See you in April!

Spring break has come for my school. After the work schedule I've had over the past couple weeks, I've decided to take a break from blogging until it's over- April 6.

See you in a little bit...

The inaugural Internet Music Conference

Ok, so no such conference actually exists, but is it a coincidence that so many great internet radio broadcasts are scheduled the week after WMC?

Not only are a stacked lineup of artists of the A State of Trance 450 shows going to be hitting the airwaves, but Afterhours.fm also has four special events planned throughout the week.

Here's the rundown on what you can watch and listen, and who's set to look out for.

Monday: France in the Mix 3 on Afterhours.fm

Notables: Ferry Tayle, Stonevalley
To listen, click here.

Tuesday: Czech Republic in the mix 1 on Afterhours.fm

Notables: Ronny K, Android
To listen, click here.

Wednesday: Russia in the Mix 3 on Afterhours.fm

Lineup TBA
To listen, click here.

Thursday: A State of Trance 450 @ The Guvernment, Toronto on AStateofTrance.com

Lineup: Arnej, Blake Jarrell, Armin Van Buuren, Aly & Fila, Simon Patterson, Sean Tyas, Signum
Notables: Aly & Fila, Sean Tyas, Armin Van Buuren
To listen, click here.

Friday: A State of Trance 450 @ Roseland Ballroom, New York City on AStateofTrance.com

Notables: DJ Eco, Rank 1, Armin Van Buuren, Roger Shah
To listen/watch, click here.

Friday: Luminosity: Before The Energy @ Utrecht, Netherlands on Afterhours.fm

Notables: Manuel Le Saux, Estiva, Mat Zo
To listen, click here.

Saturday: A State of Trance 450 @ Roseland Ballroom, New York City on AStateofTrance.com

Notables: John O'Callaghan, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Armin Van Buuren, Breakfast
To listen/watch, click here.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm, Made Event]

YouTube launches new artist development network

MySpace has been decreasing in popularity ever since Facebook was launched, and the site's once highly-trafficked music section also appears to be on the downfall as well.

YouTube is making an effort to grab some of the deserters by launching a new artist development network, Musicians Wanted.

The program is based mainly off of music videos, but due to the diversity of music, I'm sure they'll accept a few electronically-focused artists.

Weekly shows update

It's been kind of a slow week for NYC shows, since the WMC is this weekend. But anyway...

Upcoming:

- Paco Osuna will be playing Cielo on May 28, according to their web site.

- Pacha will be hosting Victor Calderone and Dennis Ferrer on April 17.
 
This weekend:

Thursday: Brad Miller w/Wobble @ Cielo.

Saturday: Tiesto @ the Borgata Events Center in Atlantic City, NJ.

And if you're at the WMC, check out Mike Saint-Jules' Myspace for a series of shows he's playing there. Ali Mahmud will also be playing Saturday at the Ultra Music Festival's radio stage.

Live broadcast tomorrow from the WMC

Dip In, one of the opening parties at this year's Winter Music Conference, will be broadcasting live on Afterhours.fm tomorrow from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. EST.

Click here for the event thread, and if you're in Miami or planning to head down there this week, click here for tickets.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

DJNY #3: Lorant Duzgun

Any musician can compose music to release, but without the backing of a record label who can provide professional assistance and marketing, their chances of commercial success are reduced.

Enter Lorant Duzgun, a New York DJ and producer and founder of the newly-launched Royal Advisor Records, an electro-focused label that is a home for an eclectic variety of sounds from local artists. 

RAR, which kicked off their live show schedule with a recent launch party in Manhattan at Home Sweet Home on 131 Chrystie Street, will be showcasing their talents and new releases at the venue on every last Sunday of the month.

Here's the inside story on the beginnings of RAR- a mix of luck, passion, and friendship leading to bigger things.

Around town…

Binarysound: Can you tell us about your background and how you became interested in electronic dance music?
 

Lorant Duzgun: I started DJing in high school and then I got myself a fake ID and started going to all the big New York City clubs like Twilo and Vinyl.  Shortly after that, I was introduced to Danny Tenaglia by my friend Geoff Gains while I was in the beginning stages of my career so that was obviously inspirational.

Later on I began working for Twisted Records which is a pretty significant label as far as the "tribal" genre of dance music goes.  I first got into music production when I was working for Twisted by doing a remix of "The Hook" by Geoff Gains. After that, DJing took a backseat to production for a while because I wanted to learn music composition and get my head around some of the software out there.

