Videos of the Week May 5th

This week's top five was unique in that it starts and ends with Jimmy Kimmel's monologue about the birth of his newborn son. If you don't get at least a little choked up over hearing the sadness in his voice over feeling helpless about the situation as a whole, then you need to check yourself. His story aside, I appreciated his story and how it directly relates the the healthcare bills that are being mulled over by the House this week. Let's just hope the listened and make the right decision, ultimately.

Aside from Kimmel's impactful story, there were a few videos in Hip Hop that had the internet collective pressing play over and over again. J Cole's 4 Your Eyez Only documentary was previously released via other outlets like HBO, but this week it got put on YouTube for consumption from the masses. The word real comes to mind when watching him go to the various cities in the South and hear stories from the people trying to make it through the day-to-day. Watching the documentary and then transitioning to DJ Khaled's star studded video for I'm the One was about as stark of a difference as you'll get in VOTW. Needless to say, everything about it was tried and true Hip Hop from the video girls to the pool parties to the immaculately trimmed hedges.

Making sure EDM got their contribution for the week was Gryffin and Illenium's Feel Good. The video is cool and all, but that candlelight version that features Daya's stunning vocals is officially where it's at. Speaking of where it's at, it wouldn't be a complete week without at least a few shennanigans. This time it came from Fallon's crew who put together a minute long mash up of Star Wars characters singing Smash Mouth's classic, All Star. It's kitchy, but it delivers the entertainment value you'd expect from a novelty like that...#AllStarWars

Jimmy Kimmel Monologue About His Son's Heart Condition

J Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only Documentary

DJ Khaled feat Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne - I'm On One (Video)

Gryffin & Illenium feat Daya - Feel Good (Video)

Fallon Mashes Up Smash Mouth's All Star With Star Wars Movies
Photo Credit: YouTube

Star Wars Embraces EDM on Headspace Album

It's a sign of the times that electronic music and nerdiness are becoming more and more intertwined by the day. Sure, you've got the whole part about how electronic music relies on a lot of digital manipulation, which requires a lot of skill and artistry with computers that nerds have been known to know how to use pretty well. But until recently when video games started knocking on a lot of EDM artists' doors, there hadn't been a lot of soundtracks that were predominantly EDM focused.

Keeping all that in mind, today was a big day for electronic music. You don't get much bigger whales than Star Wars when it comes to hardcore fan bases. The fact that big names like Baauer, GTA, Kaskade, Galantis, and Troyboi were all featured on the new Star Wars Headspace album is nothing short of awesome. After giving the whole album a listen, I thought the album as a whole was a really solid mix of Star Wars samples and synths. It was not easy picking a favorite, but if you held a gun to my head, I'd go with Röyksopp's Bounty Hunters. If you close your eyes, you might think for a minute that you're listening to the Tron soundtrack, but around the 4:30 mark, the beat fully hits its stride. Really dope track overall, but by all means, give the full compilation a listen because Rick Rubin did an excellent job putting together a top notch collection of new music...#Headspace

Röyksopp - Bounty Hunters

Videos of the Week November 27th

I'll be honest, with the American Music Awards being last weekend, it was tough picking my top five favorite videos of the week. To make things simple, I picked the most novel and interesting performance of the night, which went to Pentatonix. Their orchestra aided acapella rendition was quite a sight to see. Similarly, SNL's Thanksgiving gone bad where Adele's Hello saves that day was a pretty funny skit. Yes, the song is getting to be extremely overplayed, but I like that people are being creative with it now at least.

The final bit of novelty of the week came from the Muppets and Eminem My Name Is mash up. Every time I click on one of those videos, I roll my eyes thinking that this one is going to be just like the last ones. Then, I watch the video and end up being really entertained, so take that for what it's worth. In the world of music, Avicii created an inspirational mini-movie for his newest single Arrows. Really cool father daughter story having to do with high jumping, so give that a watch. And last but not least, Alex, Drew, and Tritonal came through with a typically entertaining competitive spin class video for Until You Were Gone. Everyone seems to fall in love with their spin instructor, so it was fun to see them poking fun at something that a lot of people can relate with...#UntilYouWereGone
The Chainsmokers & Tritonal – Until You Were Gone (Feat. Emily Warren) (Video)

A Thanksgiving Miracle From Adele

Pentatonix Star Wars Tribute at the American Music Awards

Avicii - Broken Arrows (Video)

The Muppets Singing Eminem's My Name Is
Photo Credit: YouTube

Star Wars Rebels Just Got Fluxuated

Evidently Walt Disney has gotten the memo that electronic music is what the cool kids listen to. It turns out the whole deadmau5 Ghosts n' Stuff Re-mics debacle was only the tip of the iceberg. In order to give their new animated series Star Wars Rebels a shot in the arm, they hired Flux Pavilion to take a stab at remixing the Rebels Theme.

Oh you better believe he mixed the living hell out of it too. The remix still has a very clear video game sound to it with grandiose trumpets and all, but the bouncy chords mixed throughout provide all the Flux needed to garner intrigue. The Star Wars light saber and gun ship laser noises keep it real enough, but the mechanized synths blend it together nicely. It's a bummer that they killed Saturday cartoons because you better believe I'd be steering the kids toward this cartoon if they brought the thunder with this type of music...#RebelsTheme

Star Wars Rebels - Rebels Theme (Flux Pavilion The Ghost Remix)