Leveling up: Avicii at Roseland Ballroom, New York, Oct. 10, 2013.
(Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images)
Leveling up: Avicii at Roseland Ballroom, New York, Oct. 10, 2013.
(Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images)
MUSICREDEF PICKS
Remembering Avicii, Where Rock Still Thrives, Making 'The Middle,' Kanye v. Drake...
Matty Karas, curator April 23, 2018
QUOTABLES!
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They were just weird-looking guys in a Run-DMC video to me. I hope to live long enough to be the weird-looking guy in some up-and-coming rock video one day.
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TIM BERGLING, better known as AVICII, made anthemic, escapist, almost heroic, dance-pop with an ease that bordered on grace. Does EDM get more energizing, or more inevitable, than this? And then he plotted his own almost heroic escape, quitting the road at the peak of his fame. INC. MAGAZINE had just named him the sixth fastest-growing company in EUROPE (I am not making that up) when he announced, in 2016, that he would no longer perform live. Facing health problems from hard touring and excessive drinking, he retreated to what he presumably envisioned as a peaceful life in the studio, living the life of an EDM elder statesman and master producer in his mid-20s. A shocking, sudden ending came on Friday, at age 28. We know little about his death except that authorities say there is no "criminal suspicion." He leaves behind a remarkably low profile for a pop star as big as he was, and a string of tracks and videos, both on his own and in collaboration with artists from DAVID GUETTA to RITA ORA to COLDPLAY, that do a great job of describing a particular strain of 2010s pop music. One of his biggest hits was this country- and folk-influenced single featuring ALOE BLACC that was booed by Avicii's own audience when he introduced it at ULTRA in MIAMI. It may have seemed strange at the time, but the idea of willfully hopping across genre boundaries and mixing and matching styles has always been an essential part of pop. It's how pop can move sideways and forward at the same time. Some crossover stars are coy about it. Others, like Avicii, are brazen and maybe a little cocky. "Obviously the audience—hopefully even some haters—have really come around," he said a few months later. "It's important to believe in what you do." RIP. MusicSET: "Avicii: The DJ Who Took EDM to New 'Levels'"... COACHELLA pays its respects to Avicii, who headlined the fest's EDM stage in 2012... He left behind his completed third album. "We’ll try to get some advice from the family and... do what we think Tim would want us to do," said GEFFEN RECORDS president NEIL JACOBSON, who worked with Avicii for several years... Woah, where did this PRINCE discography site come from? (OK, we know; see story mix below. But the point is: Wow)... R. KELLY's entertainment lawyer, exec assistant and publicist have all jumped ship. R. Kelly is still signed to RCA RECORDS... Congrats to my old MTV colleague NICK LEHMAN, who joins ASCAP as EVP and chief strategy and digital officer... HEARTBREAKERS MIKE CAMPBELL, BENMONT TENCH and STEVE FERRONE, playing together for the first time since TOM PETTY's death, backed BECK, PATTI SMITH and STEPHEN STILLS at the LIGHT UP THE BLUES autism benefit Saturday in Los Angeles... BEYONCÉ fell down. And there was evening and there was morning, the second weekend of Coachella.

Matty Karas, curator

April 23, 2018