Awesome Music

An earthshaking taiko drum performance by Senzoku Gakuen College of Music’s percussion ensemble that’s equal parts drumming talent, and choreography. The track is called Fertility of the Sea, composed by Eitetsu Hayashi. We can only imagine the sound with a good subwoofer.

A wonderful classical arrangement of the 1985 a-ha pop classic Take on Me, as performed by the musicians of Brooklyn Duo and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect. We especially love the way they worked in the nod to Flight of the Bumblebee on the grand piano.

“And it got me all fired up to go away, and make some ears ring from the sound of my singing” Canadian punk rock duo Japandroids opt for a cleaner and radio-friendly style for their third album. They’ll still make you want to join rallies though.

YouTube channel Sync Fu was designed with a single purpose – to combine kung fu and action scenes with wildly out of place music. We’re not sure why it works, but it often does. Ouf favorite is Casshern vs. Mr. Roboto, but Lone Wolf and Cub vs. In The Air Tonight is perfect too.

YAOG decided to see what would happen if they played the classic theme song from Super Mario Bros. in a minor key. In this version of the game, we’re guessing the plumber never finds his princess, and all the stars and mushrooms are poisonous.

Toronto-based jazz quartet BADBADNOTGOOD proved that they’re more than just about doing hip hop covers with their 2016 album IV, which sees them inevitably slithering their way into soul and funk. They dropped by Tiny Desk Concert to play three tracks from IV.

For their latest concert, Rockin 1000 gathered more than 1000 singers, drummers, bassists, guitarists, and generally awesome people got together to rock out an epic performance of Nirvana’s 1991 classic, Smells Like Teen Spirit.

“Peanut butter jelly, or portobello. Open up your mouth… and say hello!” A silly song about one of our favorite kinds of food. Parry Gripp extolls the many wonders of fresh ingredients placed between layers of bread with this catchy little tune. It’s definitely not gluten-free.

Jamiroquai’s first full album since 2010 kicks off with a bang, with an earworm of a dance track that melds funk, EDM, disco, and a dash of vocoder. We’re digging the light-up headgear in director Charlie Lightening’s video that will surely find its way onto the cosplay scene.

(PG-13: Language) The Gregory Brothers introduce us to vocalist Takeo Ischi, also known as “the greatest Chicken Yodeler the world has ever seen.” We have no idea what we just watched, but we’re pretty sure it was awesome. Also, we found this when researching Ischi.

(PG-13: Language) We’re big fans of the mad rap skills of Mac Lethal around here. After doing some crazy breathing exercises, he attempts to rap for 90 seconds straight without pausing or inhaling. We’re out of breath just from watching him try.

Jazz, soul and funk scholar Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner returns with a new EP called Drunk. Here’s one of the tracks from his upcoming release, an ice-cold cut featuring none other than Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald.

Most of us know it better as the opening theme from The Lone Ranger, but whatever you know the finale of Rossini’s energetic William Tell Overture as, you’ve probably never heard it played using a model train and a bunch of bottles. Hi-ho Silver, Away!

Musician Bjoern Angermann gives the folk classic Hava Nagila a fresh coat of paint by mashing it up with the 1960s surf rock sound of Dick Dale. If Pulp Fiction took place in Israel, this would have been on the soundtrack.

Using only sounds found in Michael Bay’s bombastic Transformers’ flicks, Eclectic Method created an EDM track that will have you gyrating your hips on the dance floor to the beat of giant robots beating the crap out of each other.

Musician Josh Cohen has a thing for performing cover versions of Radiohead tunes on his grand piano. Each and every one of the tracks will pull you in and won’t let go with its quiet intensity. We can’t decide if Everything In Its Right Place or Daydreaming is our favorite.

Fret Zeppelin uses a row of removable and non-intrusive LEDs together with a mobile app to teach new and intermediate guitar players. It shows notes, chords, scales and styles. It can also use MIDI files to show the chords for songs and act as decorative lighting.

Musician Randy George created this clip more than a decade ago, performing the most unusual cover version we’ve ever heard of Gnarls Barkley’s hit tune Crazy – using a theremin in place of the lead vocals. Given the title and subject matter of the song, it’s somehow fitting.

(PG-13) Apparently rapper Young Thug has a tendency to blow off his commitments. For instance, he was supposed to show up to shoot a music video, but never did. Instead, his co-director and production crew improvised, and made a video regardless.

Director Sebastian Linda’s video for Sven Helbig’s ethereal track Abendglühen (Evening Glow) bends time as its subjects seemingly defy gravity through the use of slow-motion and other visual trickery. From the album I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain.

The original theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air stands on its own, but we’ve gotta hand it to musician Ed Sheeran for putting a fresh coat of his smooth acoustic folk-pop style on the ’90s rap track during a recent appearance on Capital FM.

The ultimate collection for fans of the ultimate parody songwriter. Get all 14 of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s studio albumns on CD or Vinyl, packed inside of an accordion case along with a 100-page collector’s book. Upgraded sets include lots of extra goodies.

Musician Alexandr Misko performs a wonderful fingerstyle guitar arrangement of the King of Pop’s massive hit, infusing new life into the 1982 track. His covers of The Cranberries’ Zombie and System of a Down’s Chop Suey! are equally sublime. (Thanks Nathan!)