Roomful Of Teeth: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- Mix a bit of yodeling with Tuvan throat singing, add in a pinch of Sardinian cantu a tenore, fold in compositions from cutting-edge composers and you have the vocal group Roomful of Teeth. This eight-voice ensemble, which includes the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, is gleefully dismantling the traditional definition of ensemble singing right before our ears (and teeth!).
Musical descendants of the innovative extended vocal techniques of Meredith Monk, the Teeth tend to make sounds - some sweet, others alarming - that you probably haven't heard from a group of humans.
In Australian composer Wally Gunn's "The Fence is Gone," verses emerge from an infrastructure of "oh-ha" syllables and a simple drum pulse, ending with women's voices, tight in harmony, like a chord from a Casio keyboard. In Rinde Eckert's "Cesca's View," imagine a lonely cowgirl on some windswept plain. Estelí Gomez gets her yodel on, beautifully, while the three other women vocalize in close, barbershop-style harmony. It literally ends on a high note.
To finish, Teeth founder and director Brad Wells contributes "Otherwise." Warm, rounded tones in male voices contrast with a steely sheen from the women and a high drone like a Tibetan singing bowl. The harmonies take a tangy, almost Bulgarian turn, then we get something truly otherworldly. A pulsing, slightly creepy Sardinian "bim-bom" vocalise buzzes like a gigantic cicada. Dashon Burton's operatic baritone soars above it all. The agility of the voices and multicolored blend they achieve are extraordinary.
As the applause faded away, one of the Teeth said, "Thanks for letting us yell at you." No, I think it's we who are grateful - and perhaps a little stunned. --TOM HUIZENGA
Set List
Wally Gunn: "The Fence Is Gone" 0:00
Rinde Eckert: "Cesca's View" 4:30
Brad Wells: "Otherwise" 8:22
Credits
Producers: Bob Boilen, Tom Huizenga, Maggie Starbard; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Colin Marshall, Maggie Starbard, Susan Hale Thomas; Assistant Producer: Susannah Whittle - Hudba
I have been obsessed with Roomful of Teeth since I first heard Caroline Shaw's "Partita." This group is so good.
Me too. Exactly! I first heard them because I watched the Netflix show "Dark" and I was like, WHAT IS THAT AMAZING GROUP and I went looking for them. I couldn't even focus on the show because of the music. I am a classically trained musician who also performed many pop styles so I know cutting edge when I hear it.
wow! their vocal capabilities are so diverse and incredible. The yodeling song gave me the chills. Incredible compositions and vocalists. Anyone who loves chamber music, throat singing, experimental accapella, will recognize how skilled these people are. I was blown away!
one of my favorite things to do is watch the way they look at eachother while they sing. this is genuine music making.
Yes!
I am from the jazz standard, cabaret tradition. I've also sung in choirs and with bands. This blew me away. I learned long ago to never limit my musical experience and appreciation by leaning on the familiar. This is astonishing stuff! The ability to make sound with one's own body is a small miracle. These people rock the boat, and I could NOT be happier!
Amy Barlow Liberatore thank you for this
We just got home from a Roomful of Teeth concert. Our feet haven't yet touched the ground. We were incredibly moved - lifted, even- by what we heard, and felt. Being in a small theater with this ensemble was like being inside a pipe organ. The amount of practice, coordination, imagination and talent required to make this music is unfathomable. If you have the opportunity to see them perform, do so.
when it first started I was like "eh"
and then the huge wave of sound hit me and I changed my mind very quickly
You should hear them live. Recordings do no justice. ALL OF THE OVERTONES!!!!
Fascinating stuff! Thanks NPR for giving my ears a challenge. Keep 'em coming! Cheers!
Lots of people talking about whether this music is subjectively "good" or "bad", but nobody is talking about the quality of performers here and the unity of them as an ensemble. It's difficult to listen to something new, I'm sure. But, imagine trying to learn how to sing something "new"
Godfrey Francesco uu
It definitely is more difficult to learn and perform, but it's actually not really new. It's actually more primitive/traditional than most modern genres.
their music is good.
I've been waiting for this one. Dissonant. Resonant. Did not disappoint. Thanks to the composers, performers, and NPR.
Don't forget Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Caroline Shaw!
