Date: 15 April 2014
Time: 3:51 PM ET
Mood: Glad to be home from work
Underground Tuesdays is a series in the Daily Bloggity that looks at bands that aren't that popular and showcases their music. Continue reading to read my thoughts on the album or EP. This will be a weekly series in the Daily Bloggity that will appear every Tuesday at 5PM ET.
Are you fan of video games? Do you enjoy listening to a capella? Then look no further than the man, the myth, the legend that is Smooth McGroove! Hailing from good ol' Oklahoma City, Max Gleason, or better well known as his Youtube alias Smooth McGroove, is an a capella artist who specializes in creating his own arrangements to popular video game soundtracks.
Daily Music - "Castlevania - Bloody Tears Acapella" by Smooth McGroove
Joining Youtube in late December of 2012, Mr. McGroove has already set the Youtube world ablaze with his music, surmounting over 850,000 subscribers and an incredulous
79 million views. Because he is a one man show, Smooth makes his arrangements by recording each individual snippet of a piece and then in the end puts them altogether into one incredible cover. It's really entertaining to watch his videos as they are separated into their own sub-videos where you can actually follow what sub-video is associated with what part of the song. In 2013 his work was recognized by computerandvideogames.com and was nominated for the Golden Joystick Award, which is an honor bestowed upon Youtube's Best Gamers. While he didn't win - losing to the Yogscast - it was still an incredulous honor that he was humbled to even be mentioned with.
Daily Comic - "When" by Kris Wilson of Cyanide & Happiness
Most of his covers usually range around the old school generation of consoles, and most of his songs are chosen by the fans themselves. Nintendo 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Dreamcast - you recomend a game title and song and there's a good chance that he'll cover it. Some of his most popular works include
Street Fighter 2's "Guile Theme," Super Mario World's "Overworld Theme," Mega Man 2's "Dr. Wily Stage," Tetris' "Theme 'A'," and
Castlevania's "Bloody Tears."
Daily Video - "Katy Perry - Peacock (Chatroulette)" by comedian Steve Kardynal
Personally, I applaud him for his work. It takes a lot of time and dedication to make something like he does such a hit, and when he created his channel in 2012 there was really nothing like this at the time. He had earlier just been hosting private music lessons as a job, so in reality this was a gamble, a hit or miss opportunity so to speak. I'm really happy that he has become such a hit when it comes to the video game community, so I only hope that his success and popularity continues to grow. Personally, my favorite songs by Mr. McGroove consist of the Castlevania "Bloody Tears" cover (which you can find as the Daily Music), the Mega Man 2's "Dr. Wily Stage" cover, the
Mike Tyson's Punch Out "Fight Theme" cover, and the
Kirby "Gourmet Race" cover. I just love keying into each part of each song and watching his facial expressions as he trying to hit the right pitch or tone; it's just utterly fascinating to watch. I honestly hope he never stops his work, as his videos are truly are one of a kind and should be archived for it being so genius and cleverly implemented.
Have you ever heard of Smooth McGroove before? What are your favorite songs by this one-of-a-kind artist? What songs would you like to see him cover? Comment below as I'd love to hear and discuss with you about this topic!
‡ As always, the "Daily Bloggity" is self written by myself and includes just some of my opinions on different mediums. If you have a subject that you might want me to touch on, feel free to PM me or comment below! I would love to hear some of your ideas! Tune in tomorrow at 5PM Eastern Time for the next edition of the "Daily Bloggity!" Cheers! ‡
- elheroeoscuro
