TheSpotlight

The Tarpeggios (or Tarps) are one of the newest groups on the UNC Chapel Hill campus, but in their relatively young tenure, they’ve covered a lot of bases – from recording to competing and more. We talk about it all, hear them sing some live tunes, and look to the future.

It’s a rare day when our East Coast and our West Coast team members are all together – so when we were in the same room recently, we recorded this special podcast-only episode of #TheSpotlight, to commemorate the 300th show. Take a listen behind the scenes and enjoy some stories and laughs with the group!

While at SoJam in early November 2019, we brought No Southern Accent into the mobile studio to hear them sing, catch up on what’s new with them, and talk about their brand-new album, Permanent Address.

The members of Rutgers’ Kol Halayla were kind enough to come into New York while we were there in early October 2019, joining us in the mobile studio to sing some songs and share their evolution as well as some of their special concerts and competition work.

While in NYC in early October, guest-host Rachael had a chance to catch up with Aperture, a very new group based in Los Angeles. They talk about all of their preparations for entering into (then successfully competing in) the AcaOpen, as well as preview some fun things on their horizon. They also sing for us!

In only two years (more or less), Reverb has launched itself as a presence in the NYC a cappella scene. We talk about the joys and challenges of the startup phase, from defining the group through managing personnel changes in the early years. They share stories and songs in this episode, recorded in early October 2019.

Concrete is a post-collegiate sextet based in New York City, and while we were in NYC in early October 2019, we sat down with them. They talked about how the group has evolved through size and personnel changes, how they are feeling about their rep and sound these days, and more – and they sang some tunes in our mobile studio.

Gotta Sing! is a quartet borne from a Sweet Adelines chorus in Santa Monica, California, and just in the year they’ve been together, they’ve already achieved a lot! We talk about the ramp-up of a new quartet, the relationship between quartets and choruses, and how to get more quartets started. Just hours before they took the Harmony Sweepstakes finals stage, we also heard them sing!

Every time we bring Halfway to Midnight into our mobile studio, we have a good time. This time around, the Bay Area post-collegiate group talks about recording, and what kinds of trade-offs and decisions are involved; we talk about becoming a sub in the group one month before a national Finals competition, and about perfecting the art of slow-but-steady. The group also sings some of their current rep for us!

We had a great discussion with the Westminster Choir College Deaftones when they joined us in the mobile studio – they talked about re-engaging with competition after a rough time, about how they pick tunes, and about why they’re excited to bring contemporary a cappella into their music classrooms after they graduate and start teaching. They also sounded great singing for us, too!