"Someone Will Love You, Let Me Go"

Prior to this past week, I was mostly oblivious to the talented Hailee Steinfeld. Then I watched her star in The Edge of Seventeen and gained a whole new respect for her. The fact that I enjoyed the movie speaks to how out of touch I am with the trials and tribulations of present day High School life. There was just enough angst, frustration, awkward sexual tension, and Woody Harrelson to carry the plot.

This week Hailee broke my mental model of an actress with her Florida Georgia Line and Alesso and watt collabo below. Let Me Go seeks to end the relationship that's teetering on the brink of ending. Her vocals blend nicely with the country-tinged vocals from Florida Georgia Line, while Alesso adds a EDM dynamic that makes it an interesting mess of styles. What I'm trying to say is the vibrant post-drop chord progression is just as catchy as the talented vocals. Color me impressed by Hailee's crossover appeal. If you're just as smitten, pick your iTunes or Spotify poison...#LetMeGo



Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso feat Florida Georgia Line & watt - Let Me Go

A Breathtaking Collabo Between Alesso and Dillon Francis

Finally, the long awaited collaboration between Alesso and Dillon Francis has arrived in its full glory. And what a beautiful love child it ended up being, mixing the styles of two of the most prominent EDM acts. Take My Breath Away will reel you in with a ballad-esque vocal build up, only to give way to an easy-listening, Top 40 drop. I say Top 40 drop because it's much more soothing than edgy and let's be honest, that plays best to the masses. I dig the extra bounce when the tempo begins to pick up too, it's a much needed element to differentiate the track from what you'd usually hear from each of the individual acts. If you've been waiting for this as long as everyone else has, here are the obligatory iTunes and Spotify links for your listening pleasure...#TakeMyBreathAway

Alesso - Take My Breath Away (Co-produced by Dillon Francis)

"I Wanna Know, I Wanna Know, Hey-ey-ey, Hey-ey-ey"

When I see "new Alesso single", excitement follows. Add in Nico & Vinz on the vocals and I'm all the sudden rushing to hit the play button. I gained a lot of respect for the Norwegian duo when they opened for Kygo and brought a ton of energy to the stage. If you're expecting a made for radio hit, you're in luck with I Wanna Know. It's much more melodic pop than electronic, but I have no issues with that given my expectations prior to pressing play. It's easy on the ears and you'll ultimately find yourself nodding your head to it if it's on in the background. Love to see talented people collaborate to make better music collectively than they'd make alone...#IWannaKnow

Alesso feat Nico & Vinz - I Wanna Know

Alesso's Anthem is What You Need for New Years

If you're sitting at home right now making a playlist for your New Years party, quick cop this one and put it on that mix. Alesso's Anthem is available for free download for the next 24 hours before you'll have to spend your hard earned $1.00 on iTunes tomorrow. I'm not exactly sold on it being strong enough to justify it's song title, but there's a catchy, Far East Movement-esque sample that works well with the speaker thumping bass. My favorite part of the track is the beat breakdown around the 2:50 mark. The deceleration from upbeat progressive house to a slower, trappier sound was a cool change of pace.

As a bit of icing on the cake, Alesso put together a nice two and a half minute video of highlights from 2015. Have fun tonight, y'all, catch you next year...#Anthem

Alesso - Anthem

Videos of the Week May 29th

It was a bit of a historic week for videos with Avicii's invention of the 360 interactive video. I'll be the first to admit, it kinda blew my mind that a recorded video could be interactive, but that's what I get for underestimating technology. At the end of Waiting For Love, I was left feeling like I had to watch it a couple more times in case I missed something like that Avicii cameo mid way through. Overall, it was a cool experience and you can bet many more artists will be following suit.

In the world of ordinary videos, K Dot delivered a spirited performance of his newest single These Walls on Ellen. The performance is another great reason why To Pimp a Butterfly probably deserves a few more listens. If eye candy is what you want, Taio Cruz has you covered with his video for Do What You Like. Creative video of the week goes to Alesso for his dancing crosswalk people in his video for Sweet Escape. And last, but definitely not least, Coldplay delivered a week's worth of funny in their Game of Thrones Mockumentary. I'm not a Game of Thrones guy, but kudos to Coldplay for keeping a serious tone throughout and doing what they could to pitch in for #RedNoseDay.
Avicii - Waiting For Love (360 Video)

Taio Cruz - Do What You Like (Video)

Kendrick Lamar Performs "These Walls" on Ellen

Coldplay Makes Mockumentary of Game of Thrones

Alesso feat Sirena - Sweet Escape (Video)

Photo Credit: YouTube

If Only We Knew Whether Superheroes Got Along...

