DJ Snake Unveils Tracklist for Encore, His Debut Album

DJ Snake is (finally) gearing up for the release of his debut album, Encore, on August 5. He let loose the tracklist today and it features collaborations with Justin Bieber, Skrillex, Swizz Beatz, Bipolar Sunshine, Travi$ Scott, and more. I'm extremely hype about this album — "Middle" is dope AF, as is basically everything he's released thus far. I gotta say, though, I'm surprised there's no collab with Major Lazer considering how massive "Lean On" was last year. In any event, peep the tracklist below.

Tracklist:
1. Intro (A86)
2. Middle (feat. Bipolar Sunshine)
3. Sahara (DJ Snake & Skrillex)
4. Sober (DJ Snake & JRY)
5. Pigalle (DJ Snake & Moksi)
6. Talk (DJ Snake & George Mapple)
7. Ocho Cinco (DJ Snake & Yellow Claw)
8. The Half (feat. Jeremih, Young Thug & Swizz Beatz)
9. Oh Me (feat. Travis Scott, The Migos & G4shi)
10. Propaganda
11. 4 Life (DJ Snake & G4shi)
12. Future, Pt 2 (DJ Snake & Bipolar Sunshine)
13. Let Me Love You (DJ Snake & Justin Bieber)
14. Here Come the Night (DJ Snake & Mr Hudson)

Song of the Day: Midnight to Monaco - One in a Million [Music Video]

Midnight To Monaco is a new indie-alternative-pop band. Calling their sound "nu-wop", the duo hit the scene late last year with "Suicide", the first of their two singles (see below). The above track, "One in a Million", is the second, and it just received a pretty large-scale video, set in the very-well lit, albeit back parts, of LA. A large part of their sound is based off their wide-range of influences, which reach back 70 years. Midnight To Monaco describe these as "Doo wop. Late 20th century French electronic music. Harmonies. Beach Boys." Read more about the "One in a Million" music video @ V Magazine.

Show love and check out their Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud.

Diddy-Dirty Money - Shades (Ft. Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Bilal, and James Fauntleroy)

Ever so often I put my giant collection of music on shuffle just to find some jams I haven't listened to in a while. Last week, Diddy-Dirty Money's "Shades" came on, and I remembered how terribly great that song is. The beat? Dope. The harmony and arrangement? Omg, fantastic. The lyrics? Some of them are vividly descriptive, a la, "Girl if you want, I'll pour a gallon of gasoline on my heard just to light your cigarette". Others, however, are, shall we say, lacking in imaginality, like the whole Justin Timberlake verse, that twice, on two different times, reference X-Men. An example:

Go ahead pretend I’m a drug now let me see you take it / I can read your mind, read your mind, Professor X / We can press rewind, press rewind, VHS

So why am I posting this? Because of the aforementioned harmony and arrangement. The way Balil and James Fauntleroy do the hook is something out of awe. Shit needs to be respected. Shit feels like it's out of the 60s. It also reminds me of The Five Heartbeats. No beat, all vocals. The video is queued up for the last rendition of the hook. Start the video over to hear the whole song.

Song of the Day: Tiësto - Summer Nights ft. John Legend

I've never been a big Tiësto fan. No particular reason why, just wasn't a big fan of deep house. I also have a proclivity to dance tracks that follow a standard pop song structure, which means I like my dance songs to have a verses and hooks. I mean, to this point, the Tiësto track with the most plays in my iTunes was "Naked", and that was only because the hook goes, "I like us better when we're naked", and I heard that and was like, "hell, yes, I agree with that statement."

So when he dropped his new single, "Summer Nights" a few weeks ago, I wasn't even checking for it until I saw it featured John Legend, which basically meant it was John Legend + dance, which is something I'm always down for. And "Summer Nights" doesn't disappoint. It's got a night time-feeling piano riff that Legend croons over, and it's absolutely killer.

