Wednesday’s Google Doodle honoring synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog (1934-2005) is Ryan Germick’s homage to “a patron saint of the nerdy arts.” Fittingly, the playable doodle has 19 knobs, one wheel, a switch, and four tracks that let you record 30 seconds of audio.

Reworking Radiohead’s albums Kid A and OK Computer, Quinton Sung stripped down familiar songs by transforming them into 8-bit compositions, “chiptunes” that bring to mind old-school video game sound effects.

The Walker’s just-announced 2012-13 Performing Arts Season is “like the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book,” writes Pamela Espeland. “You turn the pages, you see a lot of things you want and a few eyebrow-raisers.”

Remembering disco diva and multi-Grammy-winning singer Donna Summer, who died this week, Beware the Blog posts “The Old Victrola,” in which avant-garde musician Alan Licht adds drone guitar loops over Summer’s 1979 hit “Dim All the Lights.”

With the embargo and restrictions on travel and citizen access to the internet, Cuba remains one of the hemisphere’s most isolated nations. “It’s no wonder,” writes David Peisner, “that the country is responsible for some of the angriest, most extreme metal on Earth.”

In addition to his work with the Sea and Cake and musical side projects (which brought him to the Walker in 2005 and 2011), Archer Prewitt has other gigs—including one designing a new bobblehead in honor of dub/reggae great Lee “Scratch” Perry.

Despite the cuteness of the scene—a DJ cat mixing the Beastie Boys!—today’s Cat Break comes with sincere sadness: Rest in peace, Adam Yauch (aka MCA), director, activist, and Beasties cofounder, who passed away at age 47 after a three-year battle with cancer.

For its annual Icon Issue, The Fader focuses on Philip Glass by getting reflections on the 75-year-old composer—and his collaborations with filmmakers, dancers, and visual artists—from the likes of Chuck Close, Lucinda Childs, Nico Muhly, and Errol Morris.