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Awesome Music

Michael Jackson + Judas Priest = Judas Jackson

Michael Jackson + Judas Priest = Judas Jackson

You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, Billie Jean. Mashup maestro Bill McClintock took these two very different songs and combined them with Steely Dan’s Do It Again to create the heaviest pop song imaginable. We think Rob Halford’s spiked leather sleeves would look great paired with MJ’s sequined glove.

Snarky Puppy Keyboardist Improvs Dua Lipa

Snarky Puppy Keyboardist Improvs Dua Lipa

Borrowing a page from Drumeo’s book, the YouTube channel Pianote invites keyboardists to create their interpretations of popular songs they’ve never heard. In this video, Snarky Puppy’s Justin Stanton takes on Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now, imparting the dance-pop hit with a smooth blend of jazz and funk after only hearing the drums and vocals.

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Infinity Song: Slow Burn

Infinity Song: Slow Burn

“It’s living on your own after kids and a wife. It’s the question you ask in the middle of the night.” New York City’s soft rock sibling band Infinity Song broke out with their sarcastic hit Hater’s Anthem. But the latest single from their debut album Essentials is a melancholic earworm about the dull pain that inevitably grows and gnaws at us.

Zombie on Harp + Guitar

Zombie on Harp + Guitar

Musicians Alexandr Misko and Alexander Boldachev performed this powerful acoustic arrangement of The Cranberries song Zombie as a tribute to fallen Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The duo’s nuanced performance serves to remind us not to be indifferent zombies and to stand up to oppression.

311 Tiny Desk Concert

311 Tiny Desk Concert

On 3.11.2024, NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert dropped this excellent short performance by alt-rock band 311. Lead singer Nick Hexum and his bandmates sound as good as ever, with a four-song set that includes Beautiful Disaster, All Mixed Up, Amber, and Down. We always loved the way they blened rock, reggae, and funk sounds.

If the Beatles Were a Pop-Punk Band

If the Beatles Were a Pop-Punk Band

Without The Beatles, rock and pop music might have evolved very differently. We’re not sure if there’s a direct connection to bands like Green Day and Blink-182, but it sure seems like it after listening to Daniel Swisher’s medley of Fab Four songs performed in ’90s pop-punk style. Like what you hear? There’s a second video with eight more tracks.

John Williams on His Music

John Williams on His Music

From Star Wars to Raiders of the Lost Ark to Jurassic Park, composer and conductor John Williams is the maestro behind some of the best and most memorable movie music ever. Williams sat down with Variety to discuss his approach and inspirations behind some of his best-known scores. His exuberance and positivity make 92 seem young.

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Singing 200 Digits of Pi

Singing 200 Digits of Pi

March 14 is Pi Day, so there’s no better time to learn as many digits of the mathematical constant as possible. AsapSCIENCE is here to help. While it’s definitely harder to memorize than The Alphabet Song, if you’re paying attention to the lyrics, you should at least get further than 3.1415926.

Every Breath You Take: Grand Piano Cover

Every Breath You Take: Grand Piano Cover

We’ve heard some of Peter Bence’s fantastic piano playing before. Like his other flourish-filled performances, Peter’s arrangement of The Police’s creepy stalker track Every Breath You Take has him tickling the ivories and live-looping notes to create layered rhythms.

Enter Sandman But It’s the Doors

Enter Sandman But It’s the Doors

For the first minute or so of this video, we thought it really was a Doors cover. Then the lyrics kick in and it’s clearly Metallica. Musician Denis Pauna seamlessly blends two very different styles of rock music in his remake of Enter Sandman. It’s a slow burn, but a hot one.

If Oasis Was a New Orleans Jazz Band

If Oasis Was a New Orleans Jazz Band

Mardi Gras might be over, but Jazz Fest is just around the corner. So there’s no better time to enjoy this New Orleans-style cover of the Oasis track Don’t Look Back in Anger, performed with aplomb by vocalist Robyn Adele Anderson, accompanied by musicians Ben Covello, Charlie Himel, Shareef Taher, Ben Golder-Novick, and Jacob Melsha.

