Awesome Talents

An avid skier and trombonist, YouTuber Explosean unloads an avalanche of awesome down the mountainside in this short clip. There’s a finale if you are in need of some more t-bone.

If you haven’t heard Animals as Leaders, you’re missing out on some seriously face-melting shreds. The ridiculous technicality of a song like Cafo is what makes Chino M’s cello cover so awesome.

A compilation of some of the best BMX, street trial and off-road bike action. We first spotted it over on Danny MacAskill’s Facebook page. If it’s good enough for Danny, it’s good enough for us.

You’ll never know it from the sweet smile and disciplined stance, but this kid is about to rock the xylophone. We’re pretty sure that he’s going to be this guy a few years from now. Then this guy.

Jordan Lamont Landers’ older sister took this candid video of him performing an impressive cover of Ray Charles’ Hit the Road Jack. We’d go so far as to say he’s got soul to spare with a voice like that.

The singing fifth-graders of Staten Island’s Public School 22 perform an acoustic cover of Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, the hit single from one of last year’s breakout bands Tame Impala.

An oldie, but a goodie, courtesy of The Godfather of Soul, in which he schools us on the finer points of his razor-sharp choreography. So get out your dancing shoes and see if you can keep up.

Like the great Bob Arno, Apollo Robbins makes a living as a theatrical pickpocket, stealing items from audiences for show. In this video he shows The New Yorker some of his tricks.

Awesomer fave Marquese Scott was driving down the road and ran into this guy who was showing off his epic sign-flipping skills. Though when Nonstop joins in, all we could think of was this sketch.

Before SNL and Portlandia, Fred Armisen drummed for the post-hardcore band Trenchmouth. After a taping of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, he proved that he still had it in this drumoff with ?uestlove.

And now for something completely different. Well, depending on how familiar you are with Paul F. Thompkins’ offbeat humor this rather impressive cover of Adele’s Skyfall might not be too surprising.

Walk Off the Earth, the talent behind the one guitar Gotye song, is back with an acapella rendition of Taylor Swift’s pop ditty. KRNFX’s beatboxing complements it nicely. (Thanks Christopher!)

Daniel Ilabaca, William Spencer, Tim “Livewire” Shieff pull off parkour moves using a driverless moving car as a prop. You can see the outtakes here. The song is Queens & Kings by Malakai.

Chen Siyuan not only has the ability to write with both hands at the same time, but she can write in two languages simultaneously. Though we won’t be truly impressed until she starts using her feet.

Watch the pancake-rapping, grammar-correcting, crowd-feeding rapper play Beatbox + iPhone + Guitar + Fast Rap = Win using Everyday Looper. Come for the gimmick, but stay for his lyrics.

The children of New York’s PS22 Chorus pay tribute to the families, children and teachers affected by the tragic events that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary last week by singing their school song.

An incredible street performer works a spinning ring as well as anything we’ve seen in a Cirque du Soleil show. We’re completely dizzy after watching it, so we can only imagine how he felt.

An incredible bit of trickery pulled off by magician Yann Frisch at the 2012 Beijing International Magic Convention. Our heads nearly exploded when that fourth ball just appeared out of nowhere.

Accomplished blues guitarist and vocalist Matt Andersen belts out an impressive and creative performance of Bill Withers’ all-time classic Ain’t No Sunshine. Hear more from Matt here.

Skateboarder William Spencer heads to The Berrics and pulls some crazy stunts we’ve never seen before, seamlessly swapping boards and grinding the ungrindable. Oh, and our favorite song ever.

Taiwan’s Yif Magic continues to astound us with his unique brand of close-up magic, which shows off his penchant for food (and overly dramatic music) yet again. Turn on captions for English subtitles.

We’ve already heard a few great covers of Adele’s powerful James Bond theme song, but none quite as rockin’ as Erock’s metal remix. We’ll have that martini shredded, not stirred.

An impressive display of cardistry from Singapore card-manipulating trio The Virts, as they twirl Virtuoso’s elegant playing cards with style, grace and a little magic. (Thanks Huron!)