducting the crew of the Normandy or rhyming about his love for our favorite Quarian, Tali’Zorah.

The N7 EP also comes with some instrumentals, so you and your squad can assume direct control and spit a few freestyles of your own while you’re racing around the galaxy, shooting Husks in the face.

Cheers,
JD

What would it sound like if Daft Punk composed the soundtrack for Space Paranoids? It might sound like a lame excuse for me to talk about Da Chip, a collection of chiptuned Daft Punk cover songs.

Da Chip Volume I and II are two albums that reproduce the futuristic funk of Daft Punk with old school 16-bit sound chips.

And it’s awesome. Listen for yourself.

Download both albums from Da Chip’s site here.

Cheers,
JD