Come join Urban Method as they perform live for the Sound of the Rockies CD release concert.
Hosted by the Sound of the Rockies. This will be an amazing vocal concert. Don’t miss it!
Urban Method at the Paramount
On February - 27 - 2012
A quick thanks to all of those who helped us pack the house at the Paramount Theater last night in Denver. We had a chance to unveil an original song, some cool new tricks, and rock the songs you came to love from the show. Make sure you tag yourself on the Facebook pic Tony took on stage!
So what’s next?
Now it’s time to put it all together. We’re going to hit the studio and write. That’s right, original music. We’ll be putting music videos together, creating new and exciting content, and building OUR show. The plan is to have that done by summer time (2012) and then hit the road.
Until then…
thank you so much. Our friends, our family, and our newest supporters….we couldn’t do this without you!
Much love.
UM
Vote For Urban Method
On November - 22 - 2011
How’d you like it?! We made the top 3 and now we need your votes. You can help us become the champions of The Sing-Off. The show is in it’s 3rd season and we’ve seen Nota and Committed win it all. Now, vote for Urban Method in 3 ways…
TEXT “2″ to 97979
PHONE 877-674-6402
ONLINE http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/vote/
Check out All of the Lights from Kanye West here.
We’ll soon post the Mashup from Earworm featuring Peggy Lee’s Fever and Nelly’s Hot in Here!
Myke Charles Talks NBC’s The Sing-Off, Writing to Eminem & Drake Comparisons | XXLMAG.COM
On November - 16 - 2011
What up tho,
I was in New York Recently and did an interview with XXL. Check it out.
Myke Charles Talks NBC’s The Sing-Off, Writing to Eminem & Drake Comparisons | XXLMAG.COM.
Sing, Sing, Sing
On November - 16 - 2011
Hey there, Urban Method lovers! Happy Friday! It’s Kim Dawson here with another vocal tip.
I am often asked if everyone can be taught to sing. The answer is simple. Yes! There’s an ancient African saying that goes, “If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.” We all have different voices, and are born with different natural abilities. Some of us have to work harder at it, but we can all sing. Even those of us who are tone deaf, which aren’t really many of us, can be taught to sing on pitch. It’s true! I have a good friend who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket when she was young. She couldn’t tell one pitch from another, and didn’t know that what she was singing was different than what anyone around her was singing. But, she really wanted to sing, and had a very patient music teacher in school who worked with her every day to improve. Now she teaches elementary school music for a living, and has a lovely singing voice to boot.
Now, I may not sound like Barbara Streisand when I sing, but that’s okay. Neither does Aretha Franklin, and she’s doing just fine. So, don’t be afraid to try to learn to sing. You don’t have to be amazing before you ever set foot in a voice teacher’s studio. Go for it! Let your voice be heard! And have a great weekend!
High For This (Freestyle)…..The Weeknd
On November - 8 - 2011
Sup tho,
Not gunna be too wordy but peep it…there’s this really dope singer from Toronto that you may have heard of named The Weeknd….if not check him out he’s super dope. Anyway He has a song called, “High For This” on his “House of Balloons” peep it….
….anyway. My boy Res remixed a part of it and I did a freestyle verse over it. Afterward we took a shitty camera and did some night filming. The homie Paul Junior from Fresh Breath Committee directed and edited the joint….so yeah check it out. Tell me what you think. Shout out to The Weeknd.
Stay up,
Myke Charles
2nd demo Care Free
On November - 8 - 2011
Today is a special day, not only because we made it pass being the
bottom two, but because I am finally releasing my second demo. Here it is, Care
Free! This one is a little accessible/poppy than Hold Your Ground, hope you enjoy.
http://ozzitroiano.bandcamp.com/
This one was really fun to record, I’ve only ever written for guitar and covals. This time I borrowed a conga from the guys at Kwik Trax (my african drum is a more of a bass drum), and started laying down some rhythms.
On another note, I’m really excited for tonight’s episode. I think
it might be favorite night. Being in the bottom two really lit a fire under our
butts to put out something so creative, moving, inspiring…I could go on and
on. The lesson is watch tonight and get ready to be blown away, cuz we were!
Love,
Ozzi
Sing Off Thoughts – Tony Huerta
On October - 24 - 2011
Prior to Week 6 Taping: Hip Hop Week
I’d like to start off by saying that I’m so proud of Urban Method and how far we’ve come on the show! When I chose the members of the group and asked them to try this “Sing Of” thing, my hope was that we would make it on the show. That was it. Make it on the Sing Off. Then, as we started to rehearse for the first times, I realized that we had more than a shot to do well in LA. People probably don’t know that the first time we actually sang together as a group, was the shooting night of our audition video for the show. Find it on Youtube under Urban Method Video.
