First Spin: The Week’s Best New Dance Tracks From John Summit, Shouse & Jason Derulo, Blond:ish, Gryffin & More

This week in dance music: The scene went international, with the MTV EMAs announcing that David Guetta and Bebe Rexha will perform at the awards happening in in Düsseldorf, Germany on November 13. (The pair is nominated for best electronic and best collaboration for their unstoppable collab “I’m Good (Blue),” which they will also presumably perform.) Even further afield, Tiësto and Tate McRae partnered on the single “10:35,” which was created in partnership with Dubai’s new ultra-luxury resort Atlantis The Royal. The song is accompanied by a music video highlighting the new high-end destination, and will appear on Tiësto’s upcoming album Drive, due out Feb. 24 via Atlantic Records.

Whether you yourself are getting out this weekend or hanging closer to home, we’ve got the tunes to fill your headphones. Let’s dig in.

John Summit feat. Hannah Boleyn, “Show Me”

Few dance artists have had as big a 2022 as John Summit, the hard-partying mega-productive house wunderkind who’s been tearing through clubs and festivals in a post pandemic blaze of glory. The latest from the Chicago producer is “Show Me,” a wind-up house-leaning electropop heater with an intoxicating earworm vocal loop from London singer Hannah Boleyn. “from edc to coachella to ultra and more, Show Me has been my go to track all year and it’s finally out,” Summit wrote upon the track’s release at midnight. Now available for your on-demand listening pleasure, “Show Me” comes in at just under three minutes as a petite but mighty slice of peak time intensity. That said, we recommend the five and a half minute extended mix, both of which are out via Summit’s own Off the Grid imprint. — KATIE BAIN

Jason Derulo & Shouse – “Never Let You Go”

Have you been yearning for the big room anthems of the peak EDM era? This new one from Jason Derulo and Shouse taps a bit into that epic feeling, but with a modern and tempered R&B twist. Mr. “Want to Want Me” delivers a silky-smooth and sultry vocal performance over the Australian-New Zealand duo’s synth-heavy house rhythms. “Never thought the legend Jason Derulo hearing our music evrywhere [sic] in Ibiza would lead to a collab like this,” Shouse writes on Instagram, “but love what he’s done!” Let this one play loud when you’ve got to dance yourself clean of a heartbreak, or are just looking to let loose from Friday to Sunday. – KAT BEIN

Mount Kimbie, MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning

The setup of Mount Kimbie’s latest double-album, MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning, is a bit unusual. In the vein of OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the LP is presented in two halves, each half produced by one of members Dom Maker and Kai Campos. No surprise then that they’re also stylistically different. Maker’s Die Cuts, inspired by his move from London to L.A., takes advantage of his new collaboration-ready environment to build a feature-stacked (slowthai, Danny Brown, James Blake, Kučka, et al.) record swirling with rap, R&B, and soul. 

Meanwhile, Campos’ City Planning goes deeper into electronic music’s futuristic roots, producing almost sketch-like, textured instrumental loops, each some combination of driving, dreamy, and industrial. In its entirety, City Planning could be the soundtrack to a 4:00 a.m. drive, perhaps on the way home from a warehouse party. Somewhere between the drum-focused drive of opener “Q” and the white-noise ambient of closer “Human Voices,” “Transit Mat (Flattened)” plays out like a tense highway trip in pouring rain. With its relentless rhythm, waterlogged atmosphere and blunt blockiness, it instantly evokes stark, grayscale images of concrete, metal and bright headlights softened by the storm. MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning is out now on Warp Records — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ

Skream & Jansons, “World Is Empty”

Lace up your roller skates and put on your blacklight reactive neon. Skream and Jansons just dropped a freestyle bass banger that feels like adult night at the entertainment-plex. A beautiful vocal sample from The Surpremes complements a haunting vibe, thanks to the deep, dark and minimal production, matching the emptiness of Diana Ross’ broken heart. Truly, the synth organ breakdown is downright spooky, but the bumpin’ ‘80s beat pits this night time tune squarely in the dance floor space. It’s a cool one, and it’s out now on CircoLoco Records. We even think the extended seven-minute version is the proper way to catch the electro groove. – KAT BEIN

Hugel & Blond:ish feat. NFasis, “Tra Tra”

After Hugel remixed Blond:ish’s single “Sete” earlier this year, the two producers have teamed up for their own collaboration, “Tra Tra.” Like on the former song, Blond:ish continues to explore different cultural influences alongside international collaborators, this time pulling up with the Latin house-loving Frenchman as well as Dominican rapper NFasis. Together, the three made a total bump-and-groover of a track: the production seems most at home in an Ibiza superclub, with a bass-heavy rhythm that’s as melodic as it is hip-grinding, and as dark as it is sexy, while NFasis’ gravelly vocal delivery feels like a command to dance and never stop moving. With a recent shout by Pete Tong on his BBC Radio 1 Dance show, “Tra Tra” already has a big stamp of approval. — K.R.

The Toxic Avenger, Yes Future

The Francophile vibes are strong on the latest from French producer The Toxic Avenger, who’s back with his first album in 15 years. The all-around excellent Yes Future gives heavy French Touch, synth and electro vibes, giving equal parts Justice, Kavinsky and the best of The Toxic Avenger himself. Released in September, the album’s lead single (the aptly titled “Getting Started“) is a stunner, and the rest of the LP is also equally tough and sensual and tres, tres cool. — K. Bain

Gryffin & Maia Wright, “Sometimes You Know”

Gryffin has long been a purveyor of brightly massive bangers big enough to fill the large-scale venues he frequently plays. No surprise then that the producer’s latest LP, Alive, is absolutely full of them, with the high-energy, high-emotion LP containing a flurry of previously released singles including the recent and exceedingly sleek Tinashe collab “Scandalous” along with the pop-forward chest-beater “Sometimes You Know” featuring Swedish singer Maia Wright. Alive is the San Francisco producer first album since his 2019 debut Gravity, which hit No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Albums, and the fanbasae that sent him to the top spot is still clearly here for Gryffin, who this weekend plays a pair of headline shows at Los Angeles’ 20,000 capacity State Historic Park. — K. Bain

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