Awesome Rhythm

Those handheld massage guns are known as percussive devices because of the way that they pulsate. Musician Arthur Dubois has figured out how to incorporate their rapid vibrations into his sound, which also includes things like a paper shredder, a bowl of water, a vacuum cleaner, and the bow from an upright bass.

To create this pleasantly hypnotic sequence of sounds, musician Jeremie Carter played 15 different notes on a marimba. He performed each note repeatedly at a rate of 0.2 bpm faster or slower than its neighbor, then edited them side-by-side. He says every time you hear a bell ring, a subdivision has been reached, progressing from quarter notes to various tuplets.

DoodleChaos imagines what it might be like if Minecraft was a rhythm-matching game like Beat Saber or Guitar Hero. This crazy, mashed-up world is filled with fanciful voxel art characters and sees blocks and objects popping up for players to hit with their tools as they roll along the rails and fly through the air. The track is Fly Away by TheFatRat f/Anjulie.

The Cure’s original drummer Lol Tolhurst, Siouxsie & the Banshees’ drummer Budgie, and producer Jacknife Lee teamed up and have an album on the way. The rhythmic title track, Los Angeles, just dropped and features vocals by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. Stream the single or pre-order the album now. Video by John Liwag. (Thanks, Christian!)

The guys from Electronicos Fantasticos! are no strangers to making electronic music with unusual instruments. Here, they show off a custom-built instrument that clangs the bell of an old-school rotary telephone with a circuit controlled by a Korg SQ-1 step sequencer. Now they need to rig the dial with a motor and amplify its clicks.

A few years back, John Lagomarsino of The Verge recorded the sounds of various keyboards and edited them together to create a catchy and rhythmic track. The dozen keyboards used include a vintage IBM PC mechanical keyboard, a classic Olympia manual typewriter, and an Apple eMate portable computer.

Portal 2 is one of the most entertaining puzzle games of all time. While we can only hope that someday Valve will return to the franchise, gamer Doodle Chaos reminds us just how fun it was with this run through a custom edited level, perfectly timed to match the accompanying music. The bit with the personality cores is so great.

This VR rhythm game lets you use your controllers as virtual lightsabers. As you flail around, you use them to chop blocks in beat to the music. The game looks like even more fun with your controllers put together in “Darth Maul” mode. Currently on Steam Early Access.

Musician Pete O’Connell shows off an unusual contraption, which automatically strums the strings on his guitar for him. While flaps on the spinning wheel hit the strings on his guitar, he can focus on fretting and adding a beat with his kick drum. Plus it doesn’t just work with a guitar.