Avicii – Levels (Original Mix)

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Live rips and partial bootlegs of this unfinished song (formerly titled “ID“) have been countlessly uploaded to YouTube and SoundCloud, garnering millions of hits from people clamoring for its release. After months of teasing, Avicii has finally unleashed the much anticipated single under the new moniker “Levels;” if the hype is any indication, this track will ring prominently in venues across the globe.

As stated in previous posts and highlighted in our exclusive interview, Avicii embodies house’s modern day melody master. Without him, the genre would remain a boring subset of categorically mundane, repetitious 1/8th distortions that initially catapulted artists like Sidney Samson and Afrojack into the limelight; unfortunately, this simply isn’t sustainable. Unlike most of house’s headliners, Avicii harnesses melodies to give his songs life, which in turn give his audiences something tangible (and musical) to connect with.

While it confounds us that most other DJs have not fully realized this, we can only hope that they will eventually follow suit in creating original songs with more focus on sentiment and intonation. For now, “Levels” will have to do.

Avicii – Levels (Original Mix) [ANTHEM ALERT ]:

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Update:

Posted by on May 10th, 2011 at 7:35 pm.
  • http://www.facebook.com/seancyao Sean Yao

    track of the year right here….

  • Matt Sullyman

    SO dirty

  • Earwig88

    Thank god someone here said it! I’m sick of DJ’s thinking they are Gods just because they can string together some blips and beeps and call it a day. It takes a LOT more talent to create good melodies. As a DJ myself I echo your sentiments JT. This song kicks so much behind by the way.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Fred/1331010459 Mark Fred

    i always get a good feeling listening to avicii

  • John

    FIRE!

  • Lj

    Are you sure this has been released? If so Where? its not on Beatport. I don’t think this is the complete version. Avicii has never released a track that goes for 5 and a half minutes.

  • http://twitter.com/eadriaans Emmet Adriaans

    I wonder which dj’s WON’T have this one in their sets? That might be a better question.

  • Abhi

    yeah, are you sure this is the “official” version?

  • JT

    This is a leak of the song in its entirety. We will update this post with the Beatport link once it’s up, but enjoy listening to “Levels” here for now :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684051517 Alberto Barron

    He dropped this at Nocturnal Festival Texas. Fantastic track, absolutely fantastic. Avicii’s productions are definitely unmatched, but I will say this. His mixing is unimpressive. I felt like his set was missing impact points and just missing direction. I’m incredibly excited to see a talent artist as he develop set building skills with experience. Seeing him really made me realize differentiating artists who I want to see perform and artist that I want to see make music. Those are two completely different realms that I had often been overlooking. He’ll be here in Dallas for EDC on June 18th though! I better see some astronauts there, haha.

  • Isaac Garcia26

    not sure if you have heard the Preview of Silhouettes?
    that is his next big track. IMO its so unique. and super great check it out here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3pwBz-drtk&feature=player_embedded

  • http://twitter.com/TrueIsaac Isaac Garcia

    Well the Vocal mix anyways..

  • JT

    Thanks for the insight, Alberto! We will surely incorporate this perspective into our future event coverage. I have never seen Avicii live, but mixing is something that cannot be overlooked and I’m sure Avicii is practicing in his room as we speak :D
    In regards to EDC, a good number of us will be in Vegas from the 24th to the 26th. Fly out and party with us for a second round!

  • JT

    Yep!: http://www.dancingastronaut.com/2011/04/avicii-silhouettes-official-preview/

    Looks to be yet another promising track from the talented youngster.

  • djkunalp

    copied from a tweet from avicii:
    Avicii Tim Bergling and for everyone asking, the leaked version of levels is NOT the final version of the track, its a version ive been using for my livesets!

  • JT

    Thanks for the heads-up, Kunal!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524764807 Usman Hussain

    Avicii = Never stop being “Upcomming” Lol. He’ll be upcomming till he reaches nr 1 spot, because when you think this guy has stopped developing his sound, he always suprises with yet another earcandy after another. His music makes. This young swede is just killing it. Trouse King. I have respect for Ferry, but I dare say that Avicii’s closing in on him. Yet another lovely track. His music inspires me to go to studio everyday, and actually continue producing till I eventually create something worth listening to.

    Meaning of Trance is that it’s supposed to be melodic, and struck your body emotionally, while House is supposed to be more groovy, Avicii matches the best of the two genres and adds his own touch to it.

