Videos of the Week July 22nd

It was a slow week for videos, word is bond. There was a whole lot of nothing when it came to new music videos, so here's this week's top five dollar store video bargains. Leading the way by a large margin was seeing rappers genuinely react to Rich Chigga's Dat $tick video. If you haven't seen it yet, go here to watch it because it's not something I could do justice describing. Lord knows we need more tough talking, buttoned up, fanny pack wearing, gun toting, mean mugging, sixteen year old Asian kids. Hate on it all you want, but you can't look away from a car crash, even if you know it's manufactured. Despite all that, gotta admit, his flow was lit.

Also dropping this week was a series of videos from Deadmau5 detailing some of the work he does with NVIDIA in crafting these incredibly advanced computers. It's a fun watch if you're a hardware nerd who doesn't mind when engineering crosses over with music. In the land of late night, Idris Alba and Fallon did their best to karaoke their way into our hears, while Missy and the First Lady did in-car rapping with James Corden. And last, but not least, I would have felt weird not finding a way to timestamp this week in history as Pokemon Go found a way to create a new category of gaming with the use of augmented reality. Evidently all your favorite DJs love Pokemon too and rappers are even riding the wave. I've only played it a bit, but hell, I'm more amazed with how impactful it is in getting people to move and explore their surroundings...#PokemonGo
Rappers Reacting to Rich Chigger's Dat $tick Video

Episode 2 of Deadmau5's "The Deadmau5 Project" with NVIDIA

Idris Alba and Jimmy Fallon Play Box of Microphones

Michelle Obama and Missy Elliot Rap During Car Karaoke With James Corden

Hardwell Trolls Ultra Europe With the Pokemon Theme Song

Photo Credi: YouTube

Videos of the Week March 25th

The divide in this week's top five videos couldn't be clearer. There's funny and then there's a large dose of music. When I say large dose, it doesn't get any bigger than watching The Chainsmokers' entire Ultra 2016 set. Buckle your seatbelt and bring some popcorn for that one. Sticking with new music, both BJ the Chicago Kid and Majid Jordan released visuals for their new singles. On one hand you've got some Kendrick Lamar in studio with Hannibal Burress playing a drunken cupid. On the other you've got some cool augmented reality from Majid Jordan. Both entertaining in much different ways.

On the funny tip, it all starts with Snoop's narration of an epic battle between a squirrel and a snake. We can only hope that his Planet Snoop YouTube channel will actually become a real thing. Closing out the week is another glaring reminder of why you should be familiar with Lil Dicky. Not only is he a professional rapper, he also wears professional wrappers (<--- see what I did there?). Tip of the cap for using humor to hammer home a very real message...#TrojanMan
BJ the Chicago Kid feat Kendrick Lamar - Cupid (Video)

Majid Jordan - Every Step Every Way (Video)

The Chainsmokers Ultra 2016 Full Live Set

Snoop: Squirrel vs Snake

Lil Dicky Tells Everyone Why They Should Wear Condoms

Photo Credit: YouTube

Avicii Debuts Nine New Tracks at Ultra

I think it's safe to say that Avicii takes performing on the main stage at Ultra Music Festival seriously. While the past few years have been marred by a lot of unfortunate health scares for Tim, he always seems to come out and bring his A game at Ultra. A few years ago he basically lit the internet on fire when he decided to start mixing Bluegrass with synth driven chord progressions during his Ultra set. Both Hey Brother and Wake Me Up then went on to be top of the top dance songs of the year despite some hardcore EDM fans scoffing at the "change in styles" from Avicii.

Now fast forward to this year where Avicii debuted a total of nine...yep that's right, NINE new ID tracks during his Ultra set this past weekend. There's so much new music and I'd encourage you to pick a favorite on your own before being unintentionally swayed by my opinion. Out of the bunch, my favorite is his collaboration with Simon Aldred on Heaven. It has many of the things you'd associate with Avicii favorites. My favorite part is the intense piano coming in to lead you to the jubilant release of the drop. Simon found a way to channel his inner Bono/Chris Martin on the vocals, which fit well with the inspirational vibe of the track. It's pop, sure, but that type of upbeat pop that is more fun than it is monotonous. You feel me?...#Heaven

Avicii ft. Simon Aldred - Heaven

Videos of the Week October 2nd

There is absolutely no rhyme, reason or discernible pattern to this week's top five. Leading off you've got a pretty hilarious documentary by Lil Dicky who take all the stereotypes for creating a rap video and tries to execute them all on no budget. Needles to say, the entertainment level of that is pretty high. I suppose you could loop Disclosure and Kygo's new videos together since they feature types of electronic music. For whatever it's worth, Lorde's performance in the Magnets video was noteworthy and stuck with me after watching it.