Now that we are past week 5 where we ripped up some Poison and got the audience dancing, I found that the group is pulling together in new ways. We were shoved into working on the show and with each other 12-15 hours a day and sharing rooms in the hotel after starting the group only 2 months earlier. We have started to find a balance of power and personalities. It’s amazing to sit back and watch as the different personalities and talents just flow during our rehearsals. I’ve found that the quality of our performance improves when everyone gets their voice heard and has input toward our arrangements. So, GO URBAN METHOD! I hear the feed back we are getting on Facebook and continue to be proud of how hard the group works, how hard they want to win the show, and more importantly, how they remain professional and have become friends with a common love of music as our direction. We let the music direct us and it flows from the heart every time we get on stage. Hopefully that is what sets us apart, not only on the Sing Off, but in the future as we move forward.
Tony Huerta
The Next Era in Vocals
On October - 19 - 2011
A shout out.
Every year for the past 25, the Harmony Sweepstakes has crowned a champion. I have had the distinct pleasure of competing, losing, winning, losing again, winning it all, being judged by judges, being judged by peers, and learning.
I have seen young groups win and lose and old groups win and lose.
I have seen traditions succeed over novelty and I have seen innovation transcend time.
Most of all, I have seen a transition. “Just Friends,” the first group listed as Harmony Sweepstakes champions in 1985, the year after I was born and started working on my snares, sang jazz standards and originals. Roll a ’6′ and move forward as many years to when North Shore (yes, that North Shore) won in 1991. Scrolling the list of annual champs since then, North Shore marked the point of inflection when Doo-Wop/Jazz began to phase into Jazz/Contemporary vocals. The outliers are barbershop groups and comedy groups that either touch on perfection or sublime genius (by design or happenstance) to outshine trends.
All of these groups have in common the en masse closer “Goodnight Sweetheart,” flawlessly performed by the very North Shore of 1991. After years of stumbling through 80-person cluster chords to end a night of judged singing, North Shore’s swan song of 5 voices marked (for me) a departure of an era of a cappella through the Sing Off Vomitory, stage-left.
While we all seemed to miss the endearing personalities of NS, mourn the loss of polished professional stalwarts, and sympathize with the departure of a working model (not Guy, the group itself), NS took the term “A Cappella” with them (and everything that goes with it), perhaps for good. A cappella, despite the efforts of myself and friends and colleagues to define it as an instrumentation, is very much a genre. North Shore is that genre, and everything that is good about it.
Is Urban Method a cappella? What about Pentatonix? Vocal Point? Even Afro-Blue seems to defy the veil and gown of A cappella as representatives of the pre-neo-a cappella era. To be more clear, I’ve created a timeline (with a NON-EXHAUSTIVE list of examples):
20 BCE – Jewish Chant *
15C. – Renaissance Polyphony **
16C. – Palestrina, cantata, and madrigal ***
1873 – Glee Clubs (See: The Rensselyrics) *
1906 – Choir (See: St. Olaf College) **
1938 – Barbershop (See: African American tradition) ***
1950 – A Cappella (see: Hi-Los and The 4 Freshmen) *
1980 – Vocal Jazz Era (Post A cappella. See: Manhattan Transfer) **
1985 – Neo-A Cappella (See: North Shore) ***
1991 – Pop Vocals (See: Boy bands, Boyz ii Men, Take 6) *
1996 – Contemporary A Cappella (Anti-A Cappella. See: m-pact, Naturally 7) **
2003 – Vocal Reconciliation (See: Idea of North, Groove For Thought, Committed) ***
2007 – Indie Vocal (See: Imogen Heap, Moira Smiley and VOCO, T-Pain) *
Present – Vocal Renaissance (See: Sing Off) **
[* = Thesis; ** = Antithesis; *** = Synthesis]
Yes, I believe we are in an entirely experimental, antithetic, and perhaps soon sythetic period for vocal music where equipment is now affordable, experimentation is necessary, and novelty is diluted if not despised. Competition is high to make new sounds (see: bazillion beatbox videos) and tradition carries little weight anymore (see: episode 5).
So I bid you a sincere adieu North Shore. I have had the distinct pleasure of crossing paths with you numerous times in a cappella and have the utmost respect for you. You are “A Cappella” as we have come to know it and it now becomes striking to me that the phrase “a cappella” is rarely heard in the show.
Sincerest regards,
Richard
Forces Collide
On October - 17 - 2011
Today is the big day. I have been playing guitar since the second grade, and I started writing my own songs when I was 21. I am now 25 and have nothing to show for it. I finally got the ganas to “get her done”, to get on the microphone so I can record and release my music to the world. I think it was all of the non stop music in LA that broke my last straw of resistance. I’m so excited to be sharing this song with all of you, and hopefully we will make it into an Urban Method masterpiece.
Check out the song on my new Band Camp page, http://ozzitroiano.bandcamp.com/, please buy the track. With your help I won’t be a starving artist.
Shout out to my brothers Chris Carey and Brandon Griffin at KwikTrax for all their help.