Thunderstruck in Gaelic

Thunderstruck in Gaelic

AC/DC sant all of its songs in English. Irish student band TG Lurgan performed this unique cover of the band’s hit Thunderstruck in traditional Gaeilge (aka Gaelic). If you’d like to sing along, the word “toirneach” means “thunder,” and “tintreach” means “lightning.” The band has also done gaelic covers of songs by Oasis, The Killers, and Billie Eilish.

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Playing the World’s Largest Organ

Playing the World’s Largest Organ

This enormous pipe organ is located at the Atlantic City Convention Hall, and is not only the world’s largest organ, it’s the world’s largest and loudest musical instrument according to the Guinness World Records. Turn up the volume and enjoy as musician Felix Hell performs the haunting Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ by Johann Sebastian Bach.

EMO: Emote Portrait Alive

EMO: Emote Portrait Alive

This impressive yet creepy AI tech can take a single still image and make it appear to speak or sing any audio. Developed by researchers from Alibaba’s Institute for Intelligent Computing, EMO: Emote Portrait Alive’s model was trained on more than 150 million images to work its magic. The video is peppered with examples of the convincing deepfakery.

Snoring Dog Song

Snoring Dog Song

We’ve featured a number of funny songs by The Kiffness, but somehow we missed this one when he posted it back in 2022. Instead of a cat making weird noises, this hilarious take on AWOLNATION’s Sail stars a dog that makes silly sounds while sleeping. Blame it on his floppy cheeks.

Daft Punk Talkbox on a Steel Guitar

Daft Punk Talkbox on a Steel Guitar

Daft Punk were masters at incorporating talkbox and Vocoder effects in their music. Nashville-based musician Russ Pahl shows off his skills with an excerpt of the robots’ track Within, performed on a pedal steel guitar, with his vocals processed through an analog talkbox. We also enjoyed Russ’ otherworldly tune Butt Call from Mars.

Jump as an Indie Pop Song

Jump as an Indie Pop Song

Musician Alex Melton is known for taking popular songs and changing up their genres. His cover of Van Halen’s Jump is unlike any we’ve heard before. His toned-down indie pop arrangement of the track imagines what the song might have been like if John Mayer or Hozier sang it. Melton’s version could totally be a hit on its own merits.

Insanely Good Musical Impressions

Insanely Good Musical Impressions

French vocalist Sarah Schwab is a master of musical impressions. We’re not familiar with all of the singers she mimics, but her imitations of Kate Bush, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, Cher, Cyndi Lauper, Sia, and others are uncanny. Check out her Instagram channel for more, including her take on Bohemian Rhapsody.

Boston Typewriter Orchestra: Selectric Funeral

Boston Typewriter Orchestra: Selectric Funeral

The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is hoping to score a spot on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. Their 2024 submission to the popular show is this mechanical tour de force titled Selectric Funeral, a rhythmic and enigmatic track performed on four vintage typewriters, bells, and effects pedals. It’s also their first song to incorporate an electric typewriter.

Daft Punk’s “Face to Face” but with Newer Samples

Daft Punk’s “Face to Face” but with Newer Samples

The Daft Punk track Face to Face brilliantly chopped up samples from 20 songs from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Music producer Nickster challenged himself to create a new version of the track using newer samples from songs by LCD Soundsystem, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, MGMT, and others. We’re impressed with how he captured the spirit of the original.

LEGO Acoustic Guitar

LEGO Acoustic Guitar

A while back, we saw a bass guitar made from LEGO bricks. Musician BERNTH built a LEGO acoustic guitar. Other than the neck, strings, and bridge, his guitar is pure LEGO goodness. Rather than focusing on the build process, his video showcases his new song, Memories. We’re impressed he was able to such a rich sound from its plastic body.

DJ Cummerbund: Testifireball

DJ Cummerbund: Testifireball

We gon’ boogie oogie oggi, jiggle, wiggle, and dance… and the price is set. Combining Rage Against the Machine’s Testify with Pitbull’s Fireball seems like a match made in hell. Leave it to mashup master DJ Cummerbund to make it work, turning the angry political track into a dancefloor banger.

Super Banjo Bros.

Super Banjo Bros.

Because the theme song from Super Mario Bros. never gets old, here’s a banjo cover version by the trio Foggy Mountain Spaceship. After bringing their twangy styling to World 1-1, they head down the warp pipe for a banjo version of the Underworld theme. But it’s not all bluegrass here, and things head down a psychedelic prog-rock path by the end.

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