Melbourne musician Anthony “Bones” Reid has been delivering covers of beloved rock tracks by acts like Tool, Nirvana and The Cure using unorthodox instruments like the yangqin for years now.
Performing under the moniker Horns of Pan, Reid has shared a trove of videos of him adding a layer of extramundane magic to rock classics. Most of his videos consist of him playing the Chinese hammered dulcimer, the yangqin, which is a stringed percussion instrument with a singular, ethereal sound.
Highlights from his repertoire of covers include an elaborate performances of Tool’s ‘Lateralus’ and ‘Descending’, Radiohead’s ‘Like Spinning Plates’, Nirvana’s ‘Heart Shaped Box’, and The Cure’s ‘Close To Me’. Each one as sublime as the last.
Check out Horns of Pan covering ‘Lateralus‘ by Tool on the yangqin:
Bonesy has described the Horns of Pan project as “music is intended as a blessing and a warning – a gifted message of love but also horror. To find a true and healthy middle ground you need to first witness all of the extremes. To find balance in your life you must first hear the horns of pan.”
Check out ‘Heart Shaped Box’ by Nirvana
This isn’t the first unconventional cover we’ve been privy to. A Buddhist monk and YouTuber recently delivered a meditative cover of the 1990 heavy-hitting AC/DC anthem ‘Thunderstruck’.
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Kazutaka Yamada is a practicing monk and musician who’s taken an unconventional route to finding enlightenment. There are a number of “covers” of classic rock tracks that Yamada has in his repertoire, but this may be his crowning glory.
The video starts with Yamada meditating over the bone-shattering opening riff, before he begins to crack off his best attempt at Brian Johnson’s wailing vocals, whilst alternating between a wooden drum and gongs. After the song ends, Yamada engages in three whole minutes of meditation. It’s simply transcendental. Check it out here.
