Awesome Music

You will get a sentimental feeling… when you hear… Frog Leap singing ‘let’s be jolly, deck the halls with boughs of holly.’ Enjoy a holiday treat from Leo Moracchioli, as he turns in a tough-as-nails rendition of the 1960 Brenda Lee classic Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Cellists Nicholas Yee, Adam Caulfield, and Katherine Pernal perform a medley of tunes from the Stranger Things soundtrack, created by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. While the main theme is the most recognizable, the entire performance is compelling.

Christmas time can be depressing for some people. To offer an appropriate complement to these dark days, musician Chase Holfelder rearranged holiday classics into sad songs by flipping them into a minor key. All we want for Christmas is to drown our sorrows in eggnog.

Queen’s performance of Bohemian Rhapsody was one the the greatest musical moments of all time. But YouTuber Franco Muñoz just made it that much better by adding a new vocalist to the track – none other than Mr. Chicken.

(PG-13: Language) Eclectic Method’s latest remix reminds us that Die Hard is truly required viewing each holiday season, right there alongside A Christmas Story, another movie in which one of the protagonist’s main objectives is acquiring firearms despite the odds.

We were looking for some tunes to add to our holiday playlist, when we came across this little gem that dates back to 2009. Sit back and enjoy an extraordinarily baritone cover of Dr. Seuss’ You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, as performed by the man behind Chocolate Rain.

Musician Rob Scallon has performed on some very high quality musical instruments over the years. This is not one of those times. Listen as he manages to somehow play a coherent and entertaining song using a cheap dollar store toy guitar someone gave him.

Saxophone 4tet The Side Project and vocalist Akie Bermiss teamed up for a truly special arrangement of Shania Twain’s 1997 hit You’re Still the One that transforms the pop ballad into beautifully soulful R&B track with a twist. Enjoy more wonderful sax + vocal covers here.

Directors Greg&Lio shot this video for French musician OrelSan, which features a seemingly endless cast of characters for the rapper to march through. The smooth tracking shot was captured using an expertly piloted drone. The subtitled version has a little bonus at the end.

For his latest arrangement, musician Leo Moracchioli takes on Queen’s 1980 rock anthem Another One Bites the Dust, covering it in a delicious metal coating, and tossing in a couple of unconventional instruments for bonus fun.

“Weird Al” Yankovic performs a perfect, accordion-laced cover version of The Ramones’ tune Beat on the Brat – one of the various punk tracks on the upcoming novelty album Dr. Demento Covered in Punk, due out 1/12/2018.

(PG-13: Language) “Can’t erase the scars with a bandage. I’m hoping maybe we can come to an understanding. Agreed or disagreed, we could have an understanding.” Rapper Joyner Lucas speaks from both sides of white and black America in this necessary song.

He’s turning into a creepy uncle, but nothing can change the fact that Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins helped define alternative rock. He recently dropped by NPR Music’s office to perform Tonight, Tonight and two songs from his new solo album, Ogilala.

13 year-old Owen Davey is a master of not just one instrument, but can rock lead guitar, bass, and drums with the best of them. Here, he performs all of the parts from Metallica’s classic Master of Puppets like a badass. His cover of YYZ by Rush is solid too.

“We live in an ocean… in an ocean of vibration.” Remix artist Melodysheep’s Symphony of Sound gets meta with their latest clip, which uses sound bites of famous scientists and musicians as they speak about the art and science behind sound and music.

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s latest album sees her facing and sharing a lifetime’s worth of loss and grief. Her whispered singing is made even more haunting by producer SebastiAn’s synths and string sections, while Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel co-wrote the title track.

NPR Music introduces us to a talent we weren’t acquainted with before, but now that we’ve heard Benjamin Booker’s raspy, soulful voice, we want every single one of his songs. He’s joined by vocalist Saundra Williams, whose gospel sound is a perfect complement.

“I know a nice bar that has great booze… I’m a big fan of Tom Cruise.” Musician and YouTube star Rudy Mancuso likes to write original songs, but sometimes the lyrics aren’t the easiest things to come up with, as he proves in his video for “Musical Fiction.”

(Flashing colors) The latest video from the masters of video gimmickry features a gag that was made using more than 500 individual printers, each spewing out sheets of Double A paper to create an animated backdrop. The track is from the 2014 album Hungry Ghosts.

Hello Gotham, my old friend… How It Should Have Ended takes a break from fixing movie endings to bring us a little song – a parody of the 1964 classic The Sound of Silence, with Batman taking on vocal duties. If Batman is Simon, then Robin must be Garfunkel, right?

Dab… dab… dab… it. Eclectic Method kicks it up a notch and turns his remix attention to one of the web’s biggest hit series, Hot Ones, as host Sean Evans asks guests the tough questions while testing their intestinal fortitude.

Aussie pianist Josh Cohen is back with another beautiful cover version – this time expanding on Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash’s Hurt with a moving and engrossing 11-minute arrangement of Trent Reznor’s dark and disturbing track.

(PG-13: Language) We already know that rapper Mac Lethal can spit verses fast, but he recently took on a viewer who challenged him to rap 300 words in a minute. Lethal decided to showboat, and instead bested that number by 25%. Check the YouTube page for full lyrics.