PTXAnd lo, after much wailing and gnashing of vocal chords, The Sing Off returns tonight. It has been far too long in my less than humble opinion. Granted, I will always take A Capella over the overly forced Drama of the Voice.

Now, I would love to think that I could pick this year’s Pentatonix successor in week one; but I really can’t say for sure. Last year, Pentatonix just leapt out of the screen at mach speed with their first entry. E.T. showcased a very young Pentatonix for the 5 things that make them such a musical powerhouse.

  1. The Lennon-McCartney tight harmonies of the Texas Trio of Scott, Mitch and Kirstie
  2. The Ravenscroftian profundo of Avi Kaplan’s Bass mixed with his knowledge of Tuvan overtones.
  3. The Mad Skillz of Kevin (K.O.) Olusola with a very broad selection of beatbox elements
  4. The mature and infectious arrangements that even in week one could improve on someone else’s music
  5. A bond between 5 people in shared love of music to make a sound greater than the sum of the parts.

I wish however that I wasn’t an unbiased fan. Having now seen them live in concert (with VIP tickets) I absolutely adore them and look forward to at least 5-10 more albums. Their recent X-mas entry of “The Little Drummer Boy” deserves HIGH rotation during the holiday season.

So, what can we expect for this (rumoured truncated, blah) season? We know that we are now on female judge number 3 with the introduction of Jewel. I look forwards to seeing how she enters in the mix. Until we know the format, it’ll be hard to say how things will roll.

The series is rumoured to have a bottom – 2 battle of the song sing off. They tried it once in the last season. Depending on the groups and the song it could be a coin flip or readily obvious who is getting the gun.

More after the show. It’s almost time to sing!

UPDATE: Having seen a blog posting talking about the groups; here are some pre-show opinions.

  • Home Free: ++ Country A Capella. I’m not a fan of country; this group could change my attitude.
  • Princeton Footnotes: — Ivy League A Capella doing what I truly dislike. One foot in the “Glee Club” grave
  • Street Corner Renaissance: + I love Doo Wop. But if it can’t bend the format… It won’t survive
  • Voice Play: +++ Pentatonix redux. Similar style, but just different enough to be a big contender.
  • The Filharmonic: + Filipino boy band. Nice sound. Top 50% but don’t think they will make the long haul
  • Akoustikats: ++ I’m not typically a fan of College All-Male A Capella. It suffers from what I call “Wall of Sound” These guys may just challenge that and survive.
  • Vocal Rush, Calle Sol, Ten, Element: No finds online to judge.

15 minutes on the East coast!