Awesome Music

This reference card is a handy tool for helping you learn the piano. The card is engraved with diagrams showing finger placement for essential chords, along with a key-to-note guide and a visual chart of notes and rests. It’s made from durable stainless steel and comes with a leather carrying sleeve.

To remind us that he can sing way better than any AI, Anthony Vincent has been performing his own unexpected cover versions of popular songs. His Sinatra-fied cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit shows how a great vocal performance can elevate a cheezy concept. If the idea sounds familiar, Paul Anka rocked some Nirvana in 2005.

This expressive controller gives musicians an incredible amount of control and looks amazing while performing. The ERAE II has 16,000 force sensors to detect movements and pressure across its multitouch surface. A colorful LED grid provides visual feedback and can be programmed with virtual keys, drum pads, faders, and buttons. It also has a built-in 8-track looper.

In 2022 and 2023, DJ Cummerbund toured with K.C. and the Sunshine Band. As a thank-you gift to these giants of the disco era, he created the ultimate tribute track – a marvelously mashed-up version of That’s The Way (I Like It) performed by EVERYBODY. If you can’t get enough, K.C. and his band are touring again in 2025.

UK singer Lola Young is on fire this year with her breakthrough hit Messy. She stopped by Australia’s Triple J studios to perform the song and also turned in a phenomenal cover of The Cure song Close to Me. Her smooth and sultry interpretation brings a new depth of emotion to the 1985 alt-pop track.

We can’t believe it’s been 25 years since Gorillaz released their first album. Since its start, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s virtual band has defied genres and enlisted the likes of De La Soul, Elton John, Robert Smith, and The Clash. NOSTALGIAZ is a 4-minute retrospective of the virtual band’s most captivating visuals, accompanied by an orchestral medley.

The Roli Piano has 49 full-sized keys for two-handed playing. It connects with a mobile app to learn piano using its color-changing keys, and can also be used for creating music with features like per-key pitch-bend, polyphonic aftertouch, and MIDI. The optional Airwave tracks finger positions and adds expressive control. Super early-bird discount ends 1.25.25.

Perhaps it’s because we need our spirits lifted, but we can’t seem to get enough of the SkaTune Network lately. Today’s jam is an unconventionally upbeat cover of the Rolling Stones’ 1966 classic Paint It, Black,. While it’s not a happy song, Jer’s arrangement almost made us forget its dark subject. Bonus points for the Time Bomb riff at the end.

Here’s something we never thought we’d see – mushrooms playing a keyboard. BionicandtheWires put together this strange setup which uses sensors to detect electrical fluctuations in a mushroom plant. It then takes those signals to trigger solenoids that move mallets and strike the keys. And it makes precisely the kind of music we’d expect a group of fungi to make.

Indie-pop band OK Go is known for making wildly inventive and complicated music videos. Their latest video was shot in 64 one-take pieces, played back across 64 individual phones. Beyond the video, the single A Stone Only Rolls Downhill is as catchy as anything they’ve recorded. See how they made it in the behind-the-scenes video from the PMI.

Starting with the first level of the first game, the original Sonic the Hedgehog games had some of the best video game music ever. Jer from the Ska Tune Network performed this spirited remake of the already lively Green Hill Zone theme that will have you spin-dashing around the place and searching for golden rings.

Musicians – especially guitarists and bass players – will love these desk organizers that look like miniature guitar amps. Etsy seller Lions Print makes these 3D-printed pencil caddies and dresses them up with logos from popular amplifier makers. They’re available with silver or gold caps and can be personalized, too.

They just tell you that you’re on your own… don’t you know that you’re toxic? Remix master Bill McClintock is back with another wonderfully unholy mashup. Combining the sounds of Britney Spears, Black Sabbath, and Mötley Crüe makes absolutely no sense, but we can’t stop dancing to this one.

Mac Glocky mixes up another unexpected musical concoction. His fans asked if he would take MGMT hit Kids and turn it into a grunge track a la Nirvana. He thought the result would be cursed, but we think the track rocks. Enjoy yourself. I’m on a plain.

This forthcoming device aims to make learning the piano easier and more fun than ever. The Polaro has an ultrawide touchscreen that provides instruction and feedback directly above its 88 keys. Its makers plan on offering apps for lessons, games, recording music, and more. Pricing isn’t firm yet but estimated at $2800 to start. You can reserve one now for $100.

Piano? More like paino. Mattias Krantz has a thing for making dangerous musical instruments. After creating a piano that’s capable of electrocution, he moved on to one that triggers paintball guns when its keys are pressed. It plays music by turning its victims’ screams into notes.