Tag Archives: Edinburgh

Fringe Diary 2012: Part 4 – The Alleycats and The Accidentals

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The Fringe is heading into its final week, and the a cappella scene is slowly dying down, with groups nearing the end of their runs, if they haven’t finished already. We managed to catch the two groups from the University of St Andrews, The Accidentals, who were in their debut Fringe run, and the more established Fringe act The Alleycats. Our thoughts are below.

The Alleycats
Rating: 9.5/10

(Carys Evans & John Lau)

Before seeing The Alleycats, we had heard a lot about what to expect – lots of sass, funk, and great dance moves. We were not disappointed, and found that indeed they had a lot more to offer, with variety being one of their main strengths. Ranging from heartwrenchingly emotional numbers to fiery pop tunes to much more traditionally soulful vocals, this set ticked all the boxes.
If anything, though, the set contains a few too many slow numbers, with two being placed back to back at one point. Perhaps the addition of some form of simple choreography for these songs could help to distinguish them. That being said, two of the highlights of the night were indeed slow songs, with Steph Bown’s emotionally charged rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide showing incredible range and control with her beautiful runs, and Heather Robertson’s powerful alto for David Guetta’s Titanium was easily the best song of the night, with Cammy Dobbie’s consistently brilliant beatboxing complementing the arrangement perfectly.
Although these slower numbers stood out, with impeccable blend and of course fantastic solos, including Garrett Turner’s pitch perfect solo on Ray Lamontagne’s You Are The Best Thing, the upbeat numbers were equally impressive with incredible energy levels and some of the best choreography I have seen an a cappella group do, courtesy of Phil de Winter Shaw. In particular the mash-up of Call My Name and Say My Name showed that these guys have some serious moves. Throughout the set, by looking around the group, every single member was engaging with the audience and having a good time – so although the intense choreography meant that the upbeat numbers were not quite as musically tight, the entire set was entertaining and professionally executed, with some great touches of humour added in Britney Spears’ Toxic.
Credit must also go to Musical Director Brendan Macdonald, who has put together several arrangements that are arguably better than the originals. One particular highlight was their cover of Save The World by Swedish House Mafia, which was tackled with a beautiful duet from Messrs Macdonald and Shaw, while Ayanna Coleman belted out Aretha Franklin’s Respect with verve, pizzazz and a whole lotta soul. All in all, a fantastic show well worth going to see for their sheer energy and some of the best soloists at the Fringe, and even some bonus audience participation in the final number.

The Accidentals
Rating: 8/10

The Accidentals have something that other all-female groups don’t: balls. Not literally, you understand, but these girls bring a kind of attitude and ferocity that some of the other girl groups seem to be afraid of. This is in no part down to their set, which is a mix of covers of powerful female vocalists and hip hop divas.
The Accidentals keep things very fresh by cramming their set with several short arrangements, and it works, not only in maintaining the audience’s attention, but also ensuring the applause comes thick and fast. The girls are very lucky to have an exceptional beatboxer in the form of Musical Director Ellie Mason, who they will miss greatly when she goes on her year out in September, as she also provides entertain in her silky alto solos and her quite sensational, if a little crazy, rap interludes. Some of the upbeat, attitude-filled highlights include Tinchy Stryder’s Number 1, Busted’s Year 3000 combined with Nelly’s Ride With Me and Jason DeRulo’s Ridin’ Solo and their fierce Destiny’s Child Medley, which opened the gig and set the tone for things to come.
The girls impressed on some of their slower numbers too, especially the award-winning The Voice Within, with Grace Hardy’s pure, angelic soprano contrasting superbly with Gemma O’Brien’s smooth alto on probably the best number of the night. The girls provide powerful solos in abundance, with Anna McDonald rocking out on Rollin’ In The Deep and the perhaps underused Catriona Till taking the lead on TaTu’s All The Things She Said, providing a softer perspective on the at times grating original. The girls also provide humour with their choice lyric changes, occasional props and gangsta dance moves.
That said, there are things that need work. Only have eight members does have its drawbacks, and the backing sound does occasionally get a little lost, especially if there are two soloists. Some of the arrangements are quite simplistic too, and at times it feels like in order to avoid stagnation, the girls merge into another song, rather than attempting to make the existing arrangement a touch more complex and interesting. The girls clearly know how to fit two songs together, but I’d like to see them attempt more straight numbers.
All in all, this was a very impressive Fringe debut from the girls, who are feisty, fierce and brimming with attitude. It’s clear why they won the award for Outstanding Soloist at the St Andrews Regional back in March, because the whole group can hold their own in the lead role. It’s too late to catch them this year, but hopefully they’ll be back.