Man, it's hard to come up with words that can express the entertainment value of the video below. Like only Cal and Rob can do, they took a great song and picked something thematically appropriate to use a fuel for their most recent rendition of Timeflies Tuesday. This time, they picked up a bunch of superhero action figures and Cal did lyrical summersault's all over the beat.

As if the hype freestyle wasn't enough, there's about a minute of hilariously vulgar superhero conversations between the action figures at the end of the video. Ever wonder what batman thinks of Aquaman? Ever wonder just how much bigger Thor is than Batman? Does Batman have a thing for wonder woman? All of those questions and more are addressed, so don't quit on the video after the beat ends...#TimefliesTuesday

Videos of the Week October 17th

There's quite a bit of entertainment mixed into the top 5 this week. In my eyes, it's a toss up between Jimmy Fallon/Brad Pitt's break dance conversation video and Kevin Hart's freestyle as Chocolate Droppa. Anytime you leave Kendrick Lamar speechless while freestyling, you know something great just happened.

On the music tip, Alesso and Fall Out Boy released new videos for their latest singles. I'm always impressed with what Fall Out Boy is able to put together creatively and their new video was no exception. On a final note, I'm continuing to be intrigued by video companies partnering with Hip Hop artists on trailers for new games. This time the makers of Far Cry 4 got together with Childish Gambino to put together an interesting video detailing the collaboration between the two. Makes me wish they had more Hip Hop in video games back in the day...#FarCry4
Jimmy Fallon & Brad Pitt Have a Break Dance Conversation

Kevin Hart's Alter Ego Chocolate Droppa Freestyle with Kendrick Lamar

Alesso feat Tove Lo - Heroes (Video)

Far Cry 4 and Childish Gambino: The Collaboration

Fall Out Boy - Centuries (Video)

Photo Credit: YouTube

"We Could Be Heroes, Me and You"

Although I favor more active, exciting versions of EDM (trap, dubstep, etc), I've always been a sucker for ballads. They don't get much more Top 40 hit driven than Alesso's new one with Tove Lo. After a few listens, it was the vocals by Tove Lo that kept me coming back. The beat is fine, providing an adequate bridge between the vocals, but it's not something that will come off as overly exciting. It's much more of a calming EDM ballad that is suitable for a ride home after a long day. I'm betting radio has already started chewing on this one, so it might be a good idea to get your fix before you start hearing it on your favorite XM station every hour...#WeCouldBeHeroes

Alesso feat Tove Lo - Heroes

"We Gettin' Loud in the Booth, I'ma Tear Up the Roof"

Hump day means it's about that time for a mid-week pick me up and Alesso delivered just that with Tear The Roof Up. In my mind, Alesso has come through with great melodic, EDM-pop anthems, so his new rowdy club anthem is a welcome surprise. It takes about a minute and a half to hit its stride, but when it does, heads up. If you're like me, you'll be chanting the hook by the end of the track. So far the release of the track has been limited to Beatport, but that won't stop me from wearing out the Soundcloud...#TearTheRoofUp

Alesso - Tear The Roof Up

Videos of the Week October 23rd

You look like you're in the mood for some electronic music, how bout a tall glass of EDM? Between the Calvin Harris and Nicky Romero/Krewella visuals, you should be able to find your way this week. Also, you don't have to be a Swedish House Mafia fan to find their upcoming documentary interesting. They recently hung up their synthesizers and before anyone could blink, here comes a story of their career. They are really good at what they do, so I expect the finished product to be pretty cool to watch.

