Blueprint Artist Spotlight: AVICII
Wed July 4, 2012
Although best known for his global chart smashing sensation "LEVELS" the unparalleled ascension of AVICII has been years in the works.
Avicii had only been producing a few months when his friends noticed that the productions were amazingly professional and that they had just witnessed a great talent being born. Avicii started out with doing a remix of the theme music for the Commodore 64 game Lazy Jones, but decided to drop it as it inspired him to make his own Lazy Lace - released almost immediately on Strike Recordings.
Avicii was instantly fascinated with producing and spent many hours in his home studio creating one fresh tune after the next. Avicii never tried to get caught up in a specific subgenre of house, but wanted to keep the productions up to date and innovative. His music is inspired by the likes of Laidback Luke, Steve Angello and Tocadisco, but also Daft Punk, Eric Prydz and that of Axwell. In April 2008, Avicii released the first big track, Manman, on Pete Tong's Bedroom Bedlam label after winning the Pete Tong Fast Trax. Avicii received an astonishing 70% of the votes and after the release and were contacted by numerous labels, promoters and booking agencies from all over the globe. Even Laidback Luke mentioned Avicii on his Myspace website saying: Ò[Avicii], by winning this competition, left many contesters behind in their dust. / So a big CONGRATULATIONS to these brilliant DJs for winning the contest and all the luck with their future careers!Ó
What Avicii wants is to create music for people to listen to and come to love, whether it be at home or in a dark nightclub. Avicii puts great emphasis on melodies in his productions and wants to appeal to fans of many different house music genres. Avicii signed on to At Night Management in May 2008 and within a month the buzz around them spread noticeably and they were recognized on labels such as Joia Records, Vicious Grooves and Ministry of Sound, just to name a few. By the end of that month, Avicii had already signed a big deal with Vicious Grooves in Australia and were head on target to soon explode over the entire globe.
Avicii is currently appearing on selected venues on his #LE7ELS world tour but otherwise locked up in the studio, always experimenting with new sounds in order to bring out original cool tracks and to grow as a producer.
More recently, the 20 year old producer has been VERY busy in the studio. With remixes for D.O.N.S., Bob Sinclar, Roger Sanchez, as well as Jose Nunez, Richard Grey & Erick Morillo, Livin Joy, Phonat, Little Boots, Paul Thomas, David Guetta, Toni Braxton, Tiesto and Tim Berg - just to mention a few. Among more of his own releases, Avicii broke ground in 2009 with his third release and original track Ry, which was charted two weeks before release on Pete Tong's Essential Mix. One week later it was 'This Week's Essential New Tune' while at the same time the "track of the week" on Tiesto's Club Life (Episode 113). The track hit Beatport Top 20 in worldwide sales almost instantly and has been on Top 30 for over 4 weeks.
Avicii stands for killer melodies combined with his own high-energy style productions bringing a new sound to the scene. Avicii truly is the Sound of Now.
In the fall of 2009, Avicii's tracks and remixes has become standard cd-case material among many of the world's greatest DJ's such as David Guetta, Tiesto, Eric Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Laidback Luke, Bob Sinclar, Tom Novy, Dirty South, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, Joachim Garraud, and Dirty South to mention a few. All of who have openly expressed their full support for this young producer.
Avicii was named Breakthrough producer/DJ of 2009 in, among other polls (Cuepoint.TV and the French magazine OnlyForDJ?s), DJ Mag's Top100 issue by none other than Ti?sto, Laidback Luke and Dirty South. More recently, Avicii's work has included remixes for Ti?sto, Bob Sinclar, Alex Gaudino, Dizzee Rascal, Sophie Ellis Baxter, Little Boots and David Guetta.
After an incredible 2010 - with worldwide hit singles likeÊBromanceÊandÊMy Feelings For YouÊplus hit remixesÊof Ti?sto, Robyn, David Guetta, and Bob SinclarÊ- 2011 was an even bigger year. With the massive success of "LEVELS" and manyÊofÊthe world's biggest events headlining Avicii on the bill, little is left to dispute that 2011 was this enviously young talent's year. No surprise when his first releaseÊofÊ2011,ÊStreet Dancer, went straight for number one on the worldwide Beatport charts.ÊAmong other smash releases were the highly anticipated remixesÊofÊArmin van Buuren - DrowningÊandÊDaft Punk - DerezzedÊas well as his ownÊPenguin,ÊSilhouettes, Fade Into Darkness & Abow. Check out his latest hit, "SUPERLOVE", a collaboration with none other than rock superstar LENNY KRAVITZ.
