We are proud to announce that our album I Used to Live Alone is now available through A Cappella Records' HD store. The ACR HD bundle comes with the album (in sparkly HD), full color digital booklet, 11 "instrumental" tracks, concept album details, lyrics for every track, and lots of other goodies. It's also only $9.99 when you buy in HD from the A Cappella Records website (that's cheaper than the regular AND deluxe versions on iTunes).
We are so excited to announce the start of our East Coast Winter Break Tour, a first-ever for Voices. We'll be hitting up Ithaca, Boston and finally New York, singing with some amazing collegiate groups: Brandeis Voicemale, Cornell Last Call, Ithacapella, The MIT Chorallaries, and Tufts sQ!. We'll be capping off our week-long tour with a performance in Times Square with The Red States. Along the way, we'll also be performing at high schools, connecting with alumni, and generally bonding as a cultgroup. Check out our events page for dates and details of gigs, and make sure to keep an eye on our blog and our twitter (@uchicagovoices) for updates on tour shenanigans!
Our original song, Sharp, has been chosen by The Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA) for their newest compilation album, Sing 8: Too Cubed. We are so honored to be chosen again (from a record number of submissions, AND as only one of three scholastic originals!) after last year's appearance of Boomerang on Sing 7. The album will be available on iTunes or a-cappella.com starting November 14th, but in the meantime...
"Sharp" is now available for listening on YouTube!
Sharp (Full Track)
Now you, too, can sing along to what CASA has dubbed the "Best. Syllables. Ever." Enjoy!
You can also listen to "Sharp" and much more on our latest album, I Used To Live Alone (available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, or uBazaar).
Earlier today, the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB) released a very positive review of our latest album, I Used to Live Alone (available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, or uBazaar). We are thrilled to have been given an overall score of 4.7 (on a 5pt scale), and are so grateful to the reviewers (Jonathan Minkoff, Robert Dietz, and Nick Anderson-Frey) for their kind words. We're glad you enjoyed the album, and are already working on our next project - stay posted!
Here are some of our favorite snippets from the reviews:
"[Voices in Your Head] has become one of the fastest rising stars in collegiate a cappella... Any college group that finds itself simply imitating covers will have its world opened up with a few listens to Voices' relentless creativity." --Jonathan Minkoff
"From the sleek concept of the jacket art, to the thoughtful execution of its original material, there is no question that we're being treated to something with vision." --Robert Dietz
"I Used to Live Alone is a supremely professional effort from Voices in Your Head, a talented and ambitious collegiate group... The album is polished, with Voices in Your Head exhibiting the most consistent group sound I've heard in a collegiate a cappella group since the Tufts Beelzebubs on Code Red... A cappella is gradually becoming cooler and cooler, and it appears that Voices in Your Head is at the forefront of this movement." --Nick Anderson-Frey
Voices in Your Head is proud to announce the following new members for the 2011-2012 season:
Alisha Reddy
Allegra Kuney
Amy Henry
Ivan Pyzow
Kevin Qian
Mason Heller
Nate Tan
Samir Warty
Sara Dougadir
Congratulations to our new members!
Voices in Your Head would like to thank everyone who came out to audition for the 2011-2012 season. We heard a lot of fantastic singers, and after lengthy consideration, we would like to call back the following people for our next round of auditions:
Carly Buxton
Sara Dougadir
Mason Heller
Amy Henry
Ji Kang
Allegra Kuney
Nabanjan Maitra
Anna Olson
Ivan Pyzow
Kevin Qian
Alisha Reddy
Adam Rosenthal
Nate Tan
Brianna Tong
Adrienne Walker
Samir Warty
Monica Zheng
Congratulations to those called back! If you weren't called back, please realize that it is very hard for us to pick just a few names from such a large audition pool. Some of our current members weren't accepted on their first try either, so please consider auditioning again next year!
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Join Voices in Your Head as we celebrate our latest album release with a very special spring concert! Three years in the making, I Used to Live Alone spans several generations of Voices, and represents a number of important milestones for the group. We would love for you to join us in celebration of its completion!
