(Spinner.com) Alesso is the latest Swedish young EDM prince to do the North American summer festival rounds. His affiliation with EDM overlords and stabbing-magnets Swedish House Mafia is well known, but not even he can really grasp the news of the pending breakup they announced in late June.
"It's crazy. It's just crazy that they broke up, it's hard to believe, but I respect their choice. I understand that they don't want to be repeating themselves," a begrudging 21-year-old Alesso tells Spinner.
When Alesso was 16, a friend's CD with a few Swedish House Mafia tracks found its way into his player. "I'd never really heard anything like it before. I fell in love," he gushed. Having only played piano until his early teens, he was quickly absorbed by the intoxicating waves of uplifting synths and rhythms, and took to the computer and keyboards to see what he could do to match what he was hearing.
Just two years later, the ambitious young swede stalked Luciano Ingrosso, owner of Joia Records, Sweden's largest house music label -- and also uncle to Sebastian Ingrosso of the aforementioned Swedish House Mafia -- in a coffee shop and gave him his first demo CD. A day later he was called into the studio.
What came from this was a signing to Joia, and what could hopefully be a lifelong mentorship and partnership with Sebastian Ingrosso. Alesso has proved his ground with a number of progressive house hits like "Raise Your Head," a popular remix of LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem", and the chilling and undeniably addictive buildup of "Calling," a monster anthem he crafted with Sebastian Ingrosso.
"Sebastian is a friend, but he's guided me a lot along the way," says Alesso. "He's been doing this for over 10 years, I've only been DJing for one. He's been helping me make decisions both professionally and musically."
Alesso has recently played at Electric Daisy Carnival in New York, Digital Dreams in Toronto, and even Coachella in the California deserts. Ten years ago, this kind of meteoric fame was harder to come by. The DJ/producer figures modern communication is to thank for that.
"The internet has been a great way for me to promote myself," says Alesso. "All I have to do is announce a tour on Facebook, and boom, everyone knows! It's delivered to the public much faster than ever before."
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