The Alleycats’ brand new album, We’re Not Kitten, can be purchased every evening at the end of their concert.

Fringe Diary 2012: Part 3 – The Oxford Gargoyles and All the King’s Men

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The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is over half way through now, and some of our groups have now finished their runs, having performed to huge, receptive audiences on both the Royal Mile and within their theatre auditoriums. We managed to catch London based All the King’s Men before they jet off to Asia, as well as Fringe veterans The Oxford Gargoyles. Our thoughts are below.

The Oxford Gargoyles
Rating: 9/10

Musical Director Euan Campbell has managed to more than continue the slick and stylish sound that the Oxford Gargoyles produce, providing an almost faultless display of musical brilliance that was almost too good to believe, considering it was only their first night.
They instantly impressed with a beautiful close harmony opening to It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), which built into a lively opener, with the high soprano line pitched perfectly throughout. The duet in Fields of Gold was simply staggering, and the key changes blended perfectly into one another, while never pushing the soloists out of their vocal comfort zones. Becca Sharp in particular stood out not only in this song, but in several other solo performances dotted around the set – she’s a real gem. One such solo was on Summer Time, which was delivered by the entire group with the utmost professionalism – it became very difficult to believe that these guys were students at times.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow, while a very well-known and extensively covered song, was possibly one of the highlights, with a mind-blowing solo and some gorgeous echoed harmonies. The set did feel a little female-solo dominated, but this was rectified to a certain extent towards the end of the set with Mr. Bojangles and Euan Campbell himself taking the lead in the Dancing in the Moonlight mash-up – he has such a unique tone to his voice, it’s very engaging to listen to. The group vocals did seem to get a little tired towards the end, but otherwise this was an unbelievably slick, suave and smooth show.
For someone who doesn’t like jazz, this is probably one of the best shows I saw in the entire festival. I may have been converted.

All the King’s Men
Rating: 9/10

There’s a reason these boys are the best university group in the UK. Henry Southern, the founder and long-term Musical Director, has created an a cappella beast in three short years that have gone from little known KCL group to third-best collegiate group in the world. And the set they presented to us at the Edinburgh Fringe was nothing short of exceptional.
The highlights of their set tend to be their well-rehearsed Voice Festival numbers, and they opened with Born This Way/Edge of Glory that had simple, effective and slick choreography, and I really liked the way they used the “ga” syllable as a backing sound, and the silky solo at the start of Edge of Glory was complemented with some incredible close harmony blend. This was further emphasised by Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, which contained some gorgeous bell tones that gave me goosebumps, and the real triumph that was Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek, which is potentially the best close harmony arrangement I have ever heard. Their older arrangement of Coldplay’s Yellow and Snow Patrol’s Run was just as impressive as last year.
The boys of course are not just about the slower songs, and impress with their energy on the more upbeat numbers, most of which are mash-ups. While the boys seem to excel in arranging these mash-ups, some of them seem to be aimed more towards being crowd-pleasers than being musically intricate. It’s Reigning Men, for example, has some hilarious lyric changes, but the second half of the mash-up, Let Me Entertain You is more about getting the audience to clap along than impressing them with precise musical nuances. The blend did also seem to lack at the very top and the very bottom of the chords in a couple of the numbers, and I feel the boys are lacking a real big-ass tenor to belt out some of the most bawdy tunes. But these are churlish niggles on an otherwise spotless setlist.
Their closing number, Spiderman was a refreshing change and consisted of several different genres of music, and was a thoroughly impressive and memorable way to end the set. A real triumph from the boys from London.

The Oxford Gargoyles are selling their brand new studio album, Up The Scale, outside their show, while All the King’s Men’s newest album, a five-track live EP, is also available for purchase.