Check out more details on Facebook and our Events page, and purchase advance tickets through uBazaar.  ***UPDATE! I Used to Live Alone is now available for purchase on uBazaar and iTunes! |
Voices In Your Head has been nominated in three categories of the 2011 A cappella Community Awards (ACAs), including Favorite Mixed Collegiate Group, Favorite Female Vocalist (Elspeth Michaels), and Favorite Original A Cappella Song (Boomerang). Nominations were made by the members of the Contemporary A cappella Society (CASA), and we couldn't be more thrilled to receive such high praise from our peers in the a cappella world. It's a great honor to be on the ballot alongside all of the other superstar groups that were nominated! Head on over to the CASA site to vote now!
Voices in Your Head's original track Boomerang has won the 2011 Collegiate A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) in the category of Best Scholastic Original Song. A huge congratulations to composer Chris Rishel and lyricist and soloist Elspeth Michaels! We couldn't be more proud of them. Boomerang was featured on this year's edition of CASA's annual compilation, SING, and will also be included on I Used to Live Alone. In the meantime, check out the announcement on CASA's website, the discussion on Mouth Off, and listen to the full track on YouTube.
Voices In Your Head is pleased to announce our 3rd place finish at our ICCA Midwest Quarterfinal yesterday! And a special shout-out to our own Chris Rishel, who won the judges' award for Outstanding Arrangement for his interpretation of Taio Cruz's hit single Break Your Heart. It was another year of steep competition, and we're very proud of our performance. Our sincere thanks go out to all those of you who have supported us along the way this year and especially to the strong showing of UChicago fans in the crowd last night. Congrats also to The University of Illinois Xtension Chords and University of Wisconsin Fundamentally Sound, both of whom will be advancing to semifinals in St. Louis next weekend!
The Authority has exerted an iron grip on The University of Chicago, with Thought Police suppressing any and all opposition. One brave group of subversives, known only as the “Resistance,” is working restlessly to take down its authoritarian oppressors. The following video is a chronicle of their efforts (please watch in HD!):
Resistance (Music Video)
Video Credits:
University of Chicago Voices in Your Head
“Resistance” OPB Muse
Solo by Mike Glista
Arranged, Recorded, and Edited by Chris Rishel
Mixed by Bill Hare
Video Written and Directed by Wills Pumphrey
We are thrilled to announce that “I'd Like To” has been selected for the 2011 edition of BOCA (Best of Collegiate A Cappella). Although not in time for our concert this Friday, we'll have copies to sell soon, so be sure to pick up a copy!
The full track YouTube video for our latest original track, Boomerang, is now available for your listening pleasure. Enjoy! And look for Boomerang on the soon-to-be-released compilation album Sing 7: Lucky as well as our upcoming studio album.
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Our new original track "Boomerang" (music and arrangement Chris Rishel, lyrics and solo Elspeth Michaels) has been selected from among a record number of submissions for the seventh edition of the international compilation album Sing! Voices In Your Head is honored and excited to join such talented groups as The House Jacks, The Swingle Singers, The Duke's Men of Yale, The Chordials, On The Rocks, and many others on what promises to be an impressive compilation! "Boomerang" will be featured on our upcoming studio album, and Sing 7 will be available soon. Check it out and find more info here! |
Our hit single "Magic" (featured on Note to Self, Voices Only 2008, and Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!) is about to reach 100,000 views on YouTube. Help us get there today! Thanks so much to all those of you who have watched, listened, commented, liked, subscribed, and recommended us!
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Voices Only, an annual compilation album with songs selected from a competitive pool of a cappella groups from around the world, has chosen “I'd Like To” as one of the 38 featured songs for Voices Only 2010. “I'd Like To” joins “Supermassive Black Hole” and “Magic” as the third Voices In Your Head track to be featured on a Voices Only compilation. This achievement makes Voices In Your Head one of only seven a cappella groups to appear on Voices Only three times in a row since the compilation's inception in 2005 (the other groups being Tufts Beelzebubs, Stanford Harmonics, Northwestern Purple Haze, UPenn Penny Loafers, UC-Santa Barbara Naked Voices, and USC Reverse Osmosis). For more information about Voices Only, click here. Voices Only 2010 will begin shipping in August. “I'd Like To” will be available on our upcoming album slated to be released this fall. In the meantime, catch some sneak preview clips of I'd Like To on the June 27 and August 1 episodes of the a cappella podcast Mouth Off! |
Today, Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!, was released featuring Voices In Your Head's "Magic," and 13 other a cappella groups from around the United States. Reviews of the album have been generally positive and some of which pay particular attention to "Magic."
