Original Straight No Chaser make their return to Auditorium tonight to highlight new album

Bloomington, a city known in recent years for its crop of quality musical acts, will welcome home one of the city’s best known talents.

Straight No Chaser — the original a cappella group — will return to the auditorium tonight at 8 p.m. for a concert in anticipation of their new album, “With A Twist.” Student tickets range from $13 to $23 and can be purchased at either the auditorium box office or Web site.

Straight No Chaser was originally founded as a men’s a cappella group and has since become a University tradition that still holds strong today. The original group, operating under the same name as the current one, signed to Atlantic Records after the label’s CEO saw a YouTube clip of a Christmas performance.

The group gained national attention in December 2008 when their Christmas album, “Holiday Spirits,” reached the top of both the iTunes and Amazon music chart.

“We thought it was a joke,” Michael Itkoff, a member of the original group who has since resigned, said in a New York Times interview about the group’s signing and success.

Freshman Andrew “Ryu” Teramoto, a current member of the student group, said the group’s appeal lies in their genuine talent and musical skill.

“There’s real talent, and these guys are real performers,” Teramoto said. “A lot of artists these days use Auto-Tune and it’s not real. Everything these guys do is just them. There’s no gimmicks. It’s just pure talent and pure music.”