Avicii's "Sound Of Now" Turns 18

First Release on Vicious

Avicii released Sound Of Now on November 6, 2008, through Vicious Grooves, only months after manager Ash Pournouri began working with Tim Bergling. The track arrived as his first release with the label, following a June 2008 signing brokered after Andy Van, co-founder of Vicious, heard Bergling's demos at a Vandalism show in Stockholm. Van shared the music with fellow co-founder John Course in Australia, and the deal was done. Bergling had already released Manman earlier that year, but the Vicious partnership placed his productions with an established house label at a pivotal moment.

From Bedroom Producer to Beatport Chart

When Pournouri discovered Bergling's music online and met him in May 2008, producing was his main focus. Professional DJing was still new territory. Pournouri later recalled that Bergling had never used professional CD decks before they began working together. Over the next two years, that gap closed rapidly. Avicii's remix of Bob Sinclar's New New New in 2009 became one of the first releases that made Bergling feel a wider audience was paying attention, while My Feelings For You with Sebastien Drums later became his first Beatport No. 1.

Three Years Before "Levels"

By 2010, Seek Bromance had brought Avicii's music to a much larger international audience, with Levels following in 2011. Only three years separated Sound Of Now from the record that would become one of the most important releases of his career. That short window says a lot about how quickly Bergling's trajectory accelerated. In 2008, he was still learning the professional side of DJing while releasing house music through Vicious. By 2011, Avicii was already reaching listeners far beyond the dance music scene that first discovered him.

Sound Of Now remains an important early release from the years before his worldwide breakthrough, capturing the late-2000s European house sound that preceded the melodic songwriting later associated with Avicii. John Course later recalled that the melodic ideas in those early demos were already noticeable, years before that side of Avicii's music became known worldwide.