These two hits Avicii's had the past few months is the first time I heard someone undertake that kind of hybrid successfully. 'Wake me up' and 'Hey Brother'. Maybe I just haven't heard something else....but yah. Noone's done it this good yet. Apparently, one-time Roots guitarist Ben Kenney played on em.

All I know....when I'm driving the kids around and they take control of the radio....certain songs stick out to me. Both these songs got soul and good lyrics too.

Wake me up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcrbM1l_BoI

Hey Brother
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIiPLVR6NA

And no irony. That's the key. It's not ironic.

after reading his gig at that big Miami festival. Dude brought the great Dan Tyminski out on stage. I was scoffing til I saw that.

The music doesn't do much for me... I've only listened to a few songs, and they all follow the same basic pattern of a very slightly country-tinged beginning evolving after the first minute or two into a pretty standard sounding anthemtronic piece.

From what I've read, he doesn't seem to know all that much about country, but that's okay; you don't need to be an expert in every sound you want to work with.

In short: *shrug*

Can't break it down cause I can't hear it on this cpu....but the verses have some cool changes...there's some messing around with the phrase lengths....some dropped half-bars and pretty sure the basis is a 5 bar count. Will check it out again later and try to break it down.

And ya....Tyminski is great on it.

Seems like his manager or A&r came up with the idea like.. hey people seem to like Mumford & Sons.. everything they are doing is 4 on the floor anyway so... mix em together and BOOM

Count it out. There's a couple two counts mixed in with the 4's. Which makes it somewhat authentic imo. It's a real country song. With dance-pop production. And it actually works. Can't recall anything that's succeeded in that respect. I hated Ashley McIsaac. And cotton-eyed joe. Hey Brother is actually a really good song. Good lyrics, good vocal performance, good composition.

I'm guessing it was a matter of deferring. Avicii probly let a real country songwriter write the song instead of butting in.

I'm trying to hum the song but can't be sure I'm getting it structurally right.....the key change in the verse....goes something like 'Oh if the sky comes falling down' part is a 3 bar phrase. And the main part of the verse is a 5 bar phrase. There are probably exactly zero other pop hits in the past 10 years with that structure.

Again....could be wrong here but from memory it's something like:

5 bars verse melody
5 bars verse melody
3 bars verse key change/bridge
3 bars verse key change/bridge
1 bar transition
3 bar chorus hook
3 bar chorus hook
3 bar chorus bridge

Back to the top.

That's pretty original. A real song on top 40 radio. What do you know?

*mostly with British Isles styles, not country, though, for sure, and mostly not exactly dance-floor electronica either for that matter

> song. With dance-pop production. And it actually
>works. Can't recall anything that's succeeded in that
>respect. I hated Ashley McIsaac.

Ashley only made one electronic song though the rest of his stuff was just (very good, imho) Celtic rock. And I liked Sleepy Maggie for that matter... was actually a litte disappointed Mary Jane Lamond's solo record didn't try out that direction again (though it too is excellent).

Couple recommendations:

Mouth Music - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3nj7TDmiSs
interesting contemporary electronic rendition ofthe same Scottish song by Skilda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vYohShHekI

the late great Martyn Bennett - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov6iQUv0MzQ

Geeze....i hated that band. I didn't know the guitar player from incubus was in the Roots for awhile. The guitar playing on Avicii's album passes my sniff test though. Same guy plays on a few of the tracks.

If there even is such a thing as an EDM purist.

And I'm pretty sure he's not too hip in that crowd. I'd suggest that most EDM purists have no idea (or simply don't value) what a proper song is. So they're not gonna be impressed by the compositional value. I'd imagine they'd be more focused on critiquing the tonal quality of the synth patch that drives the chorus in 'Hey Brother'. Admittedly, it's a pretty cheesy patch but there's more to music than tone.

My interest is simply that the songs are undeniably 'effective' in the way Quest has advocated in evaluating music. They pull off exactly what they're trying to do and I'm suggesting it's a first in combining country with electronic dance pop. Specifically, that it's respectable/authentic in the contexts of both genres. It kinda bodes well for future endeavors in a hybrid sound of this type. I know I'm game to hear more attempts along these lines.

Sounds like the writing team (4 people) and the artists/vocalists let everyone do what they do best. Don't let the EDM producer write the chord changes....don't let the songwriter program the drums....let the singer utilize their style without trying to change what they do....To get a final product like that you need proper boundaries and delegation of roles. Imo, they nailed it.