    I wonder if he ever made a track I didn’t like, maybe Malo? 1 Out of 20+ songs. As Senticii says, MANCRUSH FOR AVICII GROWS!

  • Polishrob

    Im gonna get flamed the shit out of this. I love Avicii, I love his music, he is a great producer(one of the best) but his live DJ sets are less than amazing, all this stuff is pretty much intro outro mixing.

  • Hkg2272

    I have been waiting for this release for weeks, above and beyond my expectations

  • Maxmillian Burbank

    I actually came in my pants when i heard this, track of the year

  • http://www.facebook.com/zshaw1 Zach Shaw

    Is it just me that thinks ID might sound slightly better? Don’t get me wrong I love this version but ID just does more for me lol

  • JT

    Haha Usman, your enthusiasm remains unmatched. Now that you mention it, Avicii does remind me a bit of Ferry. If you get the chance to see Ferry live, make it happen. His performance at Ruby Skye last year was mind-blowing.

  • JT

    No worries, please feel free to speak your mind here. Interestingly, Alberto said the exact same thing below.

  • JT

    Before posting, I listened to the two side-by-side to make sure they were the same song melodically and noticed some slight differences also. ID has a heavier bass line and a slightly more dramatic build while Levels puts more focus on the main synths.

  • Polishrob

    I just think its how both pre releases were recorded. Until we have the actual one from Avicii himself, the mastering will always sound different

  • Egonny

    You know, unlike most other house DJ’s, Avicii actually entered the house scene by producing, it was only later on (which is about 2 years ago I think) he started playing live, give him time.
    His productions are amazing, that’s all I care about.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000599504126 Matthew Kent

    every time the lyrics kick in on this song i get the biggest grin :D best song of 2011 so far.

  • Panda

    I’m pretty sure ID was recorded on a soundboard. You can hear the crowd cheering in the background. The bass is heavier due to the sound system where it was recorded maybe?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684051517 Alberto Barron

    I cannot begin to grasp the magnitude of his future productions to come years down the line. He’s a one man Swedish House Mafia, hahahaha! I love the art of mixing first and foremost. A lot of these young DJs with incredible production skills are being thrown into massive festivals and world famous clubs with novice set building skills. Not that most people pay attention anyways, but it’s great to be able to step back, really analyze a set, and see that a DJ was leading up to a certain point, or was trying to convey an emotion and attitude with their soundscapes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1056600221 Arthur Kao

    I get the shivers listening to the completed song. Love it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524764807 Usman Hussain

    I saw Ferry here in Oslo like the day before my birthday. Thanks god for Fake ID. He tagged along with BT. Anyways, random thing I’d like to point out: Ferry + Axwell + Avici – Collab = I can die happily.

  • http://www.facebook.com/zshaw1 Zach Shaw

    You’ve got supersonic hearing haha I can’t hear a crowd at all BUT if you say its there, I would agree that it was recorded from a set most probably :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/NikdeNeversMilanovic Nikola Milanović

    this will be the anthem of my summer

  • Justin

    Dumb people dont pay attention. i know when someones mixing good or not. you can just feel it…

  • marsig

     when can I purchase this track?

  • marsig

    which is crazy.  DJ’ing is so fucking easy.  Production takes real genius.

  • Anonymous

    omg 2011 is gona be fucking insane with avicii around :) 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524764807 Usman Hussain

    It doesn’t take a genious to produce real music, you just have to make what you like the most, and enjoy it while you’re doing that, in addition to that, making your ideas a reality. DJing isn’t easy by the way. If you want to do it the real way. Everyone can get a TRAKTOR or Serato and autopitch, but it takes skills to actually feel the music. By feeling the music you need to know the basics of EDM in general(that every beat is 4×4, 8×8 or 16×16, and BPM). I’ve been mixing for around 6 months now, and I still feel like I’ve got a lot to learn. Been producing for a year now, and I don’t feel like there’s more to learn, as I said earlier, you just need ideas and know the basics of music production so you know how to work them out. It doesn’t take a lot to learn Ableton.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524764807 Usman Hussain

     Don & Palm are two great swedish producers and DJs. Check them out! :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1621548779 Paul Benigeri

     this is awesome!

  • Drysdale2110

    The crowd you hear is at ULTRA when he first started playing the extended version with Pretty Lights in it.