Awesome Music

Another suburban family morning… grandmother screaming at the wall. Musician Kent Nishimura performs a wonderful acoustic guitar cover of the 1983 Police track Syncronicity II. Even without the lyrical genius of the original track, Nishimura’s interpretation is powerful and emotive.

David Bowie performed in many styles over the years, but as far as we know, pop-punk wasn’t one of them. Musician Steve Welsh makes a compelling argument that The Man Who Sold the World would have worked quite well in that genre. His Green Day-inspired cover of Bowie’s classic track works much better than the idea sounds on paper.

The Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’ is a true classic – and it wouldn’t have been anything without Steve Perry’s talents. NetMusic shows off just how good his singing was by stripping away most of the music and allowing us to hear Perry’s isolated vocals. Neil Schon’s guitar solo is also a treat.

The final song to feature all four Beatles was five decades in the making. Now and Then combines sessions recorded by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr in 1995 with vocals recorded by John Lennon in the 1970s. Thanks to modern audio tech, Lennon’s voice was decoupled from a piano track and enhanced to fit into the track. (Thanks, Rob!)

Luca Stricagnoli takes on another Muse song with a performance of Hysteria on his unique triple-necked acoustic guitar. As his fingers fly across the three fretboards, Luca captures the original track’s massive energy despite being a solo musician.

The Kiffness has made a career out of turning silly animal sounds into songs. This time, he started with footage of an orange tabby making noises that vaguely sound like a human with a mouth full of gauze. But once The Kiff added his music and vocals, it all makes perfect sense to us.

Musical mashup genius Bill McClintock created a new musical group called James Against the Machine by combining Rage Against the Machine’s Take the Power Back and James Brown’s Soul Power, with a little Atomic Punk energy from Van Halen tossed in for extra flavor.

We’ve always enjoyed musician Jared Halley and his multi-track a cappella performances. To celebrate Halloween 2023, Jared performed a fun cover of Bobby Pickett’s spooky classic Monster Mash, with backing vocals and dance moves performed by his 10-year-old son, Noah.

El Estepario Siberiano, aka “The Groovefather,” is a skilled percussionist. In this video, he shows off his talents with a cover of the AC/DC track Thunderstruck on a tubulum – that PVC pipe instrument made famous by Blue Man Group. He looped multiple sequences to create the track, but it’s still impressive for an instrument he’s just learning to play.

Classic.FM recently turned us on to a 97-key piano that has just a single octave. Now, they are showing off another unusual instrument – a piano that only has white keys. Micronet’s Sinhakken piano still has 88 keys, but it looks far more difficult to play without black keys for reference.

Musician Tom Rosenthal’s softly-voiced track All a Bit Too Loud is an emotive commentary on modern life and the sensory overload that all too often clutters our thoughts. For the music video, Tom was transformed into a giant ear by prop maker Jennifer Dingwall.

After turning Y.M.C.A. into a sad song, Italy’s Melodicka Bros have done the opposite with another song. Please enjoy as they perform an upbeat ska-punk version of Nirvana’s Lithium, bringing a little bit of levity into this otherwise dark and moody track.

If there’s any song that needed a rubber chicken remake, we’d say it’s Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. Fortunately, Chickensan is here to fulfill our wishes, replacing Robert Plant’s iconic wail with the pained squawks of plastic poultry.

Jack White says he can name any Beatles song after listening to it for just one second. In this clip posted to the musician’s YouTube channel, he proves he’s not lying. We got a few of the more recognizable ones right, but Jack knows their entire catalog.

Traveling with a guitar can be challenging due to its size and shape. While there are some folding guitars on the market, they still take up a good deal of space. Yuji Shimano shows off a unique electric guitar that folds down small enough to fit into a briefcase. The velvet-lined case also has a built-in speaker and guitar amp, so it’s perfect for practice sessions.

Created by German instrument maker Sauter, the Mikroton is a specially-tuned piano that only has 1/16th of a step between its keys. Despite having nine more keys than a regular piano, it only has a one octave range. Musician Antune demonstrates its ability to produce an incredibly smooth progression of notes.

The twangy sound of a pedal steel guitar is invariably associated with country and bluegrass. But as Noah Faulkner proves, it’s perfectly capable of playing alternative and pop music in the hands of the proper musician. Sit back, click play, and enjoy his covers of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence, the Cure’s Just Like Heaven, and Don’t Dream Iit’s Over by Crowded House.

It’s always fun to hear our favorite albums played with video game sounds. FXSnowy took the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1991 smutty masterpiece Blood Sugar Sex Magik and covered it using the 16-bit sounds from the Super Nintendo games Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3. All the best tunes are here, from Funky Monkeys to Breaking the Gorilla.

We recently stumbled upon the EZ Band, and we’re glad that we did. This Houston-based group of musicians has many talents, among them the ability to take alternative music and spice it up with their Norteño sound. This cover of The Strokes’ Last Nite is one of our favorites, but you should also check out their Smiths and My Chemical Romance tracks too.

A lot has changed with music over the past 60 years, but memorable melodies will always be a thing. Music teacher Milo Andreo sat down at his electric piano and synthesizer to play the introductions to a single famous song from each year since 1963. Close your eyes and see how many you can name without looking at the titles.

Daft Punk made music that was decidedly more joyful and danceable than the industrial metal sounds of Rammstein. That didn’t stop Talkbox Gus from mashing up the two groups. His performance of Du Hast sounds like a bonus track from Random Access Memories. His Daft-ified version of KISS’ I Was Made for Love You perfectly suits the disco-rock track.

Before digital synthesizers and drum machines, instruments like the Mellotron used pre-recorded tape loops to play short sound samples. Musician Hainbach got his hands on a Bandmaster Powerhouse, a 1970s analog drum machine that used custom 8-track tapes to play drum loops. Its now well-worn tape cartridges produce some fantastic lo-fi sounds.

Finnish musician and producer Otu of Moonic Productions did a brilliant job turning the Backstreet Boys track Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) into a Queens of the Stone Age song. Not only did he nail Josh Homme’s vocal style and hard-driving guitar, but he also paid homage to the band’s evolution over their nearly 30-year career.