Check this  custom AK-47-shaped baritone guitar. The instrument was hand-crafted by the Finnish Amfisound Guitars. For a closer look at the process and the guitar’s details click here.

In this video, violinist Teppei Okada plays the soundtrack to a real time Mario game live on his instrument. This — as do most creative geeky Japanese videos — was first made popular on Nico Nico Douga. I wonder if he coordinated the moves with the person who’s playing the game. Either way, it’s pretty impressive.

The legendary bass god talks about his first time taking LSD—which happened to be while he was hanging out and having deep chats with James Brown. Bootsy also admits to having dosed his brother “Catfish,” as a prank, while they were all touring with J.B.

This BBC News interview with [Sir] Mick Jagger on the 40th anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street contains a few really choice grafs about the myth that the internet has robbed artists of their livelihoods. He seems pretty chill about the perceived threats of downloading, and explains that for a long time, the record labels did a fine job of robbing artists:

BBC: What’s your feeling on technology and music?

Jagger: Technology and music have been together since the beginning of recording. [The internet is] just one facet of the technology of music. Music has been aligned with technology for a long time. The model of records and record selling is a very complex subject and quite boring, to be honest.

BBC: But your view is valid because you have a huge catalogue, which is worth a lot of money, and you’ve been in the business a long time, so you have perspective.

Jagger: Well, it’s all changed in the last couple of years. We’ve gone through a period where everyone downloaded everything for nothing and we’ve gone into a grey period it’s much easier to pay for things – assuming you’ve got any money.

BBC: Are you quite relaxed about it?

Jagger: I am quite relaxed about it. But, you know, it is a massive change and it does alter the fact that people don’t make as much money out of records. But I have a take on that – people only made money out of records for a very, very small time. When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn’t make any money out of records because record companies wouldn’t pay you! They didn’t pay anyone!

Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone. So if you look at the history of recorded music from 1900 to now, there was a 25 year period where artists did very well, but the rest of the time they didn’t.

Here’s the entire interview. And here’s an Amazon link to the reissued and remasteredExile on Main Street. (via Bob Lefsetz)

The Crosley Revolution ($150) is a modern take on the company’s traditional old fashioned wooden turntables. The clever record player leaves the majority of the album exposed thanks to a compact, sleek design. The battery powered device is highly portable and features two speeds, a USB port for analog-to-digital conversion, dual headphone jacks, built-in stereo speakers and a carrying case. This device looks a lot like the 1983 Sony Portable Linear Tracking Turntable. Model PS-F5 which we at Musicmusic have of course .

What’s in a name? A lot, if you ask these musicians, each of whom ditched their birth names and adopted an alias before hitting the big time.

Check out the gallery and list here and find out the real names behind 100 pop-star pseudonyms.

The inkQuencer was created by Danish designer Sebastian Ronde Thielke as a way to bring “‘a more direct tangible way of experimenting with sound and rhythm.” With this mind, the inkQuencer has the ability to play music based on input processed via a camera hooked up to the program. The computer captured photograph is further compressed into a 32 x 30 pixel format which then processes the image accordingly for playback.

inkQuencer from Sebastian Thielke on Vimeo.