Awesome Music

Bernth is a very talented guitarist, but one instrument he’s never played before now is a sitar. He recently got his hands on one and started plucking away at it. After getting his bearings, Bernth experimented with some heavy metal riffs on the 18-stringed Indian instrument, and the result was a rousing success that will leave you wanting even more.

We always loved the lyrics of INXS 1987 song Never Tear Us Apart. Here’s a wonderful new acoustic interpretation of the passion-filled track, performed on a Timberline harp guitar by musician Jamie Dupuis, accompanied by vocalist Emma McDaniel.

Moyun is known for performing covers of popular songs on a traditional Chinese string instrument called a guzheng. To bring out the rock sound, a guitarist and drummer join her for a fantastic cover version of the Guns N’ Roses hit Sweet Child O’ Mine. Where do we go now?

The Radiohead track Creep has been covered countless times. But we bet you’ve never heard it quite like this. Scary Pockets shared this awesomely ’80s version of the alternative classic performed by Promises and vocalist Therese Curatolo. The cyberpunk music video aesthetic is the icing on the cake.

Beatles fans will adore these colorful playing cards from Theory11. The box set of four decks is illustrated with vibrant, psychedelic designs inspired by the Fab Four. The boxes and Kings are based on John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s look from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, while the other face cards feature not-so-subtle callbacks to classic Beatles songs.

Musician Nicolas Bras is known for inventing some truly unique musical instruments from off-the-shelf parts. In this video, he shows us how to build a simple string instrument from metal cans, wood, an electric guitar string, and a little water. You can grab blueprints to make your own aquatic harp on Patreon or download digital sound samples from Soundpaint.

Fatboy Slim dropped this awesome 27-minute DJ mix celebrating the 25th anniversary of his 1998 album You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. The mix incorporates excerpts from Right Here, Right Now, Praise You, and The Rockafeller Skank, as well as music from Gorillaz, Eminem, The Rolling Stones, Ramones, and more.

Martin Miller and his bandmates take us on a journey back in time with a mini-concert of classic rock, disco, prog rock, and adult contemporary songs from the 1970s. The medley includes memorable tracks from Kiss, The Bee Gees, Gerry Rafferty, Toto, Earth, Wind & Fire, Pink Floyd, and John Miles. We’ve always been suckers for the sax in Baker Street.

Artificial intelligence can be used for good or evil, and we can’t decide which category this falls into. There I Ruined It took an AI trained with Elvis Presley’s voice and programmed it to sing the lyrics to Baby Got Back. To further complicate matters, it’s now set to the tune of Don’t Be Cruel.

Mike Doughty is best known for his time leading Soul Coughing in the 1990s. But he’s still making great music as both a solo artist in Ghost of Vroom with Andrew “Scrap” Livingston. Produced and mixed by Beastie Boys collaborator Mario Caldado, Jr., the alt-rap track Still Getting It Done offers a groovy electronic rhythm and a fun vertical music video by SWIVS.

We always thought the line “shave his belly with a rusty razor” was pretty metal. Now, thanks to musician Leo Moracchioli, the traditional sea shanty Drunken Sailor has the proper soundtrack to go with its lyrics. Also, Leo is the only guy we know who can make a banjo sound this badass.

Guitarist Luca Stricagnoli performs one of our favorite Muse tracks, applying his extraordinary fingerstyle technique to Knights of Cydonia. His acoustic version plays right into the spaghetti western theme of the original’s music video. Want more? Luca previously covered Supermassive Black Hole and Starlight.

The A capella group Maytree is really good at making mouth sounds. In this clip, they replicate the music and sound effects from Nintendo’s classic 8-bit arcade game, Donkey Kong. Though like many of us, they couldn’t make it past Level 1.

The members of the Japanese group Bozestyle are proud of their bald heads. In fact, they’ve made them part of their performances. To bring their music to life, they rig their heads with buttons that can be used to trigger electronic sounds. Their version of The Imperial March is one of our favorites, but check out their Instagram for more.

Ready, Steve? Andy? Mick? Now put your hands up! DJ Cummerbund combined two tracks that have been dying to be mashed up for a long time – Beyoncé’s All the Single Ladies and Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz. If this isn’t playing in every dance club in the next two weeks, there’s something wrong with the universe.

Danny Elfman is one of our favorite musicians. From his groundbreaking work in Oingo Boingo to composing some of the most memorable film scores of all time, he is a true master of his craft. Elfman sat down with GQ to discuss his collaborations with Tim Burton on movies like Beetlejuice, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Edward Scissorhands. 

We know how great Radiohead sounds played using the sounds from Mario 64. Now enjoy MawinSwag’s 64-bit chiptune version of Metallica’s 1988 album And Justice for All. We can totally imagine Blackened playing during the Dark World level while Bowser laughs maniacally, and One would be perfect as Mario explores Princess Peach’s castle.

State Bicycle’s collaboration with The Beatles is our favorite thing from them since their National Parks collection. We love the limited-edition Beatles cycling apparel and eye-catching bikes: the 8-speed 4130 Road Bike with Brooks Saddle and cool Abbey Road design elements and a Klunker cruiser in a Yellow Submarine motif.

Amy Turk is an incredibly talented harpist and performs everything from classical to pop to video game music. She knocked it out of the park with the solo from Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing, played on the Harp-E, an electroacoustic harp great at producing bends and microtones. Dave Stanton accompanies on guitar and bass.

Musician João Fuss arranged and performed this fantastic classical guitar version of the Marilyn Manson track The Beautiful People. It’s still got the great staccato sound of the original but with a stripped-down fingerstyle approach. His acoustic covers of Black Hole Sun and Otherside are similarly wonderful.

If you’re a cat left home all day, you might feel lonely. Musician The Kiffness spotted a video of a seemingly forlorn house cat and wrote music and lyrics for the kitty’s melancholy thoughts. Seriously, he’s only got two crumbs of food left! Kiffness fans and cat lovers can grab the track on Spotify and Apple Music on 6.16.23.

Get up, come on, get down with the Muppets! DJ Cummerbund cleverly combined Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s Muppet Show version of Mahna Mahna with scratchy wails of Disturbed’s lead singer David Draiman to give us another musical mashup we had no idea we needed so badly.

The Adele track Set Fire to the Rain is an awesome song all on its own. But we bet you’ve never heard it like this. Musician YAD Oud takes popular tracks and gives them a Middle Eastern flair with unique arrangements and the lead parts performed on the oud – a fretless string instrument that dates back to 3000 BCE.