Awesome Music

Odesza has had a great couple of years. As a way to thank their fans, Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight worked in between gigs to make this free remix of Waited 4 U, a track from fellow electronic artist Slow Magic.

Editor Mylo the Cat did a brilliant job chopping up scenes of Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and Beaker so it looks like they’re singing Naughty by Nature’s 1993 hip-hop-pop juggernaut, Hip Hop Hooray.

The multitalented Daniel Koren (Walking Contest) put together this lighthearted arrangement of 20 memorable TV theme songs, brilliantly bridging between the tracks at times to create entirely new programs. (Thanks Daniel!)

The music video for indie pop band Cruisr’s new single All Over. It’s an animated stream of vignettes of classic movie couples, echoing the song’s story about falling madly in love. Stellar work by Carboni Studio.

(NSFW: Language) In 2012, Katzenjammer, Ben Caplan and The Trondheim Soloists performed this moving arrangement of the Pogues / Kirsty MacColl holiday classic Fairytale of New York. Caution: Epic beard and baritone ahead.

Breaking Bad may be over, and we still have to wait for Better Call Saul. For now, Matthijs Vlot’s angry rap track, compiled from clips from the show will have to tide us over. And if you’re feeling like something a bit more upbeat…

Transforming a tune from a major key to a minor key can really make it dark. This is particularly evident in Chase Holfelder’s sinister rendition of The Police classic Every Breath You Take, making it even more stalkerish that it was already.

The music video for the ending credits song for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies looks back at the two Lord of the Rings trilogies, including scenes from their filming. Actor Phil Boyd (Pippin) performed and co-wrote the song.

If Belle & Sebastian make sad bastard music, John Wesley Coleman III makes drunk bastard music. Love Drinks is from the self-proclaimed trash poet’s new EP The Love That You Own. His mixtape is worth crying along to as well.

YouTuber Andy Rehfeldt managed to turn Van Halen’s classic Running with the Devil into a mellow jazz track more fitting of Steely Dan than David Lee Roth. If you enjoyed it as much as we did, buy Andy a beer.

For his White Room Project, DJ and sound designer Sonny Blake decided to create a track using only the sounds captured while assembling a BMX bike. The sounds were manipulated with numerous effects, but it’s still a cool concept.

Violinist Lindsey Stirling dons a bow of fire and battles a dragon with a string intstrument in an epic track that’s worthy of inclusion on the Dragon Age: Inquisition game soundtrack (though we don’t know if it is). Video by Everdream.

The guys from bluegrass band Iron Horse are back with an unexpected and finger-pickin’ good cover version of Elton John’s classic Rocket Man. Our next request: Ozzy Ozbourne’s Crazy Train. Oh, never mind. (Thanks for finding that, Namu!)

New Zealand musician Nigel Stanford’s electronic track is made complete through a series of visual experiments which demonstrate the interaction between sound and matter – augmenting his music with fire, sand, fluids, and electricity.

Folk duo The Sea The Sea’s intimate track Waiting is perfectly accompanied by this amazing music video by Zachary Johnson, who animated 3,454 individual oil paintings to create an evocative view of NYC by night.

(NSFW: Language) Slaughterhouse, YelaWolf and Eminem connect for an amazing round of freestyle flows and prose in this promo video for the upcoming rap collaboration, SHADYXV. Pre-order the album here. Eminem’s bit here.

YouTuber Mackem Wizza took the trippy dream sequence from Disney’s Dumbo and overdubbed Tame Impala’s hit track Elephant. The result is impressively well synchronized. It also works brilliantly with Ratatat’s Seventeen Years.

(NSFW: Language) Up-and-coming British rapper Theo Kerlin aka Master Shortie drops naughty verses over a smooth and addictive beat in Afrocentric Chicken, a single from his upcoming EP Theodore.

Gorkem Sen’s Yaybahar is an incredibly strange acoustic instrument. When its strings, springs or drum-like membranes are struck, the vibration bounces back and forth between the spring and the membranes, creating a layered echo.

To celebrate the launch of BBC Music, they gathered an all-star cast of vocalists, from Stevie Wonder to Dave Grohl to Pharrell to Lorde to sing a cover version of the Beach Boys’ classic God Only Knows. Full list of performers here.

Musician Jacob Tolliver does an incredible Jerry Lee Lewis cover on an old piano he found in a neighborhood hardware store. Not only is his performance amazing, he channels the mannerisms of Lewis brilliantly. Mirror here.

A rousing track by post-rock artist Son Lux. No Fate Awaits Me is his contribution to the soundtrack of Ned Benson’s film trilogy The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. Son Lux also made a spinoff album inspired by the movie.

“I hear you calling and I wanna go, run straight into the valleys of your arms.” Holding is a track from the critically-acclaimed album Ruins, by ambient artist Liz Harris aka Grouper. Stream the whole album on NPR or Spotify.