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

Videos of the Week September 14

Somehow I feel like I'm late to the party, but literally every time I load this web page, it seems like Gangnam Style has moved up another spot in the iTunes top 10. Literally in the past 24 hours, it has skyrocketed to #1 from #7. I need to give some respect to my buddy Nic in NYC for getting me in on the story literally as it's breaking. Like anything news worthy, it hits the big markets (NY or LA usually), then word of mouth travels to every nook and cranny imaginable in the US.

In short, it's amazing what a Def Jam record deal can do for an artist. I find it fascinating that Americans can't understand a word in the song other than "Gangnam style", yet they are buying the track at a greater rate than Call Me Maybe. It's an interesting case study on marketing, branding and how lyrics don't matter as much as style, presentation and tempo of a track. #FoodForThought

In other news, @asvpxrocky is now mainstream, @G_O_O_D_Music and @LupeFiasco have new albums coming out and @swedishousemfia are still calling it quits...#ThatIsAll

Psy - Gangnam Style

How A$AP Rocky Rose to Prominence

G.O.O.D. Music Cruel Summer Commercial

Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor II: The Great American Album Trailer

Swedish House Mafia feat John Martin - Don't You Worry Child

"Don't You Worry Child, See Heaven's Got a Plan For You"

If it were your choice, would you rather go out on top like John Elway or bleed out your career like the Michael Jordans and Brett Favres of the world? I'm betting that's a pretty cut and dried answer, but stupid rhetorical question aside, it seems as if @swedishousemfia is trying to do the former when they release their upcoming album One Night Stand months after announcing they would be calling it quits as a group. My take on it is, yea it's a bummer that they're collectively hanging it up as a group, but like any sum of parts, the individuals are capable of doing great things too (Sebastian, Axwell and Steve).

Living in the now, their newest release below is aided in a big part by their vocalist extraordinaire @the_johnmartin. You might remember his booming vocals on Save the World? I wouldn't quite put the track below in the category of the former, but it's still a great single. Comparatively, Don't You Worry is more upbeat and just might have you cutting a rug on the dance floor rather than grabbing the person next to you and yelling out a hook together like it's the last song of the night (Journey style.

Solid single no matter how you slice it. Looking forward to hearing their (presumably) last album in it's entirety...#DYWC

Swedish House Mafia feat John Martin - Don't You Worry Child

|iTunes

"They Say Live is a Battlefield, I Say Bring it On"

Last week I began singing the praises of @UsherRaymondIV's new album Looking 4 Myself. It's a new week and after taking a quick lap around the his new effort, I'm impressed. Not sure if his second collab with @swedishhousemafia will end up being a single, but it's dripping with top 40 appeal. It's a complete toss up whether I like Numb or Euphoria, but what I do know is any collaboration between Swedish House Mafia and Usher, I will be a fan of.

It's was interesting watching his interview recently with @RealSway and hearing him him talk about his new album and conforming to pop music...

There aren't too many R&B artists that can pull off performing on Broadway. Daps & lbs are in order for one of the most talented artists, writers, performers in the game...#FuerzaBruta

Usher - Numb (prod by Swedish House Mafia)

|iTunes

"Here We Are, We Are, We Found Euphoria"

It would appear that @UsherRaymondIV's new album Looking 4 Myself may have sprung a leak on the internet the past 24 hours. Seeing that the album is scheduled to hit iTunes next Wednesday, it probably won't make too much of a difference in the final tally. The late timing of the leak combined with the absolute treasure trove of single possibilities make Usher's new album extremely intriguing.

What is a treasure trove you ask? In terms of an album it's 2 tracks produced by Danja, 2 by @swedishousemfia, 2 @Iamjimjonsin tracks, to go with an @iamwill, Neptunes, @ovo40 and @diplo joints. Yea, I'd say that Usher may have outdone himself and far exceeded expectations on first look. I'm pumped too that he's coming through with his promise to dabble into the world of EDM. Below is the first of two Swedish House Mafia produced tracks on the new album that manage to combine R&B and EDM flawlessly. Generally speaking, EDM is ruled by a lot of great producers who employ random, mostly unheard of women with great voices to sing catchy hooks. Usher is one of the rare male vocalists who can shine in the same way on uptempo electronic beats.

