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Awesome Music

Music of Memes (1700-2017)

Music of Memes (1700-2017)

You’ll recognize most of these meme-worthy tunes, each of which epitomizes a moment in time as well as just about anything else about the era. Though we think JordiTK should have gone with Yello’s Oh Yeah instead of Trio’s Da Da Da to represent ’80s German minimalism.

HI Maintenance

HI Maintenance

A couple’s ups and downs, as punctuated by the word “hi.” Actor and musician Jacob Anderson aka Raleigh Ritchie aka Game of Thrones’ Grey Worm wrote, directed and starred in this short film for Topman. The song is Cowards from his album You’re a Man Now, Boy.

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Isn’t She Lovely: Fingerstyle Cover

Isn’t She Lovely: Fingerstyle Cover

12-year-old guitarist Lanvy is the very personification of the song she’s performing, as she deftly makes her way through Stevie Wonder’s 1976 classic Isn’t She Lovely on her beautifully embellished Luna guitar.

Despacito: Calculator Edition

Despacito: Calculator Edition

There are already a gazillion cover versions of the Luis Fonsi megahit Despacito, but we can honestly say this is the first time we’ve heard it played on a couple of musical calculators. Is it wrong that we like this version better?

Specdrums Electronic Musical Rings

Specdrums Electronic Musical Rings

Specdrums are electronic rings that let you map notes or sounds to any color around you. You can wear them, put them on sticks, and more. Their app lets you map colors to a variety of instruments as well as your own sounds. You can also use Specdrums with other MIDI apps.

The Art (and Science) of the Fade out

The Art (and Science) of the Fade out

You might think that ending a song with a fade out is a bit of a cop out, rather than finding a conclusive way to wrap up the tune. Vox explores the theory that beyond making songs end less abruptly, gently fading out a piece of music has a positive impact on listeners.

LCD Soundsystem: American Dream

LCD Soundsystem: American Dream

(PG-13: Language) “And all the hits are saying the same thing. There’s only tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, and life is finite. But sh*t, it feels like forever.” Funny, catchy, and tired of all of this. LCD Soundsystem picks up right where it left off.

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Smooth Metal

Smooth Metal

Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas’ hit Smooth already had a great lead guitar track, but musician Leo Moracchioli went and built on that with his hard rockin’ interpretation of the tune, which isn’t necessarily better than the original, but is still pretty darned awesome.

Jack Black Wants a Cracker

Jack Black Wants a Cracker

Jack Black posted this wonderfully wacky improv of Nirvana’s Polly Wants a Cracker – complete with mouth-sound rhythm section – which he sang Carpool Karaoke style while he was stuck sitting in traffic, . All we can say is… “Shikaflaow!”

Frank Ocean: Provider

Frank Ocean: Provider

“You had you some birthdays, could you prove it? Show me the wisdom in your movement.” Frank Ocean knows the world can’t go long without a new drop from him. In Provider, he’s singing as someone who’s ready to commit if the other party is up for it.

NPR: DJ Premiere & The Badder Band

NPR: DJ Premiere & The Badder Band

(PG-13: Language) NPR Tiny Desk Concert chose the perfect guest for its first DJ set. DJ Premiere and his live musicians The Badder Band performed some of the producer’s best hits, including tracks from KRS-One, his buddy Royce Da 5’9″ and of course Gang Starr.

Rainer Maria: S/T

Rainer Maria: S/T

(PG-13: Language) “I’m afraid to look at myself, be a dear, turn the light down.” See artists, this is why you never say you’re retiring. Emo band Rainer Maria gives it another shot, this time armed with sentiments and voices weathered by time.

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Tesla Coil and Robot Orchestra

Tesla Coil and Robot Orchestra

One of the more entertaining robotic groups we’ve heard was built by FT Mechatronics, whose electronic band consists of a variety of stepper motors, solenoids, hard drives, oscilloscopes, a robot xylophone, nixie tubes, and a tesla coil. Here, it plays Hello by OMFG.

Rick and Morty Piano Medley

Rick and Morty Piano Medley

It’s far from a comprehensive collection, but ThePandaTooth’s arrangement of the Rick and Morty theme song, Goodbye Moonmen, Chaos Chaos- Do You Feel It? and Hurt is jampacked with emotion, and just might bring a tear to your eye. Here’s a little bonus from Evil Morty.

Yamaha GX-1: The Dream Machine

Yamaha GX-1: The Dream Machine

Polyphonic looks back at the groundbreaking features and the resulting legacy of the Yamaha GX-1. Intended to be a proof of concept, less than 10 units of the analog polyphonic synthesizer were made, put to good use by great artists such as Stevie Wonder.

I Believe I Can Fly: Metal Edition

I Believe I Can Fly: Metal Edition

Leo Moracchioli continues to rock it out of the park with his heavy metal covers – this time taking on R. Kelly’s 1996 hit ballad, turning it into a legitimate alt-rock track which could stand entirely on its own. Show your support for Leo by buying his tracks here.

The Wildling and the Hound

The Wildling and the Hound

Back when they were filming this season of Game of Thrones, actors Rory McCann and Kristofer Hivju took a moment away from their gruff but lovable characters Sandor “The Hound” Clegane and Tormund Giantsbane to serenade us with a little Yellow Bird.

Kendrick Lamar DAMN. Red 2XLP

Kendrick Lamar DAMN. Red 2XLP
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(PG-13: Language) If you gotta spin DAMN. you should make it look sexy. Previously an Interscope Records exclusive, HHV got their hands on 2,000 copies of Kendrick Lamar’s instant classic album pressed on a pair of translucent red vinyl records.

5’Nizza: Samoliot

5’Nizza: Samoliot

Since we don’t speak Russian, we can’t vouch for the lyrics of 5’Nizza’s track, but we can stand up and applaud the frozen-in-time visual effects in this incredible music video from director Max Ksjonda. We’re dying to see a behind the scenes of how they shot this.

Gayageum of Thrones

Gayageum of Thrones

Just in time for the big Game of Thrones season finale, musician Luna Lee is here to perform a wonderful Korean-style cover version of composer Ramin Djawadi’s theme song from the hit HBO fantasy. We can imagine dragons flying overhead as this track plays.

Son Lux: Dangerous

Son Lux: Dangerous

“How does it feel, to be your own deceiver? Signals raised, then lost to the aether.” People hide from an omnipresent light before succumbing to it in the music video for Son Lux’s Dangerous, from their awesome post-truth protest EP Remedy.

Indiana Jones Remix

Indiana Jones Remix

Eclectic Method presents a house music remix created entirely from sound effects captured from the Indiana Jones movies, including burping up monkey brain soup. You can download an MP3 of the track here. Snakes… Why did it have to be snakes?

ALA.NI: NPR Tiny Desk Concert

ALA.NI: NPR Tiny Desk Concert

“Just an old fashioned kiss, it gets me hot even in winter. How can I resist? Oh, how you tease me.” British singer-songwriter ALA.NI’s voice is like a perfectly preserved antique from the 1920’s. Watch her perform songs from her debut album You & I.

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