Music

Playing With These Sonic Animations Is The Most Fun You’ll Have Today

Okay, here is an addictive Friday afternoon diversion I think you’re going to like: Patatap lets you make tunes and pictures with your computer keyboard (instead of boring old words). It’s lovely, it’s easy, and it’s fun—try it below! The cool animation and sound kit comes from the creative mind of Google designer Jono Brandel,…

Orchestra plays 43 cartoon themes in 4 minutes and 33 seconds

More music today: Listen to the Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW playing 43 cartoon themes in 4 minutes and 33 seconds. https://roadtrippers.kinja.com/coolest-symphony-ever-performs-an-awesome-mashup-of-43-1553109236

Videoclip without music makes Michael Jackson look like a sex offender

If you strip away all the music from your music video and your talent still shines through and makes the video entertaining as hell to watch, well, you’re a music God. Because usually when you axe the music from music videos, they get incredibly awkward. Not with Michael Jackson. His ‘The Way You Make Me…

Neat trick instantly turns happy songs into sad songs and vice versa

Here’s a fun little musical experiment from The Gregory Brothers. They flipped major and minor keys in popular songs to transform previously happy songs into sad ones and turn old depressing sad songs into happy ones. It sends your brain in a tizzy when you hear the words of songs you recognize but see them…

Can You Name All 43 Cartoons In This Amazing Theme Song Mash-Up?

Although this amazing orchestral piece, performed by Ensemble ACJW, is a mere 4:30 long, it manages to include snippets of 43 different cartoon theme songs. Most are only around five seconds long, but the awesome part is that this video provides a few… visual clues to help you out. Good luck! [ViaThe Mary Sue]

Thanks to Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Will Sell Just One Copy of Its Secret Album

You’ve heard of rare records before, but what Wu-Tang Clan is planning for its stealthy double album, The Wu–Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, is unprecedented. The legendary rap group will sell only one copy, encased in an engraved silver and nickel box. It will be very, very expensive. It’s actually a brilliant plan. When…

​12 Of The Most Obnoxious Anime Theme Songs Of All Time

Any anime fan can tell you that music is an integral part of anime. Mostly because Japanese music studios use their theme songs to pimp new/hot bands and drive sales, but also partially because this music is often god-awful. While no means a complete list, here are a dozen of the most terrible opening themes…

The Greatest Rendition Of The Hobbit‘s “Misty Mountains Cold” Ever

I have no words to describe this amazing cover of this iconic Dwarven song by the Auralnauts. Just listen, and know that your quality of life is about to increase substantially. [Via Nerd Bastards]

Watch This Pianist Duel Against His Own Hologram

Japanese pianist Yoshiki faces off against a holographic version of himself in a piano battle for the ages. This strikes us as a more inventive use of the whole holographic-performer schtick than, say, Will.I.Am’s pointless CNN appearance in 2008. Still, I can’t help but feel like we could do better. Here’s some free advice: Somebody…

Behind-the-Scenes of a Crazy Drone Video Shoot

The video for electronic music act Booka Shade’s new single “Crossing Borders” is a mind-bending collage of imagery. It looks polished and glossy, a bit like the song. But the behind-the-scenes video from the production company and drone operators shows just how hard making something that polished can be. The video for “Crossing Borders” was…

Musician Builds a Robotic Instrument That Reads the Tattoo on His Arm

Moscow-based artist Dmitry Morozov aka “vtol” has built a robotic system to read a tattoo on his arm like a musical score. The sounds this thing makes are pretty gnarly. Called “Reading My Body,” the work consists of a machine that uses sensors which move up and down a set of rails reading Morozov’s specially…

A Twelve-Track Sequencer That Plays Analogue Music Boxes

It’s hard to get excited over something as antiquated as a music box when the phone in your pocket can play back a symphony. But there’s still something oddly appealing about this twelve-track sequencer that skips the digital samples for a row of random music boxes. Created by the folks at Quadrature, the ‘Twelve’, as…

The Walking Dead‘s Lizzie And Mika Wrote Their Own Theme Song

While things didn’t work out quite to well for their characters, actresses Kyla Kennedy and Brighton Sharbino are the best of friends in real life. They even wrote a song together, inspired by last week’s Walking Dead episode “The Grove.” If you haven’t seen it, don’t watch this. They got a bit of help from…

Watch one guy sing a Katy Perry song in the style of 20 different bands

You’ve probably heard Katy Perry sing her song Dark Horse before. But you probably never heard Michael Jackson or Frank Sinatra or Metallica or Nirvana give their rendition of that pop song. Don’t worry, they never did. But if you close your eyes and listen to this guy sing Katy Perry while doing the impersonations…

Bret McKenzie Reveals His Secrets Behind Making the Muppets Sing

Bret McKenzie won an Oscar for his songwriting in the first Muppet movie, and now he’s back for the second. We spoke to the Flight of the Conchords co-founder, and he spilled all his secrets on finding the melody for a new generation of Muppet films. Plus his animated NASA series, and his next fantasy…

Pandora has announced that its One subscription plan, which provides an ad-free version of the streaming service, will jump in price to $5 for new users, and its annual subscription option will be scrapped. Existing users will continue to pay $4. (For now.)

This DIY Device Turns Your Table Into a Psychedelic Music Maker

It’s not so simple to become an electronic musician. The equipment is expensive. There’s not a good how-to book. It’s sometimes a little unclear what exactly electronic music is. That’s why the Contact musical interface is so intriguing. Half art project, half acid trip, this interactive projected digital instrument is stupid simple to use. It’s…

This Digital Light Show Will Blow Your Mind to Smithereens

Yes David, this is real life. This really happened last May at the Infrasound Festival when Tipper took the stage, backed by Android Jones‘ visuals.

This fascinating auditory illusion transforms normal speech into music

Turn your speakers on and listen up – it’s experiment time. Sometimes, the only thing separating speech from music is repetition, and the speech-to-song illusion proves it. In an outstanding feature published over at Aeon, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis – director of the music cognition lab at the University of Arkansas – explores why humans so…

Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II Turns 20

Bay Area sound critic Marc Weidenbaum—acoustic historian, noise futurist, music instructor, and writer of a brand new book about Aphex Twin—has been blogging about music, electronics, and everyday sounds at his blog Disquiet here at Gizmodo for the last few months. But his writing and music career both go back nearly two decades, and can…