This is probably going to be the first of many tracks I'm going to post on Usher's new effort. I know I've already posted the first three singles on the album, but they might not end up being in the top 5 tracks on the album when the dust settleds.Needless to say, if you forgot that it was coming, you might want to give the 30 second snippets of Looking 4 Myself a quick listen so you can be on the same page...#DontMissOut

Usher - Euphoria (prod by Swedish House Mafia)

|iTunes

"You Blocked Me on Facebook, And Now You're Going to Die"

As I'm starting to immerse myself into the electronic/dubstep revolution that is starting to infiltrate popular music, I'm finding it interesting how some groups are setting themselves apart from others. In other words, it's has to be hard to stand out when the music your genre is known for is characterized by high octane electronically synthesized noise. Maybe I'm missing the mark on that since I'm sort of new to the in-your-face rhythms that have become the norm these days, but when everyone is working with synthesizers and bass, how do you come off as unique?

Well...the answer in the case of @knifepartyinc, modernize your message by including a dramatized, computer generated Facebook down-spiral. I can't say I've heard heard the phrase "You blocked me on Facebook and now you're going to die" before in any form of music. That's the type of subtly humorous edge that got me listening to Knife Party's new track Internet Friends. If you haven't heard of them, the group consists of Australian rock band Pendulum's band members @rob_swire and @garethpendulum. Their brand of electronic dance music is heavy on the jumpy, high pitched synths sort of like @deadmau5. Speaking of which you may remember hearing Ghosts n Stuff featuring none other than the aforementioned Rob Swire...#FullCircle

What's even more kick ass about Knife Party is that they take the liberty of remixing other awesome tracks like @swedishousemfia's Save the World Tonight, @nerouk's Crush on You and most recently, @labrinthda1st's track Last Time. You can expect the remix below to surface on iTunes March 11th, but feel free to preview below or check out their new-ish unreleased track with @skrillex titled Zoology.

Labrinth - Last Time (Knife Party Remix)

I feel like I've learned a lot in researching Knife Party and, in the process, gained a lot of upbeat new music to listen to. Hopefully you are in the same boat and if you're not and would like to buy a ticket to that boat, feel free to cop their new 100% No Modern Talking EP on iTunes for starters.

Knife Party - Internet Friends

|iTunes

A Waterfall of Teardrops on a Swedish House

Man...just when you thought @coldplay's newest single couldn't gain any more steam, here comes @swedishousemfia to give it even more traction. Evidently Swedish House are pretty big fans of Coldplay, so it's not a huge surprise that they would choose to remix the track, but what an awesome mix of styles. Put it this way, if you thought the original was upbeat, picture Chris Martin's vocals over the electro-dance rhythm build up of a Swedish House instrumental.

Not much more to elaborate on, the original is great and even though the remix takes it another direction, it's the right direction....#Enjoy

Coldplay - Every Teardrop is a Waterfall (Swedish House Mafia Remix)

|iTunes

"Who's Gonna Save the World Tonight?"

I'll admit, I've been digging this track for a month or two now and it just so happened to find it's way onto iTunes on Friday for your listening pleasure. Reminiscing back two months ago when I first saw the video below of @swedishousemfia performing their new single Save the World Tonight at Masquerade Motel in Miami, watching it again just got me excited enough to give into my concert purchase addiction by purchasing @deadmau5 tickets for late September at Festival Pier...#Pumped

If watching the energy build up to the beat dropping on the video above doesn't do something for you, then you're probably just Googled my page for an image and did a right-click Save As rather than coming for the musical content. With help on the hook from fellow Swede, John Martin, there's nothing to get in the way of this becoming a top dance hit worldwide. As an aside, I'm not sure what makes dance/techno music more "worldly" than your average genre, but this one has a bring everyone together in harmony type of feel to it, which should translate well into iTune$. My guess is that rhythm knows no language and when there is limited or no spoken words on the track, the beat becomes the focal point, which as a selling point in itself, is appealing to anyone who likes to dance...#JustSayin

Dear Swedish House Mafia,

Please come tour in the US. If you can sell out all of your UK dates with ease, as well as your only US date when you headline Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas, you need to tour more cities.

Sincerely,

@GWDJ

Swedish House Mafia feat John Martin- Save the World Tonight

|iTunes