Fringe Diary 2012: Part 2 – In The Pink and The Oxford Belles

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The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is now in full swing and several of our collegiate groups are currently in the middle of successful Fringe runs. In the last few days, we have managed to see the two sensational Oxford-based all-female groups, In The Pink and The Oxford Belles, and our thoughts are below.

In The Pink
Rating: 6.5/10

Perhaps it was partly due to seeing them on the very first day of their Fringe run, but given their recent tour of Berlin and the stage experience that went with it, I was expecting slightly more from the girls from Oxford, as they had quite a shaky start to their show but did seem to grow in confidence as the gig went on and they reached seemingly more familiar arrangements.
There were naturally heaps of positives to be taken from their performance – in particular their arrangement of Damien Rice’s The Blower’s Daughter was angelically sung by Suzie Merchant and really showed off the group’s real strength in close harmony. This was further emphasised by their rendition of Pink’s F*cking Perfect, which was a hit last year and was equally good one year later, despite the huge change-around in terms of personnel since last year’s show. Other highlights included the slick dynamics in What Makes You Beautiful, Miranda Essex’s silky-smooth solo in Save Tonight, and Musical Director Becca Nicholls really leading by example and bouncing around the stage with energy and verve throughout the performance, something which the rest of the group needs to take note of, as occasionally they looked like rabbits caught in the headlights.
A few things need to be looked at, but most of them are aspects of performance that will improve naturally throughout the course of the run: there was a little bit too much step clapping in the opening number, Mercy and Rumour Has It, which admittedly did get the audience going but I have expressed my dislike for such simplistic a cappella forms in the past; the backing in Hey Soul Sister was good but did become a little repetitive, something which is difficult to avoid in this art form; the choreography during their ‘World Premiere’ of Without You/Save The World/We Found Love needed work, as several members were glancing over their shoulders to check if their instincts were correct; and the whole set lacked real ‘meat’, that wall of sound, that ‘oomph’ that groups such as Out of the Blue and All the King’s Men provide in abundance.
All in all, this was a decent start from the Oxford girls, who rely on their cutesy charm and good looks to flirt their way through what is a very strong set of arrangements. If they can sort their minor problems out, this could develop into a very impressive show.

The Oxford Belles
Rating: 8/10

When I expressed my undying love for Sophie Giles’ voice after the Oxford Belles’ early evening show, she was unsurprisingly rather embarrassed, but her rendition of Jar of Hearts was and is the best a cappella solo I have heard all year. You might think that the high quality of such a solo would make the rest of the set seem mediocre, but actually the Belles have put together a show that trumps last year’s effort in almost every way.
Perhaps the most impressive was the beatboxing. Decent female beatboxers are very hard to come by, and so in Sally Potterton the girls have really unearthed a gem, and in particular her lip-trill beats at the very start of Rihanna’s S&M were extremely impressive, not to mention very hard to do. Incidentally, Gina Robinson’s powerful alto really rocked the solo on that particular number. The soloists in general were very strong, whioch was a stark contrast to last year, with particular highlights in the notoriously difficult-to-cover Beat It and Musical Direcotr Alicia Gayle’s soulful take on Sway, and the complementary dynamics swayed aptly throughout the song. I enjoyed the key change as well, but then again, I always enjoy key changes.
One particular weakness was the fact that the group only had one 1st Soprano, which at times effected the very highest harmonies, particularly when that soprano took the solo and delivered a performance that admittedly seemed a little tired and subdued. I also feel the girls could have chosen a slightly stronger closing number than Cascada’s Evacuate The Dancefloor which, while containing another confident solo from Gina Robinson, was otherwise little more than above average, and there were definitely better options with which to send the audience on their way.
These are minor niggles, though, and otherwise the Belles delighted with a thoroughly professional and slick set, with confident and at times hilarious choreography, tight musical blend and smashing solos. Love it.

In The Pink are selling their brand new album outside their concert venue, available for purchase for £7.

