Awesome Music

Minifigs.me presents a wonderful series of unofficial LEGO figures inspired by popular musicians from Queen to David Bowie to ABBA. Some are sold only as bands, while others can be purchased individually, like Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, and Freddie Mercury.

The organic, kaleidoscopic imagery in animator Hideki Inaba Kanahebi’s music video is about as intricate as it gets. The colorful and repetitive images of nature and its interconnections serve as the perfect setting in which to enjoy Canigou’s smooth and relaxing ambient track.

There’s a four-note melody which has found its way into numerous films, often at a moment when a character dies, or is in grave peril. Vox explores the origins of this ominous music, known as Dies Irae, which dates back to the 13th century.

…also known as Toxicity on a Toilet. Here’s something you don’t see every day – some guy playing the percussion section of System of a Down song on a miniature drum kit… in his bathroom. He’s also done the same for Twenty One Pilots, Green Day, and The Cranberries, among others.

Musical musician Bill McClintock once again works his wizardry, combining two songs that you’d never expect to work together into one song that does. Listen up and enjoy as Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing melds brilliantly with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ Shop Around.

Musician Peter Bence captured a live-looped sample of his performance of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, then used its energetic rhythm to segue into a version of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, which features a similarly intense pace. The two compliment each other so well, you’d think they were one song.

Real Engineering explains the history of vinyl records, how they are made and how they work. In doing so, we learn that they are in no scientifically-demonstrable way superior to digital music. That said, the tangible and simple nature of vinyl still holds an appeal.

Visual artist Kevin McGloughlin teamed up with with musician Max Cooper for this mindbending audio-visual collaboration. Reminiscent of the work of the great Philip Glass, Cooper’s repetitive and driving sounds are reflected in surreal scenes which were digitally copied, tweaked, and pasted to repeat endlessly.

While it contains no new footage from the Breaking Bad movie El Camino, we still were entranced for the duration of this video which refreshes our memory on Jesse Pinkman’s rollercoaster of a story, set to the tune Enchanted by Chloe X Halle.

Musician Addi Somekh has been playing his unique musical instrument for more than 10 years now, so there’s no wonder he’s perfected his ability to eke a wide variety of notes and sounds out of a couple of balloons. His buddy Joey on the electric bass ain’t too shabby either.

Talk box vocal effects reached their height of popularity in the 1970s thanks to Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh, but back in 1964, musician and record producer Pete Drake applied the unique sound to his pedal steel guitar, with this performance of his country blues track Forever. And then there’s this.

Musician Luca Stricagnoli continues to wow us with his fingerstyle arrangements of popular songs, this time taking on Eminem’s rap anthem Lose Yourself from the movie 8 Mile, giving it a whole new sound and texture that still had us moving our arm to the beat when the rhythm kicked in.

So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job’s a joke, you’re broke… With the announcement that the NBC comedy Friends is leaving Netflix, musician Chase Holfelder decided to pay tribute to the series with a very special sad version I’ll Be There for You.

With its twangy mouth sounds, Jew’s harp (aka “jaw harp”) is one of the stranger instruments out there. For the most part, it’s an instrument that’s played by one musician at a time, but this ensemble of 30 or so harp players in Russia occasionally gets together to perform as a group, and the layered sound they make is wild.

When it comes to Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips, we’ve come to expect the unexpected… This track from King’s Mouth is a story of a giant tot with a love for outer space, packing fat beats, analog squeals, and a psychedelic music video with special guest Fred Armisen. The album cut includes narration by Mick Jones of The Clash.

We all know Weezer loves to cover classics. Musician Jenn Champion pays it forward with a remake of Weezer’s The Blue Album, replacing the original’s garage rock with chunky synth rhythms, and smooth, feminine vocals. Her cover of Undone streams for free, while the full album is exclusively on vinyl from Turntable Kitchen.

Percussionist Conny Sommer is an expert at playing a variety of instruments, including the kalimba and the sansula, both of which are playing by plucking metal keys with the fingertips. We’re amazed by the finesse he’s able to get out of such a simple instrument.

A fun DIY kit for musicians, electronics hobbyists, and just about anyone who likes cool gadgets. The Rhythmo Beatbox lets you build a MIDI controller and drum machine in a cardboard box. It’s got arcade-style buttons, built-in sounds, a battery, and speakers. Its companion mobile app enables sound customization.

(PG-13: Gore, Language) Quentin Tarantino’s films work on so many different levels, from their unique approach to storytelling, to their deft blend of humor and violence, to their stylized visuals and sound design. Daniel Netzel of Film Radar explores how Tarantino’s thoughtful and creative musical choices complement his movies so well.

You can spend a few hundred bucks on a used upright piano, or hundreds of thousands or more on a concert grand. So what’s the difference? Musician Vinheteiro decided to play the same passage of music on six pianos of escalating values to see if we could tell them apart. Once we got past $50,000, we had trouble.

LEGO worked with synthesizer wiz Sam Battle of Look Mum No Computer to put together an electronic orchestra comprised of 42 real musical instruments and over 95 of LEGO’s Star Wars BOOST droids, all controlled by a bunch of mechanically-activated tablets. Of course, they played John Williams’ classic theme.

(PG-13: Lyrics) Ain’t nuthin’ to it, but to do it. The DADS‘ delightful music video brings back memories of the Spike Jonze/Fatboy Slim/Christopher Walken collaboration on Weapon of Choice, and that’s a good thing. Sit back and enjoy as an ordinary guy breaks out his best dance moves to the infectious grooves of DJ Dillon Francis.

Like most people who post videos on YouTube, musician Madilyn Bailey has been subjected to an endless stream of hateful, poorly spelled comments by 12 year olds. Rather than taking them to heart, she turned their trolling into a song, and so far has racked up over 6 million views as the ultimate sweet revenge.