I was in Istanbul, it was twilight, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard...Even though I make 'electronic' music, or at least make music with electronic devices, and love love love cool production (shoutouts to Timbaland and William Orbit and The Neptunes and Flood and Mad Professor and...) there is, of course, no better thing than to hear an unaccompanied human voice in a song. (Unless it's mine, that is; I have a terrible voice, which is why I've worked with a multitude of vocalists, from rappers and toasters to opera, blues, soul, choral, pop and folk singers.) And I always include an acapella or two on my releases...So back to Istanbul... sitting on a rooftop, overlooking the Bosporus, moments away from the Blue Mosque, sun setting, and the first call to prayer starts, and then a few moments later, another one from a mosque slightly further away, in a different voice, and then another one, still further away, another voice, and then more, and the echoes overlap and the shadows are lengthening and the sky and the sea and the East and the West and such a feeling of timelessness... and it's kinda like the first time I heard Violin Phase by Steven Reich. (A solo violin playing a repeating motif, with tape recorders playing the same motif, but slighty later, so the music overlaps and phases and new melodies spring into existence.) It's extaordinarily simple and complex, and very beautiful. It's like the aural equivalent of looking into a pond, dropping a rock, and then another one, in a slightly different place, and another, and watching the shapes formed by the overlapping wavelets. The fact that the call to prayer was not in English also allowed it to bypass my logical thought and go straight to my emotional core (maybe one of the reasons I also use chants in many songs.)A fantastic example of the above is the call to prayer featured on the "Powaqqatsi" soundtrack by Phillip Glass-- it's called "From Egypt" (but listen the "Mr. Suso #1" and "Mr. Suso #2" which are sequenced just before and after it for the full effect). So that was probably the genesis of the song "Sweetness Likes The Reverb" from the first Shinjuku Zulu CD, "Shinjuku Zulu". It's a haunting vocal (once again by Larissa Gomes) and layers of reverb, each 'verb with different settings, so spatially you'll feel like you are simultaneously in different rooms (a church, a living room, a cavern). The lyrics use the analogy of a reverb, ... oh, well, forget explaining, here's the lyrics: sweetnessoh lovethe reverbLovemy sweetness likes the verbthe action word, the reaction wordthe reverbcoming back at herlovemy sweetnees likes the nounecstacy foundthe profound happinessgently rocking herso gently rocking herlovemy sweetness likes motionthe deep feelingthe revealing emotionoverwhelming heroh overwhelming hersweetness So here are some of my favorite acapellas (or nearly... certainly a bare minimum of instrumentation, like a drone...) or anyway, songs that focus mostly on the voice:Sheila Chandra, anything from her "A Bone Drone Crone" release, but you must hear "A Sailor's Life":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=73442709&s=143441&i=73442345 from the Zen Kiss CD. Extra-ordinary.Imogen Heap, "Hide and Seek":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=83486513&s=143441&i=83486130 (But everybody knows this one)Bjork, "Mouth's Cradle":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=21393649&s=143441&i=21393734 Didn't really like her all-vocal CD "Medulla", but this track from it was great.Don Mclean, "Babylon":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=489600&s=143441&i=489562 from the "American Pie" release.There's more of course, which I'll add as I think of them.----------------------And here's some Shinjuku Zulu / K.I.A. acapellas... some melodic, others rhythmic:"Sweetness Likes the Reverb at iTunes":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=7899232&s=143441&i=7898129 From the Shinjuku Zulu CD"Goa-di":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=30919350&s=143441&i=30919336 by K.I.A., from the "Sonorous Susurrus" CD. Ambient."Shinjuku Zulu":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=7899232&s=143441&i=7897615 from Shinjuku Zulu. Beatbox drum'n'bass."Bedouin Engine":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=5126742&s=143441&i=5126738 from the "Adieu Shinjuku Zulu" CD by K.I.A. Rhythmic chants."My Man Amen":http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=154068465&s=143441&i=154068609 the intro, anyway, from the "Various Chimeras" CD by Shinjuku Zulu.