Awesome Music

We can feel it all over. One of the funkiest songs ever written has got to be Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke. Recently, the members of the the artist collective known as Apartment Sessions turned in a rousing, appropriately brass-heavy performance of the track on NYC’s J Train, lead off by the soulful lead vocals of Aneesa Folds.

(PG-13: Language) Keep together, stay sharp, and follow me. The undead and Halloween go together like peanut butter and chocolate. So to celebrate the holiday, Eclectic Method did up a little mix of sounds from the Edgar Wright zombie comedy classic.

Callin’ it quits now, baby, I’m a wreck. But first, let’s listen to this warm and buttery cover version of Post Malone and Swae Lee’s Sunflower, performed by GnuS Cello, with accompaniment on piano and guitar.

Musician Feng E might only be 12 years old at the time of this post, but he continues to wow us with his talent. Here, he performs a fingerstyle cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb with all of the nuance and depth that you’d expect from someone with many more years of experience.

If any family deserves a heavy metal theme song, it’s the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky Addams Family. Just in time for Halloween, Mustachioed metalhead Leo Moracchioli is here to oblige with his gravelly-voiced rendition.

The Hood Internet continues its excellent remix series with the year that gave us 1999, The Safety Dance, Should I Stay or Should I Go, Thriller, I Ran, and lots of other hits that still turn into earworms every time we hear them.

You know, it’s basically impossible to listen to a Pomplamoose performance without it bringing a smile to your face. We were certainly grinning here as we listened to their bright and cheerful cover of Mr. Blue Sky that both nods to Electric Light Orchestra, and makes it their own.

Remixer Eclectic Method teamed up with the DJs of Gamerdisco to create this fun dance track made up from the sounds featured in various old school racing games, like OutRun, Wipeout, Hard Drivin’, and one of our favorites, the classic smash ’em up Burnout.

A while back, musician Davie504 performed a solo on a crazy 24-string bass guitar. Now, he’s back to blow up his prior record with an even more insane instrument – a bass with 36 strings. You’re gonna need some extra fingers next time, Davie.

Each year, Tom BetGeorge of Magical Light Shows tricks out the front of his Tracy, California house with tons of lights to celebrate Halloween, continually stepping up the show to outdo himself. For 2019, we get Ray Parker Jr’s Ghostbusters theme, accompanied by a brilliant array of color, and singing pumpkin animations.

The Hood Internet’s excellent retro remix series continues, picking right back up where we left off. As we move ever so slightly into the ’80s, we get a funky dose of Phil Collins, Hall & Oates, Tom Tom Club, Billy Squier, The Go-Gos, and many more.

Wonderfully enigmatic musicians The Flaming Lips teamed up with the Colorado Symphony and conductor André de Ridder to re-record their 1999 album The Soft Bulletin with a full orchestra. Race for the Prize gives us a preview of the live album, which drops 11/29/19.

If the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in the 1920s instead of the 1980s, the music its games played might have sounded a bit like the ragtime jazz piano arranged and played brilliantly here by musician Scott Bradlee.

(PG-13: Language) During their recent tour dates in Brazil, Weezer performed a great cover of Nirvana’s 1991 track Lithium. It’s a great tribute to a fellow band who achieved fame in the 1990s, but with a very different outcome. On a related note, we came across this little gem while researching this story.

Synthwave duo Litiowave envisions what John Williams’ Imperial March (aka Darth Vader’s Theme) might have sounded like if it came out in the early 1980s rather than in 1977, giving the track a new neon-lit electronic sound.

It turns out that when you plug in a drawing of some of the major continents into MIDI sequencing software, it actually makes a surprisingly pleasant little tune. Be sure to listen to the U.S., Europe, South America, and Africa by themselves too.

Ah, there’s nothing quite like a Finnish bluegrass band performing a Lenny Kravitz song in a French street corner restaurant. So sit back, crank up the volume, and enjoy as Steve ‘n’ Seagulls gives the 1993 hit Are You Gonna Go My Way a fresh new sound.

Musical mashup maestro Bill McClintock issues his apologies in advance for this hilariously weird melding of The Spice Girls and Slipknot, with a dash of The Black Crowes tossed in for extra seasoning. All we really want is to zig-a-zig-aaaaaaarrrrgh.

It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark… Fortunately, musician Luca Stricagnoli is here to shine his light on it, with a simply fantastic fingerstyle cover version of Michael Jackson’s 1984 megahit Thriller.

Toronto’s awesome pop music choir performs a moving tribute to The Cars’ frontman and songwriter Ric Ocasek, along with bandmate and Drive lead singer Benjamin Orr. We like to imagine the two have reunited somewhere on the other side, and are banging out power pop hits for a whole new audience.

This desktop device aims to democratize the creation of vinyl records. The Phonocut is designed to carve grooves directly into a 10″ wax disk, allowing for the creation of custom records at home. It’s makers are hoping for a 2020 release and will start raising funds on Kickstarter 10/15/19 at 4:20pm LA time.

Pierre Fontenelle and Cristian Perciun of accordion/cello duo Made in Belgium turn in an energetic and powerful medley comprised of three tracks from the James Bond universe – John Barry’s original theme, Adele’s Skyfall, and Sam Smith’s Writing’s on the Wall.

Musician Costantino Carrara takes Queen’s iconic 1975 rock opera track and turns it into an equally impressive classical piano piece, packed with wonderful flourishes, and epic transitions. Think you can keep up with Costantino’s fingers? Buy the sheet music here.