When busker Josh Butler was playing down by the seafront in Brighton, UK, to start with, very few people were looking at him or paying any attention to what he was playing. Most were just walking by and carrying on with their day, and Josh cut a somewhat lonesome figure as he sat there strumming his guitar.
When Josh launched into a unique and creative cover of the MGMT tune ‘Kids’, however, all of a sudden, everything changed. Acting as a one-man band, playing several different melodies from the song and building them up on his loop pedal, gradually passers-by realized that something incredible was happening right before their eyes. Before Josh knew it, a crowd had materialized in front of him, just to hear what he was playing.
The climax of the performance came when Josh unleashed his incredible vocals on the crowd, which really brought the whole rendition together. As one YouTube viewer put it, “he builds up his musical structure then serenades us with his remarkable voice. Makes me want to dance.” Quite frankly, Music Man readers, we can’t help but share that feeling.
When he’s not out doing solo busking, Josh is also one-half of the Brighton-based group Fukushima Dolphin. The video below sees him teaming up with his fellow bandmate Alex to produce another incredible off-the-cuff busking cover, this time of the iconic ‘80s tune ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ by New Order.
From sitting on the seafront alone with almost no one paying attention to him, to attracting a huge crowd as well as hundreds of thousands of viewers online, Josh’s unique rendition of ‘Kids’ by MGMT is a musical journey. We hope to see more of his busking videos appear online soon, or if you’re ever in Brighton, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to hear him play for yourself.
Josh Butler’s one-man-band take on MGMT’s “Kids” turned a quiet Brighton busk into a joyous singalong. If his looping, layered melodies and standout vocals made you smile, there’s more to discover — check the useful links below to watch the video and follow his music.