Fringe Diary 2012: Part 1 – The Oxford Alternotives and Out of the Blue

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The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is well on its way now, with almost a week gone since shows officially started on August 3rd. We here at the blog have seen shows left, right and centre, including lots of a cappella and university groups Out of the Blue and The Oxford Alternotives. Our thoughts are below:

The Oxford Alternotives
Rating: 7/10

I was looking forward to seeing what ‘alternative’ things the Oxford Alternotives had to offer, and not only was I impressed by their at times hilarious set list, I was also blown away by the close harmony slower numbers, especially Regina Spektor’s Samson, which was tackled superbly by Jessie Reeves and the even more impressive Natasha Heliotis, whose smooth and silky alto mesmerised on Bonnie Raitt’s Can’t Make You Love Me, which was the best number of the night.
The alternative antics began with a song about Business Socks, which was a hilarious parody of the differing expectations from each gender of sexual interactions. The group also included a ‘blind date’ element to the show, whereby they invited a male and female audience participant onto the stage to be blindfolded and serenaded. As one of those picked, it was a very interesting and telling experience to be sat within the blend of the group – they had a very strong, solid sound that was perhaps not quite as evident from a few rows back in the audience.
There were some weaknesses though – at times, especially when there was a male soloist, the very bottom notes of the chord were a little weaker and lead to the ‘wall of sound’ not quite having the same effect as it did in some of the stronger numbers. The beat boxing was also very average, which worked for some of the slower songs, but perhaps needed a bit more oomph in some of the bigger numbers.
All in all, though, The Alternotives provided a pleasant hour of musical bliss, and they certainly opened and closed the show with two memorable numbers, Jamiroquai’s Canned Heat and Spandau Ballet’s Gold, which were both VF-UK numbers and clearly two of the most well rehearsed songs. I particularly enjoyed the entire male section imitating drums during the latter, and rounded off the show on an extremely high note. Worth watching.

Out of the Blue
Rating: 8/10

When a student group sells out a 500-seater venue, you know you’re probably about to witness something pretty special. As the boys from Oxford entered the stage, the crowds whooped and cheered in anticipation of an incredible hour of a cappella from their favourite group of them all. They were right to be excited.
We were instantly hit with a wave of sound as the boys kicked off with the opening chords to Fat Bottomed Girls, which was the perfect start to the set from the boys – kudos to whomever came up with that. There were so many highlights to the rest of the set it was difficult to single out certain songs, but their cover of U2′s With or Without You really gave me goosebumps (and clearly the person sat in front of me, who whispered to her friend “I just got goosebumps”), while their Voice Festival songs Domino and Got To Get You Into My Life were performed professionally and with much pizzazz.
Their soloists did leave a little to be desired though. While the group have a real gem in Laurie Cottam, who took the lead several times, including in the aforementioned Got To Get You Into My Life, and has one of the best voices I have ever heard, the rest of the group are not quite up to the same standard, and so while the arrangements and backing are at times superb, some songs are let down by merely above average solos. I commend the group for allowing several members of the group to take short solos on Mambo No. 5, but it never really allowed any of the boys to really get their teeth into the solo, and combined with a couple of shaky high harmonies made it one of the weaker numbers. And while their mash-up of the Spice Girls’ Stop and 5ive’s Keep On Movin’ was impressively arranged, I’m not sure the low solo quite worked within the Spice Girls segment.
Expectations are always high of Out of the Blue, and for the most part they really live up to them here, and add to their charm with a real surprise in their hilarious sketch involving a human drum kit, which I was not expecting at all. It served as an effective comic interlude midway through the set and was a refreshing new twist from the group. I recommend going to see the boys if at all possible, as you will be blown away by their infectious energy, charismatic choreography and catchy covers, and you won’t be able to get them out of your head.

Out of the Blue and The Oxford Alternotives both have brand new albums on sale outside their shows. The Alternotives’ album can also be purchased on iTunes.

Fringe Focus: All the King’s Men

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In the lead up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, every week we will be producing special focuses on our collegiate groups who will be performing at the world’s largest amateur arts festival in 2012. In the eighth and final edition, we’ll be looking at All the King’s Men, the Voice Festival UK 2012 champions and 3rd best group in the world, who are returning to the Fringe for the third time.

Fringe History

All the King’s Men and their punnily titled Fringe gigs first arrived in 2010, and in both previous years they have performed for a short period of time at the Spaces @ Surgeon’s Hall. Although their Fringe debut was a quiet one, their return in 2011 brought several successful reviews and a sell-out run, and they even gave viewers a special first-chance to see a documentary of their recent US Tour, which went down a treat.

Previous Praise

“I love you! Sign my bra!” – ThreeWeeks, 2011 (*****)
“Truly incredible.” – BroadwayBaby, 2011 (****)
“Thoroughly impressive.” – UACUK, 2011 (8 out of 10)

This Year

The boys have had an incredible year, and to top it off they are bringing not one, but two shows to the Fringe. They’re not here for long, mind, so catch them while you can. Their main show, It’s Reigning Men, is at the Spaces @ Symposium Hall from 13th-18th August – just six nights. In their second show, they will not only be performing, but also introducing fellow a cappella acts such of Out of the Blue, The Alleycats and fellow King’s College group, The King’s Chix in All the King’s Men Present…. These will be happening on two separate occasions – 13th and 14th of August, with different guest acts each night. We admire the work the boys are doing to further collaboration within a cappella, and you’d be mad to miss out on either of these performances.

What To Expect

With international experience, the boys have come on in leaps and bounds in the last three years, and will undoubtedly bring a five-star show to the Festival again this year. Their Voice Festival set this year, which I assume will feature in their set for the Festival, was utterly astounding, and if the rest of their music is at that high a level, any audience will be in for an evening of sensational a cappella. As their press release reads: “One thing is guaranteed: the audience will leave smiling and utterly entertained.” Agreed.

Further Details

Fringe Listing (AtKM Present…)
Fringe Listing (It’s Reigning Men)
Website
Facebook Page

Fringe Focus: The Oxford Belles

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In the lead up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, every week we will be producing special focuses on our collegiate groups who will be performing at the world’s largest amateur arts festival in 2012. In the seventh edition, we’ll be looking at The Oxford Belles, who are returning to the Fringe for the third consecutive year.

Fringe History

The Belles debuted at the Fringe as far back ago as 2000, but had a significant hiatus from Fringe Festival madness before their return in 2010, and have been on the receiving end of very favourable reviews since then. Last year they performed for the entire run at C eca and were a constant and energetic presence on the mile throughout the festival.

Previous Praise

“Tight harmonies.” – BroadwayBaby, 2011 (****)
“Very refreshing.” – ThreeWeeks, 2011 (****)
“The Belles blend magnificently as a group” – UACUK, 2011 (7 out of 10)

This Year

The Belles have moved from C Venues this year and are performing at Spotlites @ The Merchant’s Hall from the 1st-18th of August, and will be looking to further improve on an already solid foundation and widen further their already significant popularity in the city. I am particularly looking forward to seeing their live performance of Christina Perri’s Jar of Hearts, which won the ‘Outstanding Soloist’ award at this year’s Voice Festival competition, and with a lot of recent gig experience in and around Oxford, the girls are sure to provide an inventive and original a cappella show.

What To Expect

The introduction of so many new Belles has of course brought new and unique challenges to the group, but the addition of new voices and personalities to the group has also allowed the group to be more creative and musically ambitious in the past year, and this should culminate at the Festival this summer. They lacked real punch last year, but some of the new voices in the group are extremely powerful and this could bode well for this Fringe, as the girls as a group will undoubtedly have a more powerful stage presence. The group’s repertoire is generally very broad, and they will no doubt produce a thoroughly enjoyable and watchable show which may well be their best yet.

Further Details

Fringe Listing
Facebook Page
Website”

Fringe Focus: The Alleycats

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In the lead up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, every week we will be producing special focuses on our collegiate groups who will be performing at the world’s largest amateur arts festival in 2012. In the sixth edition, we’ll be looking at Choir of the Year Category Finalists The Alleycats, who will be returning for their third year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Fringe History

The Alleycats debuted back in 2010 with a short six-day run and went down extremely well, earning themselves a Fringe Sell-Out award, impressive for a debut performance. They returned the following year in C Venues for a two week run, and have been consistently praised for their energetic performances and especially their choreography.

