Student singing group unleashes last year's hits on this year's campus
A Northfield, Minn.-based college a cappella group said this week it is
finally set to release its controversial seventh album of poppy hits-turned-choral,
according to sources in the group.
The announcement, made in an email by Carleton Singing Knights bassman
David Friedlander-Holm, was met with mixed reaction, although all responses
contained at lesat some degree of sarcastic irony.
"I'm looking forward to hearing it," said Fran Glover, a 2006
Carleton graduate and Knights alum who sings on the album. "I know
there's been a special effort put into the album's post-production."
Greg Sullo, another 2006 former Knight who has since forgotten about the
group, agreed.
"Who the fuck are the Knights?" he said.
The controversy surrounding the album, entitled Two Brothers after a piece
of fan mail sent by two Italian brothers with a penchant for hilarious
misspellings and comical grammar, stems mainly from what some perceive
as a lack of initiative by current group members since the album was recorded
nearly a year ago.
As a result, many alumni and even some current Knights are concerned that
last year's catchy a cappella arrangements sung by now-forgotten heartthrobs
won't resonate with a pop-weary campus flooded with singing groups.
"The guys that graduated used to be cool, but now they're nobodies,"
said Tom Fry, a sophomore known to some as "the new Fran," to
others as "the new Max," and still to others as "T-Frizzle."
Fry refused to place blame for Two Brothers' production slowdown, but
others, speaking on conditions of anonymity, pointed fingers at senior
Derek Zimmerman's "packed" schedule.
"Yeah, I'm busy as shit," Zimmerman said, referring to a slew
of committments ranging from a job at a local Chinese restaurant to another
a cappella group he admitted he prefers.
Still, for all the album's road bumps, some remain enthusiastic about
the release of Two Brothers, particularly with regards to its creative
title and theme.
"So we got this hilarious email," said Friedlander-Holm.
"Yeah," echoed self-described group funnyman Jonah Ostroff.
"And it came from these two dudes from Italy," continued Friedlander-Holm.
"Yeah!" said Ostroff.
"And they're, like, brothers who love our music but don't know English,"
said Friedlander-Holm.
"Yeah!" gushed Ostroff. "It was so funny!"
The email, which appeared authentic, was later discovered to be a fake.
Officials from the Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA), an accompaniment-free
collegiate watchdog service, said that to their knowledge the Knights
were the only group nationwide to be duped by the email, which was also
received by countless rival groups, including others on the Carleton campus.
Still, the album's moniker stuck and will grace the cover of Two Brothers
when the album hits the Carleton campus next month.
Former Knight Adam Fetcher, a 2006 graduate of Carleton, who's moved onto
bigger and better things, such as a job that allows him time to write
fake news stories and the realization that a cappella sucks and money
is sweet. But he's glad to see that the album he used to consider a labor
of love but not views as just a labor will finally see the light of day.
"Man, I really shredded on 'Army,'" Fetcher said, referring
to the popular Ben Folds song while playing an air guitar, a gesture that
makes absolutely no sense. "Man, college was sweet, man."
Two Brothers will be available in the Carleton Bookstore for $32 or on the internet for free starting May 15 (Actually the release date has not been confirmed and the album can be bought from the book store online or in person for $15 upon release.)