A record label was something I always wanted to do but there needs to be a right time to start something like that. I met SAMN two years ago and we started working on some demos and I from there on in the label became a work in progress. I then started working with Monique-Renee (Sappho's Journey) and given that these are two very talented people, I thought I might as well start putting out the stuff we were working on.

BSound: So that's where the idea for the label come from- trying to find an outlet to release these demos?
 

LD: Yea it was actually about 5-6 years ago that I wanted to launch a record label but I wasn't experienced enough. After meeting SAMN and Sappho's Journey it just seemed like the right timing to get it off the ground.  

BSound: Where did you meet them?
 

LD: SAMN I met through a mutual friend of mine. With Sappho's Journey, we knew each other back at the time when we worked at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. Then we lost touch and I ran into her on the street a little over a year ago and I told her "we used to talk about making music so lets finally do it". So then she came over one day to see if we could work on something together and it was an instant musical bond [laughs].

A label is born…

BSound: Where did you come up with the name 'Royal Advisor' for your label?

LD: There are two answers to that. One of them is that it just came to me and the other answer is that I'm a big Queen fan. Freddy Mercury is my idol, but I didn't want name it something like it 'Queen Records'. I just liked the whole concept that Queen had to their stuff like "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races". They were kind of like an indirect inspiration. 

BSound: In today's music industry, record sales seem to be shifting away from physical formats to digital stores like Beatport and iTunes. How did that transition affect you in your experiences of starting up RAR?

LD: It's much easier as far as costs go because you don't have to print vinyl and CD's. The upside is that you save a lot of money by not having to do that. But the downside of it is that many, many others are doing the same thing at the same time. There are a lot of independent labels going up at once, so there's a lot of competition. But in terms of getting a label off the ground it's a lot easier because you only need a web site, distributor, and some talented artists.

BSound: Can you describe the styles of the artists on RAR?

LD: Both of them are very good songwriters. They have their own styles and that's not something that comes by every day. They both have definite but separate visions, like Samn is really into the early R&B nu-jack swing stuff, and he wants to reinvent that genre and bring it into 2010. With his voice especially, it's working out and it makes sense for him to do that and I think he's doing a good job at it. He comes to me with what he wants and shows me his inspirations and we take it from there. 

As far as Sappho's Journey goes, she's very into Depeche Mode and Radiohead and the darker electronic sounds. She also has a very definite vision- she wants each of her EP's or albums to be a concept from beginning to end. And with her EP that recently came out, Venerate, I think we've succeeded in that sense as far a concept from the first song to the last. 

The concept behind the EP is the process of discovering oneself whether it's through love, struggle, or loneliness.  Sappho's Journey found the perfect word for her EP- Venerate, which means to have the utmost respect for something or to adore it a Godly fashion. I think she means to say we owe it to ourselves to feel that way about who we are after all the things we have to put up with in life.

Bsound: On RAR's web site, there's a fourth artist- Forest Families, which looks interesting based on the concept artwork you have posted for them. What's the deal with this artist?

LD: Forest Families is a new artist from New Zealand. We have never met in person and that's one of the good things about the digital age, where you can reach out to people like that. Their tracks are not ready to be released but hopefully by the end of the summer.

BSound: Where do you draw your influences from in your songs?

LD: I think it's kind of a gut feeling. When I sat down to create "Hunter" I wanted to make it be like a roller-coaster ride. It's like 'stuff all you can in there and see where it goes'. As I was finishing it I thought about it and thought 'maybe this has a lot going on in it', but that is what I wanted. 

With my next single, "The History of Love", I wanted that to be very emotional while keeping in sync with a minimal tech-house vibe. It has a lot of strings that come in near the end. It's a very minimal track that's not like "Hunter" at all, in the sense that it builds up and then fades out. 

              [Sappho's Journey performing at RAR's launch party on Feb. 23]

BSound: Are there any upcoming shows or releases that RAR is going to be putting out?

LD: At the end of this month on the 28^th we're back at Home Sweet Home in Manhattan, where we had our launch party. This show is going to be Sappho's Journey Venerate EP release show where she's going to be performing all the songs from that record. 

I'm also going to release my own EP in May- The History of Love,  which contains six original songs including collaborations with famed Nuyorican poet Emanuel Xavier, French pop artist O-Red, and SAMN in addition to my current tracks "Hunter" and "The History of Love".
--------

Tracks from Royal Advisor Records artists can be purchased at iTunes, Beatport, Traxsource, Junodownload, TrackItDown, and other digital music stores.