Previous Praise

“Each member is strong and dynamic and brings vivacity to their performances.” – BroadwayBaby, 2010 (***)
“Infectiously entertaining.” – FestMag, 2011
“Triumph [...] flawless [...] superb.” – UACUK, 2011 (8 out of 10)

This Year

The Alleycats are returning to C Venues this year from 12-27 August and will be performing a 50 minute show from 5.30pm, one of the later a cappella acts this year. Alongside their show, which will be showcasing some of their more recent arrangements, including songs from their recent Voice Festival UK set such as David Guetta’s Titanium and a couple of their upbeat dance-RnB mash-ups, they will also be selling their recently recorded studio album, which will be their eighth, after the show. The group promise to provide an ‘energised a cappella act’ leading to a ‘purr-fect evening of entertainment’.

What To Expect

One word: energy. Their choreography was praised by one and all at the recent St Andrews Regional of the Voice Festival UK, and combining such complex moves with such energy and keeping things still in perfect harmony almost saw them through to the final – alongside winning them deserved awards for Outstanding Choreography and Vocal Percussion. The group thrives on providing dynamism and energy to a performance and even giving the audience a chance to get involved in making music. If you go and see the Alleycats you will definitely be entertained and may well come out of the show feeling exhausted yourself, due to the sheer amounts of energy the group produces during a show! Well worth setting aside time for.

Further Details

Fringe Listing
Facebook Page

Fringe Focus: The Accidentals

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In the lead up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, every week we will be producing special focuses on our collegiate groups who will be performing at the world’s largest amateur arts festival in 2012. In the fifth edition, we’ll be looking at The Accidentals, Voice Festival UK Finalists in 2011 and Fringe debutants.

Fringe History

The Accidentals have never performed at the Fringe Festival before, and will be only the second group from the University of St Andrews after The Alleycats to bring a show to the Fringe.

Previous Praise

“Nothing short of exceptional.” UACUK of their 2012 EP.
Outstanding Soloist Award – Voice Festival UK St Andrews Regional Round – 2011 and 2012.

This Year

In their debut year, the girls have been placed in one of theSpaces venues, SpaceCabaret @ 54, at the early time of 11.15am, and can only be caught for 6 days between 13-18 August. In order to fund their run, the girls recently released a 4-track EP, which will also be on sale after their show in Edinburgh, and is well worth buying. The girls mix the freshest songs with the fiercest beats and their set is expected to consist of some of the songs in this year’s Voice Festival set, including Christina’s The Voice Within and their mash-up of Shorty Fire Burning and Tinchy Stryder’s Number 1. I think the girls are wise to go for a short run this year, something which they can potentially build upon in coming years.

What To Expect

The Accidentals girls always bring attitude to their performances. With the exceptionally talented Ellie Mason at the musical helm, they have a creative mastermind overseeing arrangements, blend and harmonies. The girls are also blessed with some incredible soloists: Vicki Robertson, Anna McDonald, Grace Hardy and Tessa Stokes to name but a few. Go and see these girls, even if it’s just to see a debut act at the Fringe and therefore something you may have never seen there before, because they will bring energy, enthusiasm, sass and attitude, and may just knock your socks off.

Further Information

Fringe Listing
Facebook Page

Fringe Focus: The Oxford Gargoyles

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In the lead up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, every week we will be producing special focuses on our collegiate groups who will be performing at the world’s largest amateur arts festival in 2012. In the fourth edition, we’ll be looking at The Oxford Gargoyles, winners of the Voice Festival UK in 2010 and regular fringe-goers.

Fringe History

The Oxford Gargoyles will be performing in their seventh consecutive year at the Fringe Festival, and they began way back in 2006 in C Too, and have since moved to what could be considered a regular spot in C(-1), which remains one of the larger venues within C Venues. Having successfully managed a sell-out run last year and received three five-star reviews from arguably the biggest three reviewers at the Festival, that place is thoroughly deserved.

Previous Praise

“You won’t see a better a cappella act this year.” – BroadwayBaby, 2011 (*****)
“The sensitive use of dynamics and beautiful original arrangements establish their genuine musical talent.” – ThreeWeeks, 2011 (*****)
“They produce pitch perfect harmonies every time and their musical interpretation and expression are impeccable.” – Fringe Review, 2011 (*****)

This Year

This year the group will be taking up their usual spot in C(-1) from 12th-27th August at 3pm. The group have had a very successfully year, particularly in reaching the Category Finals of BBC’s Choir of the Year competition, and will be showcasing one of two of the songs that may well be used in that competition. Highlights will include jazz classics Mr Bojangles and It Don’t Mean A Thing as well as more recent arrangements, including the Dancing in the Moonlight medley featured in their Voice Festival set this year. “We’re absolutely thrilled to be returning to the Fringe and are looking forward to learning as much from the other performers there as we will from our own performing experiences,” says Anjali Joseph, the Business Manager of the group, and continues with some more exciting news: “We also have a new album – our tenth – which will be released alongside our Edinburgh show and features a mixture of live and studio recordings of this year’s arrangements.”

