Capital Children’s Choir

In honor of the removal of the original upload of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” from YouTube, today (Friday) I am writing about something I intended to write about over a month ago.  It’s interesting how grief can spur us on like that.

I first discovered Capital Children’s Choir about a year ago (maybe longer), by way of their rendition of a Lily Allen song on YouTube – one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen/heard:

Rachel Santesso, the founder and director of the choir, is actually the gal who taught and mentored Lily Allen when she was young… so the fact that she created such a lovely version of Allen’s song with new young talent makes it all the more sweet.  The British accents are just icing on top of the cake.  The use of auto-tune in “Chinese” is slightly jarring, no matter how much I love this song, but I’m more confused by its use than offended by it.  These kids can all sing rather well, so why it was deemed necessary to alter those voices is beyond me. Perhaps it was an arrangement afterthought, who knows.

I think a huge part of the Choir’s charm is the videos, as well as the lovely voices.  Watching cute little kids fidgeting, adorable young ladies laughing with each other, and the fact that they ended up doing all of that while in Abbey Road Studios, brings a smile to my face .

After discovering this lovely little group, I was eager to see what else they had done, and I was sad to find that they didn’t have much online.  Well, except for a little Guns’N'Roses:

I’ve been a subscriber to their YouTube channel ever since (I’m not posting every video, so check it out, yourself), and with the periodic video releases, it’s fun to watch the girls (and a handful of boys) grow up.  Like an out-of-state uncle, who only sees the kids every once in awhile, each time I see a new video I think, “Wow, you’ve gotten so big.”  The other month, though, this wonderful little group released a new song, and I think I might have a new favorite.  For now…

Last night I watched the premiere of Family Guy’s take on Return of the Jedi, and commented on Twitter how it reminded me of just how much I love the original movie.

One of my favorite parts of Jedi was its musical cues – one of which is the clip above.  I think it’s really interesting to listen to certain pieces of music out of context, though.  This track comes from a very exciting part of the movie, and it’s become imprinted onto my eardrums… but I’ve never really listened to it outside of the movie.

We’ve become accustomed to how Star Wars movies should sound, but still… this one is just kind of weird.  I can’t detach my brain from the knowledge of exactly what’s going on in the scene that plays out during this piece of music, but try and listen to it without hearing Lando realize the shield is still up and the now well-worn “It’s a trap!”.  Between 1:00 – 2:00, the score builds and builds, but it struck me as having this classical Russian feel.  “Into the Trap” sounds like it would work just as well in something like The Hunt For Red October, with it’s tempo and drum/cymbal usage.  It’s still one of my favorite parts of the trilogy, but I just thought the music was oddly interesting outside of the scene.  That John Williams… he so crazy.

That’s all .

Another new blog series?  Man, I’m popping these things out like a madman.  Anyway, Aural Bliss is dedicated to my love of music.  Where I’ll share lovely tunes or interesting artists I discover, and (maybe/hopefully) even share my own work.  I’m really interested in exploring new, local musical groups, as well, so once I have an income again that should become a regular part of this series.

That lovely gal above is named Skylar Grey.  I am definitely far from the first to know who she is, but music is really interesting that way.  A musician could have quite a loyal fan-base, but you’ve just never heard of them – and that’s fine.  I mean, everybody has to hear Led Zeppelin a first time, right?

I didn’t exactly grow up exposed to a wide variety of music, so I had to “accidentally” discover many groups for myself.  Sometimes, it’s a bold discovery of someone you’ve never heard of before (such as my recent knowledge of Florence And The Machine’s existence), and other times it’s a deeper appreciation of someone that you’re semi-familiar with – as when I bought a box set of The Beatles’ albums and listened to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band all the way through for the first time (an amazing experience).

Sometimes, though, it’s a strange mix of the two.