They came to my school and sang with my choir, and I sang with them and for them, then saw them perform that evening. They're an Amazing group :)
Last year got a chance to see their concert in a church at Nantes, France . Mind-blowing. This year they won a Grammy (again) 👏
Roomful of Teeth is a great band name.
Tots!
I don't understand how people find this so unlistenable, it's pretty damn cool.
reminded me of bjork
***** I liked Bjork with the Dirty Projectors. That was way better than this
Some folks have a limited perception on what music is and/or can be.
Amazing. Great to performance and music. All those open harmonies with all those great moments of harmonic tension as well. Loved it. My baby boy was just smiling and harmonizing with it. HARMONY!!!!
I shudder to think what some of the people in this comment section would think of other sorts of contemporary classical music. This is quite tame compared to a lot of what's out there. It's still awesome though.
Imagine they listening to new complexity or total serialism.
Love Caroline Shaw! First heard of her in the 'Meet The Composer' podcast and I've been really enjoying listening to her compositions since then. :)
I was completely entranced by the voices and the expressive faces of the singers. Exquisite! Marvelous!
Wow! They leave me speechless every time I hear them. I love this group
Wow! Amazing! Thanks NPR for bringing this amazing band. Human voice can definitively be astonishing. If you are a musicuan or have your ears educated, then you will sure appreciate the value of their vocal harmonies and different colors.
God this is incredible music, so original
dude, its like metal made with voices. dooooooooooooope!
Check Van canto, metal made with vocals and drums only.
🥰I don't know if you realize but we are incredibly lucky to exist, and to be able to listen to this kind of thing
Thank you NPR. Music is for everyone. If you dont like a certain song or band you dont have to listen. But those who open their minds to new things are better for it. Thank you again
"Roomful of Teeth is a vocal ensemble focused on contemporary classical music. Founded in 2009, it premiered composer Caroline Shaw's Pulitzer Prize-winning work, "Partita for Eight Voices"[1] and in 2014 won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.[2]
Roomful of Teeth's stated mission is to "mine the expressive potential of the human voice", and its eponymous debut album features yodels, grunts, audible exhalations, drones and other techniques from a wide variety of musical traditions.[3]"
this blew my heart away
I see Room Full of Teeth is a flexible group. As long as they have perfect pitch and the right attitude I guess anyone can fall under Caroline Shaw's spell.
I can consume copious amounts of that Balkanny stuff, bring more, mooooore!!!! God bless you!!
Wow, that dissonance is really impressive I can't imagine singing anything like that. The last chord at the end of the first song is unreal.
I wouldn't listen to this style of music regularly but it definitely has a place in the whole musical landscape and I enjoyed listening to something so very different to the norm. Fascinating actually. Not sure how they notate or follow the music ;)
Roomful of Teeth is the sound equivalent of an Olympic synchronized swimming team
i love them!! This is art!
Spec-freakin-tacular!!! Gomez's yodelling was just extraordinary - the vocal control and harmonic dynamics... just wow. This music is just so incredibly human, and in that way beyond beautiful. Thank you for you RoT!
Abosulutely beautifull. Goosebumps all over..
The first song is hauntingly beautiful
how do roomful of teeth go harder than most punk/metal/rap/rock bands while remaining relatively unknown? looking 4ward to seeing these fine folks whenever they do a show in los angeles.
JUST AMAZING!!! Very new sound, experimental and sweet,.. I love it
Estelí Gomez rocks my world in the second piece
So beautiful! My type of music! Love love love!
trippy… and it grows on you. thumbs up
Exciting, moving, challenging, loved it!
Fuck my life, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard since Frank Zappa. Frank would be nuts with this group.
These guys should do the next Halo soundtrack and I mean that in the best possible way
they did the soundtrack of Dark already.=)
Absolutely phenomenal!
Dashon is on fire at 9:28! Such a cool set! Cameron Beauchamp rocking the "Frack Free Denton shirt, as well! Awesome video, NPR! Thanks!
this so amazingly wonderful, fantastic writing
Strange, startling, and magnificent!
"Now with 40% more yodeling!"
That was amazing!
Love Roomful Of Teeth. if you ever decide to come to london.. i'd definitely pay to see you
Gorgeous voices, strong singers who knows how to tune in with eachother and listens well. Knows intervals well, I bet they sightread excellent in Caroline Shaw’s audition. She’s so inspiring, to be the youngest and win Pulitzer Prize
Bim-bam-tastic. Love Roomful Of Teeth!