A+

Ro James - The Ride + Permission [Music Video]

I don't know who Ro James is. But that boy got it. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Zayn - Like I Would [Music Video]

Zayn Malik left One Direction in March 2015 and dropped his debut solo album, Mind of Mine, roughly a year later in March of this year. His debut single, "Pillowtalk" was pretty bleh to me, but the rest of the album was a dose of refreshing R&B-inspired electro-pop. The standout track, which turned out to be the second single, is the above "Like I Would".

The playability of the song is only rivaled by the awfulness of its music video. From the Tron-inspired clothing and light show, to the motion sickness-inducing direction and camera movement — this will be the last time this music video plays in a room I am present in. Between the "Pillowtalk" video and this, it doesn't quite seem like he has much of a stage presence when it's just him and the camera. The necessary energy, when you remove the models and the dancing and everything else, just doesn't seem to be there for Zayn. But I've never seen a 1D video, and I've only seen these two solo ones, so what do I know.

Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris - Hype [Music Video]

[Updated with official video] Dizzie Rascal and Calvin Harris have been making music together for a while. They did "Dance Wiv Me" in 2008, plus 3-4 additional tracks since then. Their latest single, "Hype", just dropped, and it sounds like a Dizzee track, as it isn't the epic house that Calvin Harris is know for. It's more of a "breakdance when the beat drops" type of track. TBD if this will be included on CH's upcoming album or not. Check out their first collabo, "Dance Wiv Me", below.

Throwback Thursday: UGK - Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) ft. Outkast

Saw on Twitter somewhere that someone wanted to walk down the aisle to "Int'l Players Anthem" but their husband vetoed it. Not sure how much I believe that, but it's a novel idea nonetheless. I checked YouTube, and while there are some wedding playlists with the track, there are sadly none with the couple walking down the aisle with "Int'l Players Anthem" playing angelically in the background. Some trivia about the track:

• Produced by Three 6 Mafia, and the original version featured the group (this was later turned into the remix)
• Nominated for the Best Rap Performance by Due/Group @ the 2008 Grammys
• #43 on Pitchfork's "Top 500 songs for the 2000s"

The Lonely Island - Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song) [Music Video]

The Lonely Island's recent film + soundtrack, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, was released a month ago — it's really funny, really topical, and a fantastic parody/take down of fame and our celebricy-obsessed culture. One of the standout parody tracks from the movie is the above "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)". Connor4Real (Andy Samberg's character) meets a fine girl, and all she wants him to do is fuck her like the "US government fucked Bin Laden" — a metaphor that doesn't make sense.

Throwback Thursday: Sporty Thievz - No Pigeons [TLC "No Scrubs" Response]

The year was 1999. TLC had come out with "No Scrubs", their scathing rebuke of broke men who aint shit. The track reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the #2 song on the Billboard year-end charts. It was massive. Sporty Thievz came along and create a response to women shaming men who weren't financially successful — turning the tables on the women who weren't successful themselves, and thus were in no realistic position to be talking shit.

"No Pigeons" was a massive success in its own right, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the same time "No Scrubs" was ruling the airwaves. Watch the video above #ThrowbackThursday

Loyle Carner ft. Kwes - Florence [Music Video Via Apple Commercial]

Apple and their ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day LA, who I assume created these commercials, have been killing it lately with the music choices for their various "Shot on iPhone" TV spots. They recently debuted 8 new spots (you can see them all here) and one of the clips features "Florence" by Loyle Carner, an up-and-coming British rapper. This is one of the better song/visual sync deals I've seen in a while — the softness of the piano, the dry, deepness of Carner's voice contrasted by the female's silhouette against the faded sun. Show love and check out Loyle Carner's Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, and website. See the Apple commercial below.

HER - Five Minutes [Music Video Via Apple Commercial]

Apple and their ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day LA, who I assume created these commercials, have been killing it lately with the music choices for their various "Shot on iPhone" TV spots. They recently debuted 8 new spots (you can see them all here) and one of the clips features "Five Minutes" by HER. A smooth indie-pop track with touches of rock and soul, the vocals, and the guitar, pierce through the track in an inescapable way. Also, the song is about only needing 5 minutes to get off. Show love and check out HER's Facebook, Soundcloud, IG, and buy their debut EP here. See the Apple commercial that started it all below.

Little Simz - Wings [Via Apple Commercial]

Apple and their ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day LA, who I assume created these commercials, have been killing it lately with the music choices for their various "Shot on iPhone" TV spots. They recently debuted a longer form image/video version that features "Wings" by Little Simz, an up-and-coming British rapper. Check out Little Simz Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud and website. See the Apple commercial below.

Hannah Cohen - Queen of Ice

That's a fun album cover, right?

When I first started listening to this track and its super deep bass guitar, I started imagining I was in a 1940’s noir crime movie and that I was in severe danger of getting a shank to the midsection. But then the hook hits and the horns drop and out of nowhere it turns into a jazz fusion type thing that feels fucking incredible. Like, I want to do Molly and just vibe out because Hannah Cohen’s voice slides all over the beat. Show love and check out her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, website and Soundcloud.

Song of the Day: Rihanna - Kiss It Better [R3hab Remix]

I'm not generally a fan of dance remixes of rap and r&b tracks - they usually feel super forced to me because it's difficult to reconcile the complete opposite speeds of the genres. EDM is super fast and rap/r&b is generally mid-tempo. Anyway, this R3hab remix of Rihanna's "Kiss It Better" is pretty damn flame because it's able to fully encompass Rihanna's vocals and feel like a completely original track. This will be getting tick all summer.

ScHoolboy Q ft. Kanye West - THat Part [Music Video]

ScHoolboy Q just dropped the visuals for the official first single from his upcoming, untitled album that drops July 8. I seem to be one of the few people who really likes Kanye’s verse. I mean, “Wifey gonna kill me, she the female OJ’? That’s fucking flame — PLUS her pops helped get him off. That line is deep. And there’s the “I just scored 60, man, I feel like Kobe/LA-mar was with me, man, I feel like Kobe” — OMG HOW CAN YOU NOT FUCK WITH THAT LINE AFTER LAMARS FIRST TWO PUBLIC APPEARANCES AFTER HE ALMOST DIED WERE KANYE’S SEASON 3 AT MSG AND KOBE’S LAST GAME AT THE STAPLES CENTER??!

As you can tell, I’m too hype. 

Shura - What's It Gonna Be? [Music Video]

Shura is a dope indie-pop artist who was nominated for the BBC's prestigious Sound of 2015 (previous nominees/winners from the past few years include Sam Smith, Frank Ocean, Skrillix and Ellie Goulding). She just dropped her new single and video, "What's It Gonna Be?" Which got me thinking — there are some great-ass songs with that same title. Top of mind are Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson, and En Vogue. Any else?

Rosie Lowe - "Woman" + "So Human"

"Woman" is one of those songs you have to listen to on your own without tainting the well with someone else's opinion. So I'll just leave the lyrics here.

"So Human" is one of my favorite tracks from Lowe's recently released album, Control. "Games" is dope, too. Show love and check out Rosie Lowe's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud and website.

Empress Of - Woman Is a Word

Empress Of is one of my favorite artists. She's only released one album, last year's Me, but damn, it might've been my favorite album of the year. Earlier this week she let loose "Woman Is a Word", one of the tracks that didn't make the cut. On her Facebook page, she said,

I'm so happy to share an unreleased track from my album today. This song means so much to me. I wrote it as a reaction to feeling like the word "woman" put me in a box of things I was capable to do.

Show love and check out Empress Of's "Water Water", "Need Myself" and "Standard", and her Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud and website.

Florrie - Real Love [Music Video]

While Florrie is hard at work prepping her debut full-length album, she let loose the music video for "Real Love", possibly the first single from the yet untitled album. We're big fans of Florrie here at The Reckless Hedonist. We introduced her a while back and she was featured on the Top One Percenters Mixtape Vol 17, Vol 18 and Vol 20. Show love and check out her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud and website.