Statements about 'Magic' and Voices In Your Head:
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"Hitting lots of highs, the group Voices In Your Head from the University of Chicago delivers a performance to match the song title on 'Magic.'" |
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"It's only when the groups take chances that the arrangements transcend the originals: The digitally tweaked harmonies on Voices in Your Head's 'Magic' give the song a hypnotic electro-pop sheen…" |
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"The record has its bright spots, too; for starters, 'You Don’t Know Me' works perfectly in an a cappella setting, as do 'Selfless, Cold and Composed' and 'Magic,' and this new version of 'Landed' does a terrific job of highlighting the quality of a single that should have been a hit." |
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"Folds' songs translate to vocal arrangements remarkably well: the cover of 'Magic' by the University of Chicago group Voices in Your Head is even more haunting than the original." |
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"14 different college a cappella groups singing songs like 'Brick' and 'Magic.'" |
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"'Magic' sounds like a Philip Glass variation when performed by The University of Chicago’s Voices in Your Head" |
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"Stand-outs include 'Magic,' 'Landed' and 'Not the Same.'" |
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"The 16-song set features…intricately arranged renditions of Folds songs such as 'Brick,' 'Magic,' 'Evaporated,' 'Fair' and 'Army.'" |
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"The tight harmonic clusters at certain points [of "Magic"] and the neat little walking bass counterpoint toward the end is just spine-tingling. LOVE IT." |
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"The arrangement of ["Magic"] is so different from the original that the song is a completely unique artifact–which should be the goal of any group, a cappella or otherwise, when attempting a cover."
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General Reviews:
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"Ben Folds returns with an entourage—they intonate their voices at breathtaking levels, overlapping in a seamless harmony throughout the album." |
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"A courageous and ingenious move for a performer who rarely strays from his 88 keys." |
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"He's commissioned a cappella arrangements of his music from some of the country's best college vocal troupes." |
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"It would be hard to find a more original idea than this album. Worth every atmospheric, epic moment. Buy it!" |
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"Folds' album doubles as a best-of set, but instead of using his versions, he decided to showcase interpretations from groups around the country." |
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"The a cappella movement appears to be having a moment." |
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"The release is a fantastic experiment that pays off brillaintly." |
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"Ben Folds finds perfect harmony." |
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"It is…a “must buy” for fans of Folds’ music and fans of a cappella." |
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"The North Carolina native picked 15 ensembles from 250 submissions for "Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!" (Epic), which came out Tuesday." |
Buy Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! on iTunes or Amazon.com.
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In an article featured on the University of Chicago's homepage, "Pop star puts campus singers in limelight," author Phil Rockrohr describes the process behind Voices In Your Head's selection for Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella. Members from the group describe their a cappella experience and what it was like performing at a Ben Folds concert.
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| Lloyd DeGrane/UChicago News Office |
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Entertainment Weekly's blog, The Music Mix, has posted an interview with Ben Folds focusing on Folds' new album Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!. In a question about the range in recording on the album, Music Mix writes, "there's a group from the University of Chicago called Voices in Your Head that sings "Magic" on the record, and to me they're in a different league than the rest of the groups." Read "Ben Folds' wacky new a cappella record". Listen to "Magic". |
| Kim Tonelli |
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In his New York Times blog, "Living With Music", Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, Songbook and many other books had high praise for our cover of Ben Folds Five's Magic.
Listing the a cappella cover alongside songs from Queen, James Brown, and Ben Folds himself, Hornby called it "a heartstopping cover of one of [Ben Folds'] most affecting songs." The full article can be found here. Magic was arranged by Chris Rishel, with both Chris and Lily Baker singing the solos. |
| Alistair Grant/Associated Press |
