Ryan Welton

R.I.P. Baba Sen, aka the Cosmic Barber

When I tell you that there’s something for everybody on YouTube, I mean something for everybody. And when somebody in that community passes, it’s a loss felt by all.

Baba Sen, the Cosmic Barber, reportedly has died in Pushkar, India, or thereabouts of cardiac arrest on the morning of October 19. Word came from a YouTube live video on the channel, Indian Massage:

For those of you who are familiar with the world of ASMR, many of those artists credit Baba Sen as being an original, unintentional ASMR artist. Word spread fast on Reddit.

Word from Baba’s Facebook page was that he was only 47.

Apparently, he had been out at some kind of festival and just didn’t wake up this morning.

So, you’re asking yourself, what did this man do? He gave head massages in a very unique manner that was fascinating to watch. Surely, it was quite relaxing, too, for the recipient. Word is he charged only between $8-10 per massage, and if you didn’t have the money, he charged less or nothing.

This is reputedly one of if not his last videos, which the poster says will go to help his family:

And now for some of Baba Sen’s greatest hits. Enjoy the YouTube rabbit hole, er, the bunny gap — and if you can help this guy’s family out, do so!

Best 80’s covers by far on YouTube: Chris Commisso

Periodically, as I research songwriters on YouTube, I get blown away by somebody’s talent — and tonight I’m hear to expose you to a guy named Chris Commisso from Kingman, Arizona.

What I’ve been doing on YouTube is to go out and look for original music to comment on, but only when I can say something positive. This is what I call, “Kindness as a strategy” to grow my own YouTube channel. So, I watch a video from Chris last night, and I liked it.

And I commented.

He commented back on one of my tunes.

So tonight I went back out to his channel to check out a little more, and I about spit out my dinner. Chris is easily the best music producer in terms of recording and arrangement I’ve ever heard. At least relative to somebody who isn’t a household name. His takes on a handful of 80s hits cements his status in my ears as fantastic.

I just wanted to help spread the word about this guy. I was totally blown away, and his music is worth the time you spend in the ol’ YouTube rabbit hole, or as we call it around here — the bunny gap. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

And then listen to this one, a masterful cover of a-ha’s “Take On Me” … I’m dead now.

Ryan Welton is a musician but not 1/100th the musician that Chris is. Go subscribe to his YouTube channel, and then have mercy on me when you visit mine at youtube.com/ryanweltonmusic. Thanks for reading!

Shazam Rabbit Hole: Tim Atlas + Josh Rouse + Rex Orange County + George Harrison

Welcome to bunnygap.com! This is my first post, and I suppose I should explain what the heck this site is. Simply put, it’s my attempt to lure you into the proverbial digital Rabbit Hole, one blog post at a time.

I’ll write about music, pop culture, YouTube, TV shows and movies, using video and audio to waste as much of your time with mindless entertainment as possible. One of my planned regular posts will be about what I’ve Shazam’d and liked recently.

I could be at a funeral, and if I hear a song I like, I immediately open my phone and hit the button to make Shazam listen. To this day, Shazam is pretty much the most useful app I have. It used to be Waze until it couldn’t figure out whether it was going forward or backward.

My biggest discovery on Shazam recently is a guy named Tim Atlas. He was apparently a contestant on Season 9 of The Voice. Long story short, I Shazam’d his song “Dive” and loved the vibe:

And that led me to listen to his album, where I heard this kick-ass song called “Figure A.” The driving bass and off-beat synth licks come around to what I’d describe as a powerful, strong chorus.

Stylistically, he reminded me somewhat of Josh Rouse, one of my favorite singer songwriters. This was the first song I ever heard from Rouse, way back in 2007.

The quality of Rouse’s work is at another level, so I don’t want to slight Josh. Tim Atlas is definitely up-and-coming, but Rouse is in another league.

Listen to “Hollywood Bass Player” and tell me you don’t hear some George Harrison:

Why do I suggest George Harrison as an influence? I hear a lot of similarities between Rouse and him in George’s 1976 hit, “Crackerbox Palace.”

A couple more Shazam discoveries from the past week includes a song from Nashville band Moon Taxi called “Two High.” I dig the folk pop sound with the funky Latin beat in the middle of this one.

I’ll leave you with this gem, a hit from English singer-songwriter Rex Orange County called “Loving Is Easy.”

Of course, that one reminds me of another song! That’s what the rabbit hole is all about, and in this case, I’m reminded of Mayer Hawthorne’s “The Walk.” Ann Arbor’s own had one of the best songs of 2011, and the reason it reminds me of Rex Orange County is the uber casual curse word in the opening line.

That’s all I’ve got for this post. I’ll close it out with a little Redbone just to get an ear worm goin’ for you: