Coldplay Goes Full On EDM With Avicii's Help

There are very few collaborations nowadays that force me to get out of my chair due to sheer excitement. Chalk that type of response up to the collaboration below between Coldplay and Avicii. You've got the legendary band who crafts picturesque ballads in their sleep combining forces with the current trendsetter in EDM. Add to that the fact that Coldplay very rarely goes uptempo and you've got yourself an attention grabbing track. Press play before you listen to me wax poetic...

To put it simply, it's what you'd expect from Coldplay ballad wise, but this time you get a crisp, harmonious chord progression mixed together by Avicii. The track is every bit as triumphant and feel good as your favorite U2 track. While most epic collaborations usually fall short, this one hit the nail on the head and delivered exactly what I would have hoped. You better believe I'm adding this to any and every chill EDM mix I will be putting together in the near future. Oh and look out for that new Coldplay album, Ghost Stories, out May 19th...#SkyFullOfStars

Guy Sebastian's Like a Drum Gets Chainsmoked

Here's a rare one, The Chainsmokers remixing a Pop/R&B track. Staying true to form, they picked an artist that should be more well known in the US. I say that because the only exposure I've had to Guy Sebastian so far is on Lupe Fiasco's track Battle Scars. Long story short, Guy won Australian Idol back in 2003 and has since earned 46 platinum certifications spread across his seven top ten albums. He's a big deal down under, which is strange because he isn't a very big name in the US. Feel free and check out the original version of his latest single, Like a Drum (below)...

On first glance, the pairing of Guy with The Chainsmokers seems to be odd, but it ended up sounding pretty good. You better believe it's 100% pop, but the mix of R&B and uplifting sythns sound different. The chord progression is interesting and it sounds light compared to a lot of the deep and progressive house beats The Chainsmokers have put together. Maybe it sounds novel to me because R&B has taken such a back seat that it may as well be in the trunk now. Whatever the case, the remix is filled with happy rhythms and we'll forgive Alex and Drew for the typo on the cover art, so if you're in need of an early week pick me up, give it a listen...#LikeADrum

Guy Sebastian - Like A Drum (The Chainsmokers Remix)

A Goddess Will Come in September

It's safe to say, I'm still smitten with BANKS. I have yet to fully understand why, but she's got an aura about her sound that is different and addicting. Her latest track, Goddess, is par for the course marked by her unique vocals. The beat put together by Lil Silva is something you would expect to hear on a Drake album. It's slow and measured with a deep enough back end to provide contrast with the high pitched background vocals.

It's a bummer we will have to wait until September to hear her debut album Goddess in it's entirety, but an 18 song tracklist is rare to see these days. Hopefully the whole quality before quantity still applies because the tracks she has released so far are stellar...#Goddess

BANKS - Goddess (prod by Lil Silva)

"Everybody Wants Tomorrow Right Now"

Sometimes a simple piano beat is all it takes. The Roots have thrived off that sentiment for years, carving their own unique live sound into Hip Hop. With the help of Raheem DeVaughn's vocals, the legendary crew delivered a timeless dose of perspective on their latest single Tomorrow. As we rush about our days and filling them with work and responsibility, there's an anticipation for what's next that can all to frequently take over our present. Looking forward is necessary, but next time you find yourself wishing today was over, give this one a listen to adjust life back in focus...#Perspective

The Roots' upcoming album and then you shoot your cousin hits stores on May 13th.

The Roots feat Raheem DeVaughn – Tomorrow

The Bingo Players Come Back Swinging

It's good to see the legacy of the Bingo Players continuing to rage on after the tragic and sudden passing of Paul Bäumer. Now with Maarten Hoogstraten taking on the world as the solo DJ carrying on the torch for former duo, it's heartening to hear that the good music is continuing. The Bingo Players' new song Knock You Out is a calming melodic ballad that will resonate well with Top 40. It's not a party starter by any means, but if you're in the mood to cool out to some easy listening electronics, this will hit the spot...#KnockYouOut

Bingo Players - Knock You Out

Videos of the Week April 25th

Electro-heavy set list on the top 5 videos of the week. By far the most entertaining being the Hard Summer Trailer. Well-known EDM artists acting a fool is always a crowd pleaser, as if everyone needed to get more excited about of the better electronic festivals. If you haven't jumped on the Selfie bandwagon yet, here comes round 2 with the summer version from The Chainsmokers. It's getting a bit repetitive, bit I haven't entirely gotten sick of Duck Sauce's NRG. Can't deny it's catchy, though. Last but not least, Pharrell did his Monty hat on his new Marilyn Monroe video. Kind of a trippy video if you actually watch it...#MarilynMonroe
Pharrell - Marilyn Monroe (Video)

Hard Summer 2014 Official Trailer

Duck Sauce - NRG (Video)

The Chainsmokers - Summer Seflie (Video)

MNEK - Every Little Word (Video)


Photo Credit:YouTube

Vamos A La Playa With Milk N Cookies

No lie, I almost lost it tonight when I came across this remix. Long story short, there was a weekend a couple years back where all we listened to was Righeira's Vamos A La Playa from 1983. Despite being super dated, the track has the earworm element that embeds itself in your brain. Before you pass go, please press play below and succumb to the feel good rhythms...

Unbeknownst to me, Loona gave the original version a facelift a few years back. That is the track that Milk N Cookies remixed below with an EDM twist. I think the duo put it best by saying "listen to this when you are in warm weather with close friends getting hammered." Aye aye captain, I am picking up what you're putting down...#VamosALaPlaya

Loona - Vamos A La Playa (Milk N Cookies 2014 Remix)

"Baby I'm Faded, All I Wanna Do is Take You Downtown"

Mysteriousness can be a cool thing when you're talented. I say that because It seems like the usual path to recognition for a musician these days is paved through lots of promotion$ and non-$top quality $ong$. A few weeks back I mentioned how much it grinds my gears that the top 1% of artists in the music industry make 77% of the profits. That's more broken that the distribution of wealth in the US, which is also a growing issue.

Needless to say, when someone comes out with a fresh, innovative track and doesn't even reveal their identity, that's something you've got to admire because it goes completely against the common path to success. Who knows maybe ZHU thought his remix of Ms Jackson would fall on deaf ears? Either way, he's got a new track out called Faded that resides somewhere between disco and house on the EDM spectrum. It's upbeat, deep and sultry vocals will reel you in like a helpless fish. Whoever ZHU is, I'm digging his style and he just released a debut Nightday EP on Sunday that I'll be checking out shortly...#ZHU

ZHU - Faded

"I Like Us Better When We're Wasted"

It's not exactly Tropical House, but when Tiësto starts dabbling in calypso rhythms, you know the style has fully caught on. Early indications are that the term summer anthem will be bandied about across the interwebs when describing Wasted. It will because it's a fun dance track by an EDM mainstay with a hook by Matthew Koma proudly exclaiming, "I like us better when we're wasted." It doesn't get much more catchy and fun, perfectly suiting the tastes of the Millenials who are currently leading the charge for EDM.

Kudos to Tiësto for a couple things. 1) Proudly jumping in with two feet on this Indie rock flavored EDM movement even though he's never ever produced a track like it before and 2) Getting the track up ASAP on iTunes. I'm sure after a few months worth of college students forking over a buck to cop the track, it'll fetch a pretty penny. In his words, "Expect the unexpected"...#musicalFreedom

Tiësto feat Matthew Koma - Wasted

Lykke & Rocky No Rest For the Wicked

While most people are probably a bit unnerved when rappers find their way on chill pop tracks, I tend to gravitate toward those type of tracks. In my opinion, beauty can come from harsh contrast when it isn't too overdone. When I say contrast of chill and rap, think James Blake/Chance the Rapper's Life Round Here or Lana Del Rey/A$AP Rocky's Ridin. Before I get too ahead of myself, you need to hear the original to appreciate the contrast...

Ever since I heard Drake and Lykke's A Little Bit, I've been a big fan of her music. Feel free and add No Rest For the Wicked to my list of her favorites. Original aside, the real intrigue on the remix comes around the 2:45 mark, when the Hip Hop beat meshes with the original. That's when Lord Flacko goes to work and elevates his verse to another level. Sure, his verse is abrasive when contrasted with the original, but the remix added the right amount of wicked...#NoRestForTheWicked

Lykke Li feat A$AP Rocky - No Rest For the Wicked (Remix)

via Rapxclusive

Chill Harris Comes Through With Some Easter Funk

After an extremely successful debut EP, Kill Paris is back with a new single, The Walk. The track is scheduled to land on his upcoming Foreplay EP that will be released on Skrillex's OWSLA record label. There's a funky element to Chill Harris's style that I really like and it comes through in his new single. Add to that some live instrumentation and you've got yourself a unique EDM track that your parents might even enjoy on this beautiful Easter afternoon...#TheWalk

Kill Paris - The Walk

Baauer Rolls Up Some Flosstradamus

Staying true to the timeless trend of EDM DJs mixing other EDM DJs music, Baauer took a stab at Flosstradamus's recent single Roll Up. The track recently landed on Floss's new four song Wake & Bake EP. If you missed the original track, have no fear, it's also on the EP and you can appreciate the heavy bass below...

The remix is a bit more upbeat and bouncy than the original. In short, it's traptastic, repetitive and catchy as hell. Pro tip, get on over to 420.flosstradamus.com and cop Floss's new EP before it stops being free in a week...#RollUp

Flosstradamus - Roll Up (Baauer Remix)

Videos of the Week April 18th

The top 5 this week is a bit Hip Hop heavy with Alicia Keys, Pharrell, and Kendrick Lamar leading the way. In general, I appreciate it when movie companies mix footage from movies with videos from the soundtrack, so tip of the cap to Sony and Columbia Pictures for making that happen. In other news, Eminem and Rihanna stole the show at the VMAs this week with their performance of The Monster, Asher Roth's music always deserves a spot on this blog and despite my dislike for Future, I don't mind his new track with Kanye. The whipped cream of this week came in the form of Jon Favreau's new movie The Chef, which stars Robert Downey Jr. Favreau usually comes through with quality comedies (Elf, Iron Man, I Love You Man, The Break Up), so take note of the mid-May release...#TheChefMovie
Alicia Keys feat Kendrick Lamar - It's On Again (Video)

Eminem & Rihanna Perform The Monster Live at 2014 VMAs

Asher Roth - The World is Not Enough (Video)

Future feat Kanye West - I Won (Video)

The Chef Trailer

Photo Credit: YouTube

World Cup 2014: The World is Ours

With the excitement gradually building for the World Cup, which is now 56 days away, more music from the One Love, One Rhythm: The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Album is starting to emerge. Last week I posted the inspirational anthem by Pitbull and J Lo and this week it's Aloe Blacc and David Correy stealing the show with The World is Ours. Before I say more, you need to watch Aloe Blacc in studio recording and reflecting on the track...
Whoever decided to recruit Aloe to remix the original version by David Correy deserves a lot of credit. The inspirational power ballad benefited from Aloe's soulful vocals. I'm pumped this makes the final tracklist because the world as a whole could use a lot more Aloe Blacc...#WorldCup2014

Aloe Blacc & David Correy - The World is Ours Remix

"Ooh Ooh You Got Me in the Mood"

Yet another great song made even greater by The Chainsmokers. In case you haven't heard Neon Trees' original version of Sleeping With a Friend, it's a delicious slice of sugary pop rock. Their lead singer, Tyler Glenn, has one of those voices that sticks with you hours after you hear it. I can't think of a better example than the track below whose hook will embed itself into your brain after a few listens...

Using a hefty bassline and their signature progressive house sound, The Chainsmokers took a track with great vocals and made it into an awesome EDM track. The best part about it all is the fun anecdote they added to their Soundcloud page describing what it may or may not feel like to sleep with a friend. Love or hate their music, you have to give them credit for their engaging sense of humor...#SWAF

"You know that best GF that finally spends the night over and you convince her its cool to spend the night in your bed and slowly you inch over to her to get into big spoon position trying to be ever so cool and smooth about it, and finally you get there, and youre thinking shit what now? and then you do the butt bump, and you wait what feels like forever for them to sorta push back thus initiating what will surely be hardcore sex.... no you dont know, thats funny we dont either..."

Neon Trees - Sleeping With A Friend (The Chainsmokers Remix)

"I Get Jealous, But I'm Too Cool To Admit It"

I'll be the first to admit, I was not a big Chromeo fan until this year. Back when they established their cult following, I was kinda "meh" on what they brought to the table. Maybe it's because they have evolved their sound or I've evolved my own tastes? Shoot, it may even be that listenable funk is so hard to find these days that they stand out now. Whatever the case, I dig their smooth brand of new school funk.

Having said all that, Dillon Francis decided to take the their recent single Jealous up a few notches. It's no mistake that this track has been out four hours and there have been 40,000 streams on Soundcloud. What I like most about Dillon's remix is that he created two completely different post-drop chord progressions that are both equally dope in two different ways. I'm not even going to attempt to describe each, but pro tip, don't around too much because the whole mix is awesome...#Jealous

Chromeo - Jealous (Dillon Francis Remix)

"I'll Be Runnin', Til the Love Runs Out"

I've never been two feet in on contemporary bands, but I will always make an exception for One Republic. They consistently make soulfully powerful music led by one of my favorite vocalists on earth (Ryan Tedder). Evidently their new single, Love Runs Out, was supposed to be the lead single off their previous album Native. The problem was, they didn't have a finished chorus to the track, which meant releasing it as a single would have been like selling a car with no tires. So rather than selling us a car with no tires, they kept at it and finally finished the track.

For those getting super excited about a new album, cool out for a minute because the new single is being re-released as an addition to existing tracklist of Native. If you're a fan of piano driven ballads that have a penchant for getting people out of their chairs clapping and singing along, you're going to enjoy this one. Shoot I'd consider copping it simply because of the energy Tedder brings with his high powered vocals...#LoveRunsOut

One Republic - Love Runs Out

Disclosure and Friend Within Spawn The Mechanism

Now that Disclosure has risen to becoming a household name thanks to their outstanding debut album Settle, excitement is at an all time high from fans wanting new music. Those people were rewarded this week when they got together with British producer Friend Within released The Machanism. It's every bit as swanky as you'd expect, but it's filled with extra house flavored womp-womp. While the five-star lounge type of house music will never be my favorite sub-genre of EDM, there's a subtle funk that's unmistakably fresh about the style. Let's hope there's much more of these fresh collabos in store for Disclosure in 2014...#TheMechanism

Disclosure x Friend Within - The Mechanism

Seven Years Later, We Get to Blink Again

Back in 2007, the GWDJ blog was in it's infancy, manifesting itself as a monthly song list sent to a group of friends and acquaintances. Seven years ago, EDM represented a very small piece of what I considered to be the cutting edge music of at the time. Back then Hip Hop and R&B led the way for exciting, limit pushing genres. As a result, I completed missed John Dahlbäck's original version of Blink, which is regrettable. If you were like me and missed it, free and check out the original, which laid the foundation for the new version below...

Now fast forward to present day, where Dahlbäck teamed up with Benny Benassi on a revamped version of the original. You'll note, Blink Again sounds a lot like the Blink, but there's quite a bit more to the new version of the track. For starters, the brief trap breakdown toward the end of the track is a welcome change of pace. Also, the vocals are a lot sharper and the drops are much more aggressive and hard hitting than the original. Call it version 2.0 or a new school update, whatever the case, it's packed with plenty of juice that is capable of fueling any dance party, leaving us in anticipation for another week until it's April 18th release....#BlinkAgain

John Dahlbäck & Benny Benassi - Blink Again (Clip)

Videos of the Week April 11th

Solid mix of real videos and late night appearances on this week's list of top five videos. Leading the way is Avicii's animated video for his own remix of Hey Brother that features clips from the show Bravest Warriors. I can't say I've seen the cartoon, but it seems like it has a cult following based on some of the video comments on YouTube.

Also on the docket this week was the whole video of Foxes Holding Onto Heaven, which was a long time coming. Best comedic spot of the week came from Drake who dressed in disguise to interview people on the streets about himself. The questions could have been more provocative and answers more entertaining, but there were a couple of pretty hilarious interactions. Putting a nice bow on the week was Sam Smith's characteristically on point rendition of Money on My Mind on Jimmy Kimmel. There are very few artists who have the ability to captivate an audience and turn listeners collectively into deer looking at headlights like Sam Smith. He's still my pick for breakthrough artist of 2014...#InTheLonelyHour
Avicii - Hey Brother (Avicii Remix) (Video)

Calvin Harris - Summer (Video)

Foxes - Holding Onto Heaven (Video)

Drake Plays Jimmy Kimmel’s Lie Witness News

Sam Smith Performs Money on My Mind on Jimmy Kimmel


Image Credit: YouTube