It seems like every week there's a new after movie from (fill in the blank) festival, so Ultra took their turn this week. They did manage to stand out by shooting in 4K, which is a step up from the usual HD world we're living in. You have to wonder how many people 1) care 2) notice and 3) have the bandwidth to stream at that quality. If you only have time for one quick, highly entertaining video, give the Muppets doing the Nae Nae a shot. It's a minute and a half and choreographed well enough that it will bring a smile to your face...#NaeNae
How Lil Dickey Made the $ave Dat Money Video (Documentary)

Disclosure feat Lorde - Magnets (Video)

Ultra Music Festival Aftermovie

The Muppets Sing "Watch Me Whip (Nae Nae)"

Kygo feat Ella Henderson - Here For You (Video)

Photo Credit: YouTube

Videos of the Week April 3rd

It would have been extremely easy to post damn near every set from Ultra Music Festival, but for the sake of diversity, I only posted the festival ending set from Skrillex. If you haven't seen Sonny live, that's a shame, but here's your reprieve. The entire set is a great example of how music, performance, showmanship and raw energy can be transformed into something that can inspire thousands of people at the same time.

UMF aside, there were a few interesting music video releases this week. The most influential of the videos was Kendrick Lamar's square shaped visuals for King Kunta. Despite the odd shape, the video is very much so Compton, which was throwback as hell, but cool. Two less discussed videos were The Chainsmokers Let You Go and Life of Dillon's Overload. I'm still really digging the organic and downright happy vibe of Life of Dillon's lead single. Finally, the Legendary Roots Crew came through with a bit of novelty when they put together a one minute summary of Game of Thrones. The concision speaks for itself y'all...#TheRoots
Life of Dillon - Overload (Video)

The Chainsmokers feat Great Good Fine OK - Let You Go (Video)

The Roots Recap Game of Thrones in One Minute

Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta (Video)

Skrillex Ultra Music Festival Set

Photo Credit: YouTube

"Monday Left Me Broken..."

Here's another one of those rare occurrences when a high quality festival rip is good enough to post. A night before Martin Garrix debuted the track at Ultra Music Festival, Avicii came through and played it during his set. For a festival rip, this is damn good quality, so don't let that scare you away. I will say this, John Legend's vocals on the track sound incredibly similar to Coldplay's Chris Martin. Beyond the vocals, you can detect Avicii's paws all over the track with bubbly, measured chord progressions dominating the sound.

It these type of huge debut tracks that have landed Ultra firmly on my concern bucket list. In case you missed the livestream of the festival, feel free and check out the many highlights via the UMF TV YouTube channel. For the record, Jack U absolutely closed it down with the help of Kiesza and many others...#UMF2015

Martin Garrix & Avicii feat John Legend - Waiting For Love

Kygo Has Taken Tropical House to New Heights

If you're curious how big Kygo is becoming, look no further than the new song he debuted in the trailer for the upcoming 2015 Ultra Music Festival. At the age of 22, he's now the leader of the Tropical House movement that has quickly taken the music industry by storm. This spring, he'll be headlining the biggest festivals (Coachella, CounterPoint, Ultra, etc.) in 2015 and he hasn't even released an original studio album yet.

I'd liken his rise to the rapid ascension Drake had after So Far Gone caught on. He's taken the genre a different direction, counter-balancing the rowdiness of sub-genres like Trap and club thumping Progressive House. The care-free tropical vibes he's able to intricately weave together have a "just relax" affordance that resonates with listeners. It's hard to put into words how much I'm looking forward to his debut. Will it live up to the monstruous hype? Is Trop House a fad or is it just getting started? Time will tell, but everyone enjoys a good rookie of the year story, so hop in the hype train while there are still seats available...#UMF

Videos of the Week April 4th

It was tempting to post just about every live set from Ultra Music Festival for the top five videos this week. Instead, I settled for a fan favorite in Tiesto with the assumption that you all would click the video to view on YouTube if you wanted to see others like Afrojack, Martin Garrix, Zedd, Nicky Romero, etc.

It was also tempting to not post both Sam Smith videos from his SNL performance last weekend. It was a coin toss whether I liked Stay With Me or Lay Me Down better, but I ended up going with the most recent single. Along the same lines, it will be interesting to see Pharrell perform this weekend on SNL. That hat has truly taken on a personality of it's own and become a pop culture icon.

