I wonder if the inventor of the Internet could have ever imagined what it would be used for after a while. He certainly would not have expected Lolcats or 10 hour-long loops of the Epic Sax Guy, would he? Maybe he did, maybe he did not. What I did not expect was the amazing amount of qualitative music one can find on the Internet, and in particular, on Youtube. So let us take a look at some amazing artists who made either excellent artful music of their selves or made some amazing covers.
George Barnett: Get Lucky with spice, swing and style
I spotted this amazing songwriter/producer/musician/singer on Youtube after the first Get Lucky covers came out. Apparently a lot of artists felt they could do better than Daft Punk and Pharrell. Or they just wanted to show their interpretation. Either way, George Barnett is the absolute winner when it comes to covering “Get Lucky”. His version is energetic, alive, powerful, engaging, beautiful, striking and many, many more fancy adjectives. But seriously though, it is great. Besides the swing and power he brings to Daft Punk’s masterpiece, he also plays every instrument himself. Edited together in a video it shows a spectacular piece of music made by someone with excellent creativity.
Lindsey Stirling: Have you ever seen a violinist really rock out?
Now this gal is just something special. Not only does she do fancy covers of some great songs, she also makes some great songs herself and sometimes even does some immersive musical gaming masterpieces. She collaborates with some great other music artists, like Peter Hollens, Pentatonix and William Joseph. While all these artists deserve some attention of their own, I will only discuss Peter Hollens of her partners in music. The other two are just as good, so if you feel like it, please do check them out. The particular song I want to discuss for Lindsey Stirling is her collaboration with Peter Hollens on the Skyrim Soundtrack. Not only did they make this entire cover with only 1 violin and 1 voice (with 120 tracks of music recorded), they also made an awesome video of themselves which gamers will absolutely love. It’s just pure homage to a fantastic and atmospheric game.
You might wonder after reading this: But where can I find these videos you’re so enthusiastic about Pieter? Don’t worry, at the end of this post there will be a playlist I made for you. It contains all mentioned videos in one playlist. You’re welcome.
Peter Hollens: making Acapella something worthwhile
Peter Hollens is someone with a voice you will not find soon anywhere else. He has one of the broadest vocal ranges I’ve ever heard. The moment he starts to clap, sing, hum or make whatever noise you can think of, he will strike you down with his fierce voice. It sounds a bit dramatic, but yes, I was deeply touched the first time I heard his amazing voice. It becomes even more amazing if you consider that most of his songs (If not all, I still have to listen to a lot of work of him) are fully Acapella, song by him and him alone! It was very hard for me to choose a song from mister Hollens, so in the end I chose two. The first one is a cover and interpretation of “The Misty Mountains” from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The second one is a cover of Imagine Dragons “It’s Time”. Why I chose these two examples will become clear when you listen to them: both of them show how broad his incredible vocal range actually is.
CollectiveCadenza: when history meets creativity, music and passion
Imagine a group of people trying to capture Western music in a clip of let’s say 3 minutes. Now imagine that they actually make a pretty decent video with some great music out of this idea! That’s exactly what CollectiveCadenza did in their “An Abridged History of Western Music in 16 genres”. Starting at Gregorian and going through classics as bluegrass, jazz and disco, they eventually end up at styles like house and dubstep. It’s pretty crazy. I have to say that some styles might be off and more styles could have been added.. But on the other hand, I’m not able to say I produced such a creative thing. So, kudos for a great video!
Conor Maynard: Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child
Now most people will probably already know which song he covered from the subheading. Unfortunately I can’t say too much about Mr Maynard, since I only discovered him myself a day ago. What I can say about this beautiful cover is that it is very atmospheric. It’s not as energetic and spectacular as George Barnett, or as beautiful looking as Lindsey Stirling, but that does not matter. It’s music in its purest form: the voice. His voice is alien compared to many computer treated voices of today. Alien in a sense of pure natural beauty. The moment his vocals hit my eardrums I just went silent. It’s something you need to experience and listen for yourself.
All respective artists talked about in order.
And that wraps up my recommendations to all of you people who love music! And let’s be honest, we all love music right? I hope you will enjoy listening to these great artists as much as I did. I think I’m going to sing along to George Barnett one more time and then listen in awe to Conor Maynard again. See you next time!
The full playlist of covered songs in this article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6NDY8FSr9M&list=PLui09PBI_ealmtCNPye9DZ1H-CdP2Nb5q
