[Music] Some recent YouTube discoveries

Today I want to talk a little bit about some new musical acts that I've recently found through YouTube. One I've known about for a while, but have sort of rediscovered in the last few weeks, whilst the other two I stumbled across via the magic of the 'associated videos' list that's on the right hand side of every page on YouTube. There are definitely some common aspects to the three groups, but also some big differences. I think all three have really developed their fame through YouTube though; it's great to see that that can actually work (although in at least one case there was another, pretty big factor involved in their success to date).

Walk Off the Earth

This Canadian group was the first of the three that I found. Last summer I saw their cover of Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know", which featured all five of them playing one guitar. It went viral, and even spawned its own parodies, a surefire sign of success. I watched a few of their other covers as well at that point, and particularly enjoyed their version of Rihanna's "Man down".

Fast forward to this term and I rediscovered them, again through the 5 people-1 guitar video. This time though I started exploring their wider repertoire, and discovered a few gems. As well as great covers of "I knew you were trouble" by Taylor Swift, and "Natalie" by Bruno Mars, they have a great range of original songs. "Gang of Rhythm" in particular is very good.

All five members seem to be excellent musicians, and the lead duties are frequently split between them. Not just between songs either, but often within the same track. They also have a great ear for turning everyday objects into a source of music, and their songs and covers usually have at least one unexpected 'instrument' in there somewhere.

Walk Off the Earth's version of "Natalie" by Bruno Mars. It's excellent.

The Piano Guys

I can't quite remember how I found the Piano Guys. I think it was through Walk Off the Earth, but I can't really remember. In any case, they're a very different group in some ways. Their name is actually somewhat misleading, as a lot of their music features the cello more heavily than the pianoforte. A lot of the time you only see one of them as well, so 'guys' seems somewhat of a misnomer. However there are actually five of them involved in the project, not all primarily performers, so I suppose it's correct.

Much like the previous group, their tracks are marked by inventiveness (and often involved getting a grand piano to improbably locations). Using just a piano and a cello or two (or more, of varying types), they make excellent use of loop tracks and alternative means of playing the instruments to build up a beautiful multi-layered sound. They mostly do covers, but these usually involve a fusion of a current pop song with either a different pop song or a classical track. To their credit, they almost all work really well and have clearly had a lot of thought put into them. There are a few original works in there too, which is where the piano gets its chance to shine usually.

The Piano Guys offer an interesting fusion of the modern and classical musical worlds, in an instrumental package. That by itself is enough to make them stand out, as pure instrumentals are becoming rare these days.

Five men, one piano, and some inventiveness. This showcases the musical style of the Piano Guys perfectly.

Pentatonix

Pentatonix were a link from a link. One of the Piano Guys videos featured a violinist called Lindsey Stirling, who had a video with Pentatonix covering Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive". I was smitten.

Pentatonix are an a capella group with a twist. Four guys and one girl, so far so normal. But most of the lead singing is done by one of the guys, and one of them doesn't sing at all. Instead he beat boxes, and he's amazing. It really adds something extra to their sound, which without that could almost be 'just another a cappella group'. I say almost, because the other stand out factor to the group is the bassist. If the beat boxer is amazing, this guy is from another planet. He's got an incredible vocal range, including a very strong bottom register that goes down really low, and can even do overtone singing to harmonise with himself!

Speaking of harmonies, Pentatonix have got a really gorgeous sound in that department that makes full use of the differences between the vocals of the different members. I do sometimes wish that there was more of the two 'backing' singers (although I hesitate to call them that), as I personally think they've got nicer voices than the 'lead', but that's a minor quibble and they do share the duties around. Like the other two bands they perform covers, and also like them they're inventive arrangements.

Pentatonix actually appeared on the US talent show 'The Sing Off', and duly won their series, which I presume is where their record deal came from. However they're easily good enough to have earned one by themselves eventually.

"The Evolution of Music" by Pentatonix is very clever, and really shows off their talents. But this...

...is my favourite track of theirs. A cover of "Aha" by Imogen Heap.

I enjoyed listening to all three groups so much that I thought they deserved some of my money, so I went and bought their respective albums through iTunes. I certainly don't regret that decision, and have been playing them fairly heavily since I did so. I'm also finding other singers and groups on YouTube that are linked to these three. There's a whole musical world of excellent YouTube artists out there that I'm just starting to explore, and I can't wait to see where it takes me.