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AVICII: Legit or Bogus?

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by Justin Mallaney

 

When I first started listening to Avicii/Tim Bergling almost 3 years ago, I was impressed with his songs and excited about the idea that someone in the 19-20-year-old range who was discovered by one of Pete Tong’s “Bedroom Bedlam” contests.  Not only that, but such a young enthusiast was making legitimate and popular tracks. ‘Tweet It’ (released under ‘Tim Bergling’) quickly made me a follower of his work.  When he released “Bromance”, I was sure that he was on a path to superstardom. His song “Penguin” (later released with vocals as “Fade Into Darkness”) was the song that truly made me fall in love with his style and catchy melodies.

Though my growing appreciation of Avicii”s music had matured, a more in depth look quickly contaminated this view.  When I saw a movie called “Mary & Max,” my entire perception came crashing down. The theme song of this movie, called “Perpetuum Mobile” by the Penguin Orchestra Café, sounded appallingly similar to one of the songs put out by Avicii. Basically, Avicii took the original melody (15/16 time) and edited it to be in 16/16, so that it would fit the four to the floor rhythm he was looking for.  In other words, he increased the rhythm and beat to make it more suitable for a club and dance.  Sure, he added some other synths and a drum pattern to accompany it, but the fact remained that he did not actually write any of the music himself.

After this discovery, I was inclined to perform some research on him.  Shockingly, the more I found out, the more disappointed I became. Most of his tracks’ melodies are ripped from other songs, and – let me make myself clear here – while I’m a huge fan of sample-based production, I  hate the fact that Avicii passes these things off as his own. For instance, the only reason he used the Etta James sample in “Levels” was to pay homage to Pretty Lights’ song “Finally Moving” (I saw Avicii live before he gained rights to the Etta James song and he actually dropped a sped-up sample from the Pretty Lights’ version over the instrumental). Beforehand, this track was only known as “ID” and had no vocals attached to it. Now, I regularly see Pretty Lights retweet comments about him “playing ‘Levels’” at his concerts, and regrettablly shows how uneducated this new insurge of some EDM fans.  Additionally, it sadly shows how easy it is for someone like Avicii to take advantage of undiscerning listeners.

Now, to get to my official statement on Avicii:

I do like Avicii. I think he is a great producer. I personally do not like the fact that he has made (what I feel like is) about 20 versions of the same song, but he does show potential. A handful of tracks that I have found by him, such as “So Sorry, Mr Atari,” “Sweder Dreams,” and “Hello Miami,” prove that he does have what it takes to give his songs a little diversity, but to be honest, for the most part, when I hear Avicii I feel like I am listening to a bunch of manufactured …eh hem…bullshit.

Aside from the way he creates his songs, I have several issues with Avicii on a more personal and aesthetic level..

His name “Avicii” is derived from the name given to the 7th circle of Hell. Yeah, thats right. Avicii is a straight badass.

When I found this out I couldn’t believe it. His songs are all happy… almost painfully so. Not only that, but this is the sort of name that I might expect to belong to a metal band – not a kid who looks like he just graduated from Choate.

Take this into consideration:

Avicii’s “Bromance” and Porter Robinson’s “Say My Name” both were huge tracks in September 2010, and while these two artists are both in the upper echelon of young producers, Avicii has clearly gained more attention than Porter Robinson has. One interesting thing about this is that Avicii is WAY more popular in America than he is abroad, even though he is from Sweden. He’s like a David Guetta who never experienced the building period of producing lots of unique and interesting tracks before making the switch to the mainstream, and his lack of experience shows. Time after time, I hear the same 5-7 synths used in each of his songs, and if the melodies are not sampled/stolen from another source, they are at least extremely similar.

Now, look at their more recent releases. Avicii’s “Levels” sounds like “Bromance”’s fraternal brother, but Porter Robinson’s “Language” is a completely different song from “Say My Name.” All 4 of these songs were chart-topping, EDM anthems during their tenure, but whereas Avicii’s tracks betray his stagnation as a producer, the differences in Porter’s two are reflective of the amount of growth and maturation he’s attained in such a short time.

But hey, if you like Avicii, don’t fret.  Some artists are a lot more savvy at masking.  Their ability at disguising another’s work is difficult to decipher in the heat of a alcohol induced, sweat crammed, booty dropping, grind fest.  Listen more closely next time & see what other song you recognize in the midst of added drums, bass & sunths.

See for yourself:

Avicii @ Echostage, Saturday, October 13, 2011: 9pm


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