“Obviously we don’t expect a deep techno purist to appreciate our music,” Axwell said.
Judging by live shows, they really like Axwell and Ingrosso. scene is “a little bit more filtered now,” Ingrosso said, and fans “are more selective with what they like.” heap, the timing was right for a more focused effort.Īfter its anything-goes detonation, the E.D.M. We did a big thing, but it was loose.” Now, as a duo, “we wanted to do it for real.” With acts like Avicii, Calvin Harris and Ingrosso’s protégé Alesso rising to the top of the E.D.M. “We had so many things going for us that we only had to release a song a year.”īut playing to sold-out crowds with only a half-dozen or so original compositions got old, Ingrosso said: “We didn’t really commit to Swedish House Mafia so hard. “It was just like ‘boom!’ “ Axwell said of electronic dance music’s rising popularity. But their combined sound, which incorporated populist elements of disco and singalong bands like Coldplay, went international. The two met through the small Stockholm club scene and made their names in the dance underground individually. Both use slightly dated American slang as if they were lovable exchange students, dropping the occasional “phat” or “for shizzle.” “It was so smart of Daft Punk to put helmets on and save their identities for the rest of their lives.”Īxwell and Ingrosso, on the other hand, were clad in variations on the same luxe-casual outfit: expensive-looking T-shirts, tight black jeans, dark gray high-tops and tastefully long, effortless hair.Īt 37, Axwell, whose real name is Axel Christofer Hedfors, is the smaller and more skeptical of the two, while Ingrosso, 31, is beefier, tattooed and hyper-enthusiastic. “In Sweden, we can’t really walk the streets,” he said. Ingrosso acknowledged their relative anonymity in the United States - for now. Before the last-minute show, they convened in the corner office of the Def Jam chief executive, Steve Bartels, which the Swedes had colonized with fresh juice, kale chips and their own blasting tunes. In between, Axwell and Ingrosso squeezed in a concert at Terminal 5, one of New York’s larger venues (capacity: 3,000), which qualifies as “intimate” for the group. On April 11 and April 18, the D.J.s will perform to a wider audience at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where they sit just under Jack White on the big-name bill. Last Saturday, Axwell and Ingrosso - who have released just three new songs and plan to put out an album this summer - played to 80,000 people as headliners at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, which attracts their core demographic. Listen to some of the best new recordings here.