Awesome Talents

The members of Toronto ensemble Choir! Choir! Choir! were joined by a special guest performer, none other than pop legend Rick Astley. They provided harmonies and backup while Rick took on lead vocal duties. We’re impressed how great his voice is after all these years.

Noisey introduces us to Tristan Shone, the musician behind Author & Punisher. His experience as a mechanical engineer led him to create unique tactile interfaces which he uses to create his distinctively analog industrial sound. There’s a great concert film here.

Dancer maddchadd transforms himself into a robot with a degree of precision rarely seen, introducing just the right amount of stutter and mechanical movement in not only his torso, arms, and hands, but every little facial expression. Do you even blink, bro?

Balancing expert Rocky Byun shows off his skills yet again, taking five glass bottles of various shapes and sizes, and precariously balancing them on one another. But that’s not all – the whole setup was done inside a wobbly picture frame dangling from the ceiling.

He might not be a household name, but you’ll quickly recognize actor Phil LaMarr as characters like Hermes on Futurama, and Jack in Samurai Jack. He also played a pivotal role in Pulp Fiction, and was a regular on MADtv. Great Big Story recently sat down to chat with Phil.

Musician Davie504 shows off another unusual string instrument, this time performing an impressive solo on a crazy electric bass guitar which still has just four strings, but each one is on a separate neck.

Guitarist Alexandr Misko presents another impressive fingerstyle arrangement, with a fantastic interpretation of a-ha’s 1985 hit Take on Me, which seems to be having more than a little bit of a resurgence in popularity these days.

TANU likes to create complex desktop scenes by stacking and balancing coins. Here, he shows off the build of one of his smaller creations, along with a slideshow of some of his many other currency balancing feats.

We love discovering new talent, and musician Briony Frater is a true diamond in the rough. Hit the play button and enjoy as this young woman performs a wonderfully warm acoustic version of Arctic Monkeys’ hit Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?

(PG-13: Language) For his 31st birthday, Cirque du Soleil performer Thom Wall celebrated the occasion by assembling a reel of 31 different tricks that put to good use his juggling skills, balance, and manual dexterity. That knife trick.

Cardistry expert Noel Heath shows off his skills with some sick maneuvers using a sweet minimal deck from anyone. The way he deftly manipulates the cards, it’s as if he’s got fingertips which can spontaneously switch between sticky and smooth surfaces.

Berezka (“Birch” in English) is a Russian folk dance troupe who performs with an unusual style – its dancers move with such tiny and smoothly-executed footsteps that it appears they’re on wheels. Of course, their dresses are so long that they very well could be.

Artist Ewan McClure shows of a nifty painting technique, in which he looks in the mirror to view his own image, then paints a self-portrait from behind the backside of the canvas, while looking at its reflection in the mirror.

The Trinity College Accidentals perform an outstanding a capella cover version of LCD Soundsystem’s classic ode to the Big Apple, New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down, with senior soloist Connor Kennedy bringing on the lead vocals.

Artist, acrobat, and dancer Yoann Bourgeois choreographed this incredible performance art piece at the Panthéon in Paris, France. In La Mécanique de L’Histoire dancers gracefully fall one by one onto a trampoline and then back onto a rotating staircase.

Actor Nancy Cartwright rattles off voices from seven characters she plays on The Simpsons, from Bart Simpson, to Todd Flanders, to everyone’s favorite nose-picker, Ralph Wiggum. Who else knew Kearney’s last name before today? We sure didn’t.