Best Of MetaFilter

art from Koldunova at Dreamstime.com

latkes just wants to listen to people singing in harmony. If you have some favorite music featuring vocal harmonies, maybe you can chime in?.

The original Dire Straits line-up in Hamburg, Germany (1978), photo by Heinrich Klaffs

“Sultans Of Swing” and “Money For Nothing” were two major hits of the hugely successful band Dire Straits. But what were the origins behind those two hits? AgentRocket’s post has all the fun trivia!

Perhaps, like Faintdreams, this is just what you needed but didn't yet know it: The Ardship of Cambry posted The Deep Ark, an eight hour plus mix of 1990's Warp Records "Electronic Listening Music" and related beats.

Video screen capture of the performance via Jaseroque on Bluesky

chavenet links John Bull's (Mefi's own garius's) Bluesky post on the 1994 Pet Shop Boys Brit Awards appearance and their rendition of the Village People's "Go West," performed with 3 separate choirs of Welsh miners — and garius's comment in the thread may make you cry.

Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival

That is one of my guaranteed happy-making videos: EmpressCallipygos links to a very cool short vid of Bobby McFerrin demonstrating the Power of the Pentatonic Scale in storybored's post on The Secret Code of Melody, and now we're happy, too!

Photo by Mayumi Hirata

How’s your love of punk music going? ‘Cause if it needs a boost or refresh, then say hello to Otoboke Beaver, a Kyoto quartet with an abundance of energy and talent, as illustrated in mikeand1’s incredibly informative post

Marvin Gaye

"In a two part podcast series, scholar Andrew Hickey traces the convoluted history of a song that the label never thought would be a hit, and the lives of the many performers that shaped it": a juicy post on "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," from How the runs scored

Photo by Mark Morgan, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/markmorgantrinidad/)

🎶 If you like Motown then Kattullus has a helluva good post for you! it's about the Motown Junkies blog, where Steve Devereux is reviewing the entire Motown singles discography in sequential order and if that doesn't get your head boppin' and fingers snappin', then keep listening 🎶

Photo by Kenny Sun, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kennyysun/)

The recent flare up of a feud between hip-hop stars Kendrick Lamar and Drake has been stunning for the sheer amount of lyrical artistry between the two creators, as highlighted in this post by ndr! Come learn about the origin of the beef and the many allusions and accusation lobbed back and forth.

Nextplay Glitz and Glitter Boombox

For more than two years, the world of lost media has been flummoxed by 17 seconds of grainy audio uploaded to a small name-that-song site ... until now.

"The first Eyewitness News theme was literally lifted from the 007 James Bond movie theme" ... Wow! flug has a fantastic, chewy answer full of background and context for nouvelle-personne's fascinating question, "Tell me more about news music. What is it doing to me?"

🐈 In MetaTalk, kensington314 has a fun idea for a collaborative mixtape!

Photo by Kevin Gale via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gale_house/)

Here’s a roundup of recent recommendations over in Ask MetaFilter: Toucan is searching for pleasant sensations to help themselves feel physically good every day and the suggestions are great!()

Caxton1476 is looking for advice on music education for the middle-aged, because it's never to late to get your groove on!

Finally, lizard2590 would like recommendations for podcasts on past pop culture.

Willie Mae Thornton via discogs.com

Do yourself a favor and catch Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton performing her song "Ball and Chain" from 1970 in spamandkimchi's great post about the electrifying and iconic blues, R&B, and rock foundational figure.

Photo by hanulsieger on Flickr

simmering octagon posted Mixtape Garden, a collaborative mixtape-making site, and mefites have been sharing their creations ... and their sweet misty mixtape memories.