If you're not in the mood for EDM, then you're really gonna enjoy Aloe Blacc's own video for Wake Me Up. Now that the Avicii version of Wake Me Up has run it's course, the bluegrass version is a very welcome addition. It's like finding a new flavor of you favorite cereal on the shelf. You know what it takes like, but it's a different flavor that make me fall in love with it all over again. Oh, and the next chapter of Captain America is coming out soon, so heads up on that...#WinterSoldier
Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up (Video)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Trailer)

Calvin Harris & Alesso feat Hurts - Under Control (Video)

Swedish House Mafia - Clip One (Documentary Trailer)

Nicky Romero vs Krewella - Legacy (Video)


Photo Credit: YouTube

Calvin Harris + Alesso + Hurts = Festival Anthem

If you're like me, you saw the title of the song below and immediately thought, "welp, that's probably going to be (fill in upcoming festival name) anthem." After listening to the track a few times, I gotta admit, it managed to live up to expectations. Take this with a grain of salt, but I think Hurts' vocals make the track more memorable than the synth chord progression. In other words, I can see the beat getting old real quickly once radio gets a hold of it, but the song has a chance to live a decent shelf life because of the vocals. The moral of the story is Calvin Harris and Alesso make great music, but I'd argue that they both individually make better tracks than what you'll hear below, which is more of an indication o. To me that's more of a compliment than a slight, but take it how you will and bang this one out for a hot minute before the masses get a hold of it via iTunes October 11th...

Calvin Harris & Alesso (Ft. Hurts) – Under Control (Radio Edit)

One Republic x Alesso - "If I Lose Myself Tonight"

Anytime the words progressive house remix and One Republic are used in the same sentence, my ears perk up. And it's not just average Joe DJ remixing it either, Alesso is one of the better progressive house DJs in the game. The seven minute extended remix might require a bit of patience by the listener, but it has the build ups and drops you'd be looking for in an EDM mix. Feel free to hop on over to Beatport if it strikes your fancy and lives up to the summer house anthem billing...#IfILoseMyself

If I Lose Myself OUT NOW my friends!! iTunes (US) smarturl.it/IfILoseAlesso Beatport: smarturl.it/IfILoseAlessoBP Spotify: bit.ly/IfILoseAlesso

— ALESSO (@Alesso) April 2, 2013

One Republic - If I Lose Myself (Alesso Remix)

"I Close My Eyes, But I Still Miss You"

Maybe it's because EDM is slowly spreading like a plague that is invading my iTunes library, but I'm starting to gain an appreciation for the subtleties of the genre. Take for example, the mellow progressive house ballad by heavyweights @dirtysouth and @Alesso. With the help of @rubenhaze on the vocals, the two DJs manage to craft and beautifully melodic electronic masterpiece that's every bit calming as it is exciting.

City of Dreams has just about everything you'd want in a radio friendly hit from the build ups leading to the exaggerated epic drops. Rarely are EDM artists ever able to pull off a somber tone on an electronic song, but Dirty South and Alesso did, proving why they're two of the best at what they do...#EDM

Dirty South & Alesso feat Ruben Haze- City of Dreams (Original Mix)

Videos of the Week October 12th

Really random set of videos this week ranging from the newest, biggest Hip Hop video from @wale to a well constructed new EDM video to yet another rapper working the ESPN circuit. The two most unique videos have to be @MiguelUnlimited's acoustic rendition of Adorn and the new trailer to Anthony Hopkins new soon to be blockbuster movie about Alfred Hitchcock's life. Two facts make them unique and worth watching: 1) Miguel has a great voice and 2) Anthony Hopkins is a great actor. Really only one word can rightfully describe the range of videos this week...#Random

Wale feat Drake & Rick Ross - Diced Pineapples (Video)

Alesso feat Matthew Koma - Years (Video)

South Park Sessions Miguel Performing Adorn (Acoustic)

Bun-B on ESPN First Take

Hitchcock Movie Trailer

"Sun Hits Like a Bullet of Faith"

In the realm of EDM, I'm learning to associate the Swedish variety of EDM as a calmer flavor than the rest of the lot. The track below is no exception as @Alesso concocted a very mellow electronic track featuring the vocals of @MatthewKoma. In a way it's sort of nostalgic if you give it a close listen. Either that or just skip around like you usually do, ya know, whatever floats your boat...#NoAttentionSpan

Alesso feat Matthew Koma - Years (Vocal Extended Mix)
|Beatport