What To Expect

The Oxford Gargoyles are one of those extremely musically talented groups who will never fail to produce flawless harmonies and an incredible blend of sound on stage. They may not be the most mobile of groups on stage, but to have a group focus particularly on jazz music and full it off with such professionalism is quite something. They bring originality, harmonious blend and tonnes of jazz to a Fringe otherwise dominated by acts very similar to each other. If you’re not quite a popular music fan, then this is definitely the group for you.

Further Details

Fringe Listing
Facebook Page
Official Website

Album Review: EP – The Accidentals

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The Accidentals are the first all-female group to release an album in over a year.


I must admit, I was very excited when I heard The Accidentals had finally released an album, albeit a 4 track EP, becoming the first all-female group to so for over a year. It is encouraging progress for the group based in St Andrews, who have had a relatively quiet year by their standards, having lost several of their established group members through graduation and failing to reach the Voice Festival UK Final for the first time since 2009.

But the news that the group will be taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a short period is, literally and metaphorically, music to my ears, and so the fact I can now listen to them whenever I want while helping them to fund their Fringe run makes me very happy. That’s why I’m sitting here on the balcony of my Russian apartment soaking in the sun, eating ice cream and enjoying the start of the summer.

And this is very much a summery album, which has injected an additional, gratifying layer of summery goodness into this already extremely pleasant afternoon. The album kicks off with the girls’ cover of Jessie J’s Price Tag, and I almost want to describe it as ‘bubbly’, with the cutesy ‘Do’ and ‘Ba’ sounds filling the background as if it were the first song of a bubblegum-pop infused Now That’s What I Call Summer! album. It becomes clear after a while that this song is a mash-up, and indeed we are introduced to Where Is The Love? by the Black Eyed Peas, with the solo and ad-libs tackled superbly by Gemma O’Brien’s magically smooth alto voice. Credit must also be due to Becky Muir, whose solo on this track is nothing short of exceptional.

The poppiness continues onto track 2, which is another mash-up of Nelly’s Ride With Me, Ridin’ Solo from Jason DeRulo and Busted’s Year 3000, all of which blend very well together. I do lament that one is unable to watch the girls perform this particular track live, as I remember it was much enhanced by some clever and hilarious choreography during their Voice Festival set that year. Nevertheless, it’s a strong, if a little short explosion of pop.

The girls tone it down a little bit for the third track, which further emphasises the solo talent in this group, with Grace Hardy, Anna McDonald and particularly Ellie Mason excelling here. The track is JLS’s Love You More, and while the soloists shine, I do feel there’s nothing out of the ordinary about the backing in this particular number, with the girls not really adding much of a personal touch to the original track. Until, that is, Gemma O’Brien intoxicates us all again towards the climax of the piece with another silky solo which really adds a much needed extra dimension to this song.

The final piece features the award-winning solo of Anna McDonald on Adele’s Rollin’ In The Deep. This is by no means an easy song to sing, and Anna really shows her ability to be in command of her voice by not just belting the number out as loudly and as brashly as possible, but instead delivering a controlled performance ahead of more slightly innocuous backing, which in a way works well here and allows the strong solo to shine through.

The girls have therefore produced a very cutesy, summery album, and while I do feel it does lack real substance, that’s not really what the Accidentals are all about. They play to their strengths on this short album, with strong solo performances from several group members, and from what we saw at the Voice Festival this year, that tradition has continued with their new batch of talent. I would like to see the girls tackle some more meaty songs in the future, but regardless of that, I thoroughly look forward to seeing them perform at the Fringe Festival in the coming summer – on the back of this album, they could go down extremely well.

To buy the album, click here. For more information about their Edinburgh Fringe show, check out their Fringe Listing.