Town Called Paradise

Recording information: Dry Snack Sound; Harmony Studios, West Hollywood, CA; Nightbird Recording Studios, West Hollywood, CA.
Photographers: Gavin Bond; Jordan Loyd.
Since the early 2000s or so, dropping the name Tiesto was a superstar representation of an artist at the heart of mainstream dance music, even if his album releases intriguingly bent the rules. He went electro and indie on his 2009 release Kaleidoscope and just chucked the Tiesto name entirely and went as Allure for the lush, 2011 effort Kiss from the Past, so don't be surprised that A Town Called Paradise is a return to the center of EDM. The big opener and single "Red Lights," with Michel Zitron, sounds like an Avicii-esque reimagining of the Wallflowers' "One Headlight" with little that's identifiably Tiesto, and these plays for radio don't stop until "Wasted" lands at track eight with a building, stomping beat that's pleasingly different. "Light Years Away," with DBX, is a grand explosion of life-affirming fireworks and standard-issue EDM lyrics ("Satellites, are crashing down/I watch you disappear at the speed of sound"), while the title track is necessary for rolling into Vegas with "Let's wash away the night into a neon scene of light/Away we'll drive into a town called Paradise." Cute how Icona Pop adopt a Latin-like flow on the carnivalesque "Lets' Go," while the cathartic closer, "Set Yourself Free" with Krewella, seems to shoot beach balls, water skis, and vacation plans out of the speakers. ~ David Jeffries