Festival veteran and applauded dance artist Afrojack returns with his first multi-track album since 2014, dropping his newest EP Press Play. Afrojack typically releases singles and features instead of holding off for multi-track albums, making Press Play a rarity among fans. The bass-thumping album is packed full of festival bangers and hype songs. Long-time fans of Afrojack may recognize his classic style in tracks such as “Time” and “2012”. There’s something for everyone in this lengthy EP, and Afrojack has it all.
Jumping in to the album, the first thing you should know is that Press Play does not sound like it is intended to be a conceptual album, or one that ties the tracks together in a cohesive message. Although there is some grouping of similarly-styled tracks, Press Play is more like a collection of individually-considered singles. With the rise of conceptual, carefully ordered albums like RL Grime’s NOVA, it’s important to make this distinction before listening to Press Play for the first time.
With that said, the order in this EP has very little effect on its listening quality. He seems to stack the heaviest, most universally-appealing tracks on either end of the album – the more modern, mainstream-friendly tracks “Let It Rip” and “Flawless Victory” sitting on either end of the EP as tracks 2 and 13, respectively.
Beyond the sandwiching of the old with the new, the individual tracks explore a wide variety of styles within Afrojack’s famed bigroom style. His collaborations with DISTO on “My City” and Brohug on “Let It Rip” have a similar aggressive style, while his previously-released track with Jewelz & Sparks, “One More Day”, caters to a pop-EDM taste.
Standout tracks for the album (in order of appearance) are: “Let It Rip”, “Another Level”, “Put It Down” and “Flawless Victory”. Regardless of your taste in dance music, or whether you’re a long-time listener of Afrojack, Press Play is undeniably packed with a massive amount of festival-style hits. Give it a listen and pick your favorite banger – there’s something for everyone to love.
