So the lady and I are cleaning up around the apartment when I decide to put on some music. Because I love sponsor interruptions and Adobe Flash, I naturally pull up Pandora. Unable to decide which station I’m in the mood for, and which station the lady will tolerate, I ask for her input.
“Put on Avicii,” she says.
“Who?” I reply.
And it all went downhill from there.
Avicii’s music is a melding of house and downtempo electronica. It’s actually quite perfect for getting pumped to clean a humid and dusty Philadelphia loft. Born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1989, Avicii (real name Tim Bergling) began his music career when he was 18 after remixing the theme song to an old Commodore 64 game. His work over the past two years has catapulted him to the forefront of the electronic dance movement (EDM) scene, where he’s become a headliner, appearing on stage with big names like Madonna.
His most popular song, “Levels” became a mainstream hit in 2011 after its official release and, although he has very few hit singles, he has plenty of remixes and collaborations to round out his résumé. He recently put out a free song called “2 Million” on his Soundcloud account after reaching two million followers on Facebook.
Avicii’s influences include Daft Punk and DJ Tiesto, two of my favorite acts. His Eurobeat-style dance remixes are the embodiment of someone who truly has a passion for this sort of thing, and it makes them a real joy to listen to. As someone who typically favors more rock and roll, and less bass and synth, I was pleased to find Avicii a breath of fresh air rather than a tired and cookie-cutter DJ with a cool name. There are simply way too many of them, which is why it’s been so difficult for me to get into electronic music.
Oh well. This guy is the goods.