It's been a while since I posted some new Pitbull, so check out his new one featuring up and comers GRL. Last but certainly not least, check out the trailer for Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman's new movie Lucy. Very Sci-Fi and X-men-ish with the whole common person injected with mysterious concoction that gives superpowers and makes into superhero. One thing is for sure, she is not afraid to get dirty and knock a whole lotta people out...#LucyMovie
Lucy Trailer

Pitbull - feat GRL - Wild Wild Love (Video)

Pharrell and Anna Kendrick SNL Promo

Tiesto's Set at Ultra Music Festival

Sam Smith - Stay With Me (Live on SNL)


Photo Credit: YouTube

Martin Garrix & Dillon Francis Will Set You Free

Despite continuing to lament not being able to make it down to Ultra Music Festival last week, I am appreciating the vast amounts of awesome new music that was played at the festival. One of the most exciting of the bunch being Martin Garrix and Dillon Francis's new one Set Me Free. The track has a crisp intensity to it that I really dig. The vocal simple vocal sample reminds me of something Keys and Krates would put together. The live version for UMF is the best I've got for now, but you can bet there will be a re-post of this when the full studio version drops...#SetMeFree

Martin Garrix & Dillon Francis - Set Me Free

That Time Deadmau5 Mixed Animal with Old McDonald

Sadly, I wasn't able to cross attending Ultra Music Festival off my bucket list this year. In hindsight, I probably would have been more than a little disappointed if I had went this year because Avicii was a late scratch from the concert lineup because he had to have is gall bladder removed. Luckily, Deadmau5 volunteered to fill in for Avicii at the last minute, so there wasn't a huge uproar. Queue up the four minute span where he flipped Martin Garrix's Animals into one of everyone favorite nursery rhymes (starting at the 27:30 mark)...

And what tops it all off...Martin Garrix's tweet acknowledging the mix...

E-I-E-I-O

— MARTIN GARRIX (@MartinGarrix) March 30, 2014

Even though there was a little spat between Deadmau5 and Tiesto when he questioned Joel's intentions filling in for Avicii, it seems like the festival in general has been a big hit. Someday Ultra...someday we will meet...#UMF2014

"Hey Sister, Do you Still Believe in Love I Wonder?"

I gotta admit, I'm at a loss right now trying to rationalize the track below. I've always been an avid non-country`fan, meaning that I've ardently resisted just about any and every chance to get into the genre. Everyone has their one genre of music that just annoys them for one reason or another and for me it's always been country. Maybe it's the simplicity of the lyrics, maybe it's the generally whiny tone or a general lack of tempo. If I were to pick the biggest reason, it would have to be a lack of bass.

Personal vendetta against country aside, I am having a really really hard time not loving Avicii's latest Frankenstein innovation below. The track is called Hey Brother Hey Sister and there's a rumor going around that it could be an upcoming single. Country and EDM...really? Hip Hop/EDM is one thing, but country/EDM is a pretty big stretch that I had little to no confidence could be pulled off...until today.

And it's not just me either, Spin magazine called a portion of his set at Ultra "bizarrely twangy." First there were Beatport rumors that Avicii has all the sudden gone country. Then came his recent track with Aloe Blacc called Wake Me Up that sounds like a Mumford and Sons creation. It all amounts to me being somewhere between surprise, disbelief and amazed. I'm going to have to do some soul searching because I might just be forced to re-think this whole country thing because of the way Avicii managed to bend the genre into something incredibly likeable...#Speechless

Avicii - Hey Brother Hey Sister

Someday Ultra Music Festival...Some...day

Sigh...this post is an ode to one of the many times I've gotten the "why didn't I just fork over the money to go to that festival" feeling of remorse. Evidently over 320,000 people attended the Ultra Music Festival last month in Miami, which to me means that literally everyone in the world was there except for me. It didn't help much watching the promo recap video either...

Man, that video sure makes it seem like nobody who attended had fun. Looking back at the lineups for Weekend 1 and Weekend 2 literally makes me want to vomit. Seeing Avicii go on right before Tiesto on day one, then getting to see Deadmau5 and Swedish House Mafia headline the next two nights = mind blowing.

The videos aren't quite adequate replacements for the experience, but it's a whole lot better than nothing. The one really cool thing about the festival is that they taped damn near every set and you can watch them for free on the Ultra Musicfest TV YouTube Channel. Whoever made the decision to use the Adventure Club remix of Yuna's Lullabies made a very good decision... #ForeverInMyMind

Yuna - Lullabies (Adventure Club Remix)