I've been seeing blurbs about it pop up for the past few weeks. Needless to say, I'm skeptical. From the quotes, it seems like his enthusiasm for folk is in earnest but that he doesn't know doodley squate about it. Which is fine, he's like 20 or something, right? But still.

Haven't listened to it yet. Would love to see what OKP has to say before I get around to checking it out.

File under "Rednex" (actually, it's not *That* bad). The whole album isn't folk-fusion; he also tries some almost 60's garage-rock sounding stuff mixed with the stadium-House as well as the obligatory "emotional", post-Coldplay junk. It's a populist, "a little bit for everyone"-album streamlined for commercial radio; totally bland. It sounds like he's having fun though-that counts for something.

BTW, the "folky" sounding single with Aloe Blacc sounded good to me just as it started but as soon as the disgusting, euro-dance keyboard riffs kicked in, the song went down the toilet; I can't believe this 90's euro-dance shit is hot again; it's like the whole world sounds like a brat-disco in swedish shithole Båstad in '95 where assholes in Ace Of Base-haircuts are pulling out champagne over their blond bimbo girlfriends silicone tits while doing the "oontz"-motion with the other hand...

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/avicii-aloe-blacc-wake-me-up-official-video.html

Anyway, yeah it starts mildly promising, very neo-something folky-or-other. When the beat comes in it doesn't exactly sound out-of-place, and it segues relatively seamlessly into the more dancey bit/synth riff, which itself is moderately folk-ish. The whole thing actually fits, sonically at least, fairly neatly into the arena-folk pocket (which I don't care much for, but...)

hmmmm

>BTW, the "folky" sounding single with Aloe Blacc sounded good
>to me just as it started but as soon as the disgusting,
>euro-dance keyboard riffs kicked in, the song went down the
>toilet;

same song with a little more soul and no "edm"


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@rob_starrk

>assholes in Ace Of
>Base-haircuts are pulling out champagne over their blond bimbo
>girlfriends silicone tits while doing the "oontz"-motion with
>the other hand...
>
>


``i know you are fake. . . 'cause man, i'm the same.``
"doctor who nursery rhyme." http://bit.ly/18oC1gH
"jacques." http://bit.ly/17V33fa
"with henry james." http://bit.ly/1cIpnM6
"for vini." http://bit.ly/19HQbtF
"one year later." http://bit.ly/1eQNPwI

The way Big Room EDM albums are made these days is based on publishing companies.. a7r's and companies find a song then they EDM it up... add the drop and such

Avicii isnt sittin and writing his songs on guitar trying to grasp the idea of american folk music.

IMO with the international success of cats like mumford & sons he probably was searching for singer songwriter demos that were folky and guitar based. Then just flipped the beats to match his style...

this is also on the album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJjYbKDvTs0

means the writer doesn't know what bluegrass is. I'm pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be an accurate descriptor (which is rare).

I was wondering if it was simply a response to the current relative popularity of not-really-folk-but-still-mostly-acoustic music.

Yea.. I mean.. when you go from big DJ.. to major label pop dj... you gotta compete at radio with Dr Luke... max martin etc...

Daft punk made a point that electronic music was too electronic... so I think that played into it as well..

FYI.. posted this yesterday but this is Afrojack's single.. my homey spree made this like 2 years ago..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dNHd1x2dZI

>Daft punk made a point that electronic music was too
>electronic... so I think that played into it as well..

Same stuff we've been talkin about all year.

Daft punk.. set a precedent. A direct opposition to Vegas-y Festival Swedish House Mafia EDM.

Avicii in turn went and got well written guitar, piano based songs. So even though it has drops it still fits in this pseudo-organic motif in electronic music as of late.

unless you live under a rock or somewhere else totally off the grid and haven't watched commercial TV w/in the last yr or 2. his song 'Levels' has been all over the place. as has Flo Rida's 'Good Feeling' which samples it. of course, the Avicii sampled an Etta James record you surely know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovdm2yX4MA (ffwd to 1:24 for the part you should already know)

though the main riff felt somewhat familiar. (I don't really watch comm'l TV - a little HBO, PBS, and kids' stuff.)

I think it started with his (relatively recent) show at some dance festival - let's see:

http://chasingthefox.com/avicii-live-at-ultra-music-festival-aka-avicii-goes-folk-bluegrass-and-country-yes/

hmm, if he had Dan Tyminski on stage, that guy is the real deal. Interesting.

Mike Einziger (guitarist from Incubus) wrote and played that guitar riff.

not that I'd call the guy from Incubus for my new folk single, but at least it sounds like an interesting aggregate of people involved in the thing.

instead gets a major label album and decides to to drop "wake me up" a country/folk/house song with Aloe Blacc? Still a hit but the sound of his album took balls none the less... cause he easily could have had the type of line-up calvin harris had and just dropped radio friendly anthems


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@rob_starrk

it's measured balls..

The grammys were run by mumford & sons and the lumineers and all the civil war folk pop stuff.

He took what was winning and made it his. Def some balls but no one really knew what an Avicii album would sound like anyway.

Avicii has dropped a ton of music the past 3 years... trancy big room house combination with catchy vocals on most... it was pretty clear that was the route he was going to go with his album and instead he threw out a serious curveball imo, I give him credit, I don't think he was chasing Mumford money when EDM is the biggest thing out right now

whole 4 track ep is fire... track 2 is produced Pharrell and that's the only song I don't love


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@rob_starrk