Love it .
Wow, "Cesca's View" might be the most captivating, momentous piece I've ever heard. Incredible!
Very different. I don't really know how my brain is supposed to deal with this. So that's good.
Love when they look at each other at the ends of songs like “We freakin nailed it but be cool, be cool.”
New to me. Amazing! Heard this on NPR in Tampa Bay.
Fantastic 💚
That last song is interesting. At first it feels kind of like an exercise in variable meter and time and that kind of makes sense but feels like the composer reminding me that he's smarter than I am, which he probably is. But then it relaxes and gets really nice. Not something I'd normally find or listen to and I'm not sure I'll go out and buy an album, but definitely worth a listen. Thanks
Mesmerising ---
AMAAAAZING!
Ugh so gooood
This is great!
yes more please
Sublime.
I come here occasionally to re-experience this. Tonight was, once again, not a disappointment. Wow.
Experiments in Choral Jazz. John Cage, Miles Davis and Manhattan Transfer walk in a mysterious medieval troupe. .
Great singing, even better "Frack Free" t-shirt!!
I'm actually surprised to see a contemporary classical group on Tiny Desk. Then again, they do say All Songs Considered now don't they?
They don't consider themselves as classical. They call themselves a "band," even though they sing classical-inspired repertoire and come from classical backgrounds.
Playing one of Caroline’s string quartets in college rn…the intricacy of the inter playing lines is astounding and deceptively simple
Its extremely different from other types of music, but its very cool, and avante-garde
I liked it :)
Roomful of teth is the best! You need to Brasil!
Please do a concert in my town, wonderful Roomful of Teeth. I will be in the front row.
I'm in love
I liked that last piece
look at how happy they are (^:
Meredith Monk vibes
Of course it is not up to "pop" acapella standards, they're not Pentatonix for Christ's sake. I love this group because they push limits of traditional vocal techniques and composition. It is that adventure that makes me love hearing their oddly beautiful compositions.
What they're doing is way harder than Pentatonix. I do like a lot of acapella but Pentatonix drives me nuts b/c they're so technically perfect - it's like the soul is sucked out of them. These guys are technically perfect and they're also fearless. This would be so fun to sing. Damn!
Roomful of Teeth : Pentatonix :: Dinner : Cheetos
this was really interesting for me because I'm deaf and I usually just read lips
My husband loved this - and he only likes classic rock and country!
Tell him to check meredith monk.
Someone made a typo on Caroline Shaw's name in the credits at 12:57 >_
Would love to see how this is notated
Reminds me of Coraline, its so good and soothing to listen to
Damn. They got better with each piece,
I dare not imagine what was before. LOL
rbaleksandar, lol! Yo, I don't know what you all heard, but that sounded good to me.
Donald King
:D Sure thing. It's up to you whether you like it or not. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)))
Smoking to dis 😎 got me visioning myself lost in the forest and this song is making me find myself. People who dislike this or find this “bad” just lack being open minded
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
you guys just don't get it. this is going to change music as we know it.
Yeah but some people always want to be the ones who went: “I told you so!!”
Guess what. This is nice experimentation, not some musical revolution
I don't even remember this but I was obviously joking
Sadly, the world changed on all of us instead. Don't know about you, but I'm watching Tiny Desk because singing gigs is a COVID-19 impossibility. Stay safe y'all.
I cant wait to get my drivers license so I can finally listen to this and sing along
Carloine?
12:57 "Carloine Shaw" lmao
Would love to see an animated movie whose soundtrack was 100% this^
this sounded good to me...
Oh grumpy Avery....Like a cloud of darkness over there, filled with sarcasm.
they wuold be great to sing for anime soundtracks, they have similar avantagard styles.
i like it but yes very different.
reminds me a bit of bjork
Credits for everyone except the singers?
Didnt hate it as much as the rest of the comments seem to have done. I dont get how this got worse response than sun ra
"Otherwise" sounds unearthly, and by unearthly I mean it sounds Martian. It was different, but I enjoyed it.
Dark fans hit me back!!!
interesting... skill required...but I lol'd the whole time.