Awesome Music

“I’m an obsessed marathon runner and an out-of-work drummer. I’m not particularly good at either.” That’s how Brendan likes to describe himself as he gets in a little workout while he practices his percussive skills.

Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser show off their impeccable cello skills in this concert recorded at last summer’s Exit Festival. The show starts off quietly enough but escalates at 6:26 and doesn’t let go. Put your headphones on and enjoy.

Whether Taylor Swift’s megahit Shake It Off was one of your favorite or most hated tunes of 2014, Milky Chance deserves a listen with their complete revamp of the song that transforms it into an excellent folk rock track.

ThePeterson is back to make us feel old again, this time reminiscing about the popular music, movies, games, television, news and tech that surrounded us in the year that gave us The Powerpuff Girls, The Dude, and The Google.

Named after his mother and stepfather, Sufjan Stevens’ upcoming album Carrie & Lowell is about “life and death, love and loss, and the artist’s struggle to make sense of the beauty and ugliness of love.” The album drops 3/31.

Meliani Siti Sumartini (aka “Mel”) may be just 15 years old, but she proves that rocking out has no age, gender or cultural boundaries, as she shreds with the best of them on her electric guitar. Hit up her YouTube channel for more headbanging.

Puddles the sad clown takes on a song that fits his character like a glove. Listen as he powers through Rock N’ Roll With Me, David Bowie’s song about a depressed entertainer. That ending is a very nice touch.

Nashville songwriter Sir Mashalot was thinking that so much of today’s country music sounds so paint-by-number, so he decided to see how similar some recent hits were by editing them together, then playing all six tracks at once.

For their videos, the guys from electro-pop band DUM take scenes from classic movies and replace the actors’ faces with their own. Their silly tributes include Home Alone, The Neverending Story, and Dumb and Dumber for starters.

Just when we think we’re to be made to be made to suffer because it’s our lot in life, here comes Eclectic Method with a rousing remix of our favorite bleeps, blops and bloops. We are now much more prepared for Star Wars: Episode VII.

Tom Grey and Sonya Belousova are the talent behind the awesome Player Piano channel. Here, Tom throws out some video game themes that Sonya hasn’t played before, and she plays on-the-fly arrangements. Support them on Indiegogo.

This street performer starts out with a solid demonstration of his pickle-tub drumming skills, but amps things up to percussion level 9000 when he busts out a lightning-fast, single-handed drumroll at the end.

Director Nuno Barbosa shot this mind-bending video by projection mapping video of musician Emmy Curl back onto herself. The whole video was shot in a single take, without post production. Body paintings by João Tiago Fernandes.

Kanye West’s single is an auto-tuned ballad featuring Sir Paul McCartney on keyboard. Apparently, it’s a song for Kanye’s daughter North, but from the perspective of his late mother Donda. More here and here.

While the ’70s-infused soundtrack of Guardians of the Galaxy is one of our all-time favorites, Mike Relm took his edit in a more modern direction, creating a fun electronic remix made primarily from sounds bites sampled from the movie.

DJ Qbert teamed up with UK firm Novalia to create this awesome album, which incorporates an interactive set of turntables with printed electronics which work as MIDI triggers for an iOS app when touched. (Thanks Richard!)

In all honesty, it wouldn’t take much to improve upon Anna Kendrick’s sappy version of Cups (When I’m Gone), but Jim Huish from Amber’s Drive ensured we’d get maximum entertainment value by adding some firearms to the mix.

Musician Andrew Huang performs six of the biggest pop hits of 2014 using a wide variety of everyday household objects (and his hatchback) as his musical instruments. Andrew’s lead vocals and harmonies ain’t bad either.

Casey Abrams cranks out snappy vocals, bass and melodica for ths Postmodern Jukebox retro jazz version of Fountains of Wayne’s pop hit Stacy’s Mom. They should cover the entire Welcome Interstate Managers album in this style.

You won’t be able to get the theme from Pac-Man out of your head after listening to D Wave’s quirky video game medley, which consists entirely of the 1980 arcade game’s music played in 10 different styles.

Did you know that you’re a fan of classical music? Jazz too. Those and lots of other instrumentals. YouTuber Carl Manhke compiled 79 tracks that you’ve heard numerous times but might not know the titles to. Part two here.

(NSFW: Language) “I AM A CLAUS.” Local Business Comedy covered Kanye West’s entire Yeezus album, putting a Christmas spin on it. Listen closely because they’re about to drop a lot of jokes on your chimney. Also on YouTube.

Puddles the clown turns in a soul-stirring performance of the Christmas classic, showing once again why he’s called “the sad clown with the golden voice.” Even if you’re not religious, you’ll have a hard time not hitting play a second time.