[Image credit: Jason Whitehead, Ron Porto]

Weekly shows update

Upcoming:

- On April 17, Brad Miller will be playing alongside Gui Boratto at Love.

- The Swedish House Mafia came to M2 last month, but now the individual members are hitting up various clubs in the city. Steve Angello will be at M2 on April 23.

- Calvin Harris will play a set at the Santos Party House on April 1.

- Chus & Ceballos will celebrate the release of their new album at Pacha on April 3.

This weekend:

In what's going to be the biggest weekend of the year so far for dance music in NYC, an incredible variety of acts are going to be playing shows across Manhattan. 

- Club Love will be hosting a dubstep show on Friday night- Dub War, which will be headlined by Shortstuff and XI. For more info, click here.

- More on Friday: Above & Beyond @ Pure in Buffalo, ATB & Zack Roth at Nokia Theatre, and Benny Benassi at Pacha.

- Saturday: Cosmic Gate, Richard Durand, and Brad Miller @ Webster Hall, Eric Prydz (Cirez D) & Sebastian Leger @ Nokia Theatre, the Desolat Bus Tour @ Pacha, and DJ Hell @ Cielo.

For ticket information to any of these shows, click the sidebar to the right.

Album review: Balance 016 - Agoria

Most dance music compilations and radio shows focus on individual tracks, as DJ's spin the week's top hits or flavors of the month. They provide quick gratification, but generate little discussion about the mix as a whole after it ends.

But another series of albums, Balance, is one of the few outlets where a DJ's mixing skills and overall track selection are put under the microscope. The series has featured past mixes by Lee Burridge and Will Saul, and now French techno talent Agoria is behind the decks for its 16th installment.

His two-part set of mixes: Aller Retour and Rising Sine, use the art of mixing to create a true musical journey that seamlessly travels through several genres in the span of a few hours.

Both of these mix tracklists are busy; each containing 25 tracks and samples apiece, with some songs as short as five seconds. But as a whole, each CD has a story to tell.

So rather than doing this album review in my usual track review format, I've decided to break down the tracklists of both mixes into groups of the same or similar genre.

Disc 1 - Aller Retour

Balance 016 Disc Aller Retour "Soundcloud Edit" by AGORIA

Take the genres of ambient, techno, minimal, electro, disco, house, add a variety of vocal and percussion samples, throw it in a blender, and set the timer for 70 minutes. Your result is Aller Retour.

Looking back at this mix, it's surprising to recall that I was hearing a certain genre in one series of tracks, and something completely different a couple tracks later. But Agoria finds a way to make it all happen, mixing an incredible variety of sound into Disc 1, although he hits a few speed bumps along the way.

1. Gregg Kowalsky - Ashes From Evermore
2. Alva Noto - Xerrox Monophaser 2
3. Mark Pritchard - ?

I'll admit it- I've never heard of Agoria before this two-disc album, so I was expecting to hit the ground running with a full techno sound for the opening of this CD. Instead, I got something unexpected- a complete ambient trip, and it's completely awesome.

"Xerrox Monophaser 2" and "?" are a great back-to-back combo. The former contains epic orchestral notes and heavily-distorted electro patterns, while the latter's spacey guitar chords evoke that 'drifting away in deep space' feeling.

4. Manvoy de Saint Sadrill - Soeheniona
5. Tosca - Joe Si Ha
6. Emiliana Torrini - Gun

This trio of tracks is where Aller Retour first reveals its reoccurring flaw: Agoria taking a small idea and running too long with it. In this case it's the vocal samples he chose, which lack strength.

"Gun" has a 'wild west' style guitar melody, "Joe Si Ha" is focused on cymbal patterns, and all three tracks are mixed together nicely, with new sounds coming in minutes before the next track starts. But I felt the vocal feel of this section dragged on a bit too long, delaying the heart of the mix.

7. Agoria - Parasite 2
8. Arandel - In D#5
9. Justin - Columpnam
10. 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 – When I Think Of
11. Pom Pom - 10

After a short interlude, Agoria goes into a series of minimal tracks that contain hints of techno, house, and electro.

"In D#5" has a variety of downtempo percussion patterns and electro bass undertones, making it one of the better tracks in the set. "Columpnam" is minimal electro, while "When I Think Of" is backed by some simple, yet effective, drum melodies.

12. Agoria - Altre Voci
13. Glimpse - Train in Austria part 2

The connection between these two tracks is the best in the mix, as the tribal drum and hand-clapping rhythms of "Altre Voci" build up nicely to the powerful "Train in Austria part 2", which is a frