Michael Meets Mozart: Piano, Cello and Mashup Magic

What’s wrong with copyright law, or how neurological supremacy channels 100 cello revelations.

This week, a new study suggests musicians’ brains may be more developed than other people’s. And while I’m all for a healthy dose of skepticism in reacting to research headlines, terrific performances like this Michael Meets Mozart gem by pianist Jon Schmidt and cellist Steven Sharp Nelson make it difficult to believe that just any old brain is capable of such creative enormity. Jon and Steve blending the piano with over 100 cello textures never thought possible and creating extraordinary sound effects with just the instruments featured in the video: piano, cello, mouth percussion and kick drum.

After the enthusiastic reception of their Taylor Swift / Coldplay mashup, Schmidt and Nelson set out to do a hip-hop/classical remix. But when they couldn’t get permission to use the two tracks they had in mind — this right here, by the way, is a powerful and tragic testament to the brokenness of today’s copyright law and the need to find new ways to foster remix culture — they decided to create an original tune instead, weaving together inspirations from a handful of known influences, including Michael Jackson, Mozart and U2. The result is nothing short of magic.

If this has you hungry for more virtuoso mesmerism, you won’t be disappointed by Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang’s duet at the Royal Albert Hall in London or this fantastic take on Beethoven reimagined as jazz.

via Wimp

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Live Now: Existential Affirmation by Design

Publishing’s most positive tear sheets, or how a placemat can change your whole outlook on the day.

We were first moved by the contagious positivity behind the Live Now project more than a year ago, when it was a lovely website and growing community of designers and illustrators with a shared commitment to spreading messages of strength and hope. Today we’re thrilled that the movement has taken the form of a book, a kind of collector’s object of optimism.

Live Now gathers 85 of the project’s participants in print form, with a different page for each heartening design. Like the recently featured Everything Is Going To Be OK, Live Now‘s messages exhort the viewer to find the positive in the present moment – something much more attainable when you’re looking at such a beautiful reminder.

'Live Humbly' by Mikey Burton

'Harmony' by Eric Smith

'Friendship' by Emil Kozak

Eric Smith first founded Live Now following a diagnosis of cancer, and what started as a personal project of resilience grew organically into a “movement of happiness.” Today, Smith practices art direction, design, and illustration via his studio, IDRAWALLDAY, and continues to collaborate with a host of creative partners.

The basis of our message is that happiness is here for everyone—that there is a bigger picture for your life, and a will for each one of us. Do the people in your life “feel” your love? Do we inspire happiness in everyone around us? That’s our plan. ~ Eric Smith

'You're Going Places' by Ed Nacional

'Overflowing Optimism' by Chad Kouri

'Break Your Routine' by Mikey Burton

Rip out a life-affirming lesson from Live Now and share it with someone you love. Like the sentiments that inspired them, we guarantee that what you just gave away, you’ll more than gain in spirit.

Kirstin Butler is writing an adaptation of Gogol for the Google era called Dead SULs, but when not working spends far, far too much time on Twitter. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA.

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Let England Shake: One Album, 12 Short Films

What the last rose of England has to do with war photography and The Velvet Underground.

English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey is among the most prolific yet ceaselessly innovative musicians of the past 20 years, reinventing herself completley, almost unrecognizably, with each new album. But release of her latest record, Let England Shake, goes beyond merely redefining her own sound, reinventing the very definition of what an album or a music video is as well.

For the project, PJ Harvey partnered with award-winning photojournalist Seamus Murphy, whose work in Afghanistan and The Middle East has garnered him international acclaim, to create short films for each of the album’s twelve tracks.

Ranging from the bizarre to the breathtakingly beautiful, the films — gathered in the below video playlist for your viewing pleasure — are some of the most creatively exquisite “music videos” we’ve seen in a long time, though calling them that feels somewhat pejorative in the face of how innovative the project’s entire approach is. (Our favorite has to be The Last Living Rose.)

Written over a period of two-and-a-half years and recorded over five weeks in an old Dorset church, Let England Shake is a florilegium of inspirations, ranging from the poetry of Harold Pinter and T.S. Eliot to the art of Salvador Dalí and Francisco de Goya to the music of The Doors, The Pogues, and The Velvet Underground — easily the most interesting and layered dark horse of an album to come by this year.

via Meta Filter

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