Best Songs of the Week

Travis Scott and The Weeknd both had one of the biggest years of their careers in 2015. Maybe as a thank you to the fans, or as an effort to kick 2016 off with a bang, the two linked up for a new collaboration simply titled "Wonderful."

"Wonderful" opens up with some instantly captivating production. The track blends the dark but alluring styles of both artists and mixes their usual eerie moods over a much lighter, bouncier rhythm. The upbeat track is easy to love and comes at the perfect time to be added to everyone's party playlists.—Adrienne Black

Good music does things to you. Outside all of the pretentiousness and fuckshit of the industry, this is really just about stuff that moves you to do stuff, right? For example, HudMo kicks off LuckyMe's '15/'16 Advent series with a cover of John Carpenter's theme from Escape From New York, and I'm on the verge of tears from such a beautiful melody being put on loop with thumping drums and fuzzy synths.

I immediately acquire a copy of Escape From New York and dream of a world where everything I listen to is produced by HudMo, because what the hell. Dude's a damn legend (the Brits shorten "legend" to "ledge," which Rakim told me to know in a movie called Juice). See? Music makes insane dreamers like me go off on tangents for two minutes and 54 seconds because beauty. Try it some time.—khal

With some help from a Vine sample, producer swell. made a hypnotizing, addictive track—it's one of my favorite random SoundCloud discoveries of the year. You'd think that extending a six-second Vine into an entire song would be a reach, but there's just the right amount of variation to make "i'm sorry" absolutely captivating from start to finish.—Confusion

Timbs' beats aren't easy hills to climb; they're wild, layered, and complex, but Young Thug handles this one like a pro. He knows when to go in and when to switch his flow up to give the music some space, and to be able to do that over production from someone as legendary as Timbaland is another small step forward in Thug's evolution.—Katie K.

I'm the kind of old man who immediately smirks or sighs when someone talks about loving grime music. I can't help it; I just recognize it and dip back into my playlists. Either way, I love how Plastician ended 2015 (i.e. with free bangers). Utilizing a grip of throwback grime samples and some vocals from Dizzee Rascal, this cut—as the don Plastician says—fuses the club sound of New York with the Road sound from London. No real time to explain it all, I'm too busy being hypnotized by the groove. It hits my body like a lightning bolt and I'm in another realm. Catch up.—khal

Hinds has been playing this one live all year, and I've been waiting. Finally, their debut album is streaming in full, and it's so good to finally hear the studio version of "Fat Calmed Kiddos." Hinds' entire debut album is great, and this song features everything I love about this band: free-spirited, fun garage rock grounded by strong songwriting and powered by personality. 2015 wasn't an amazing year for rock music, but with Hinds' debut album coming out in early 2016, things are looking up.—Confusion

Read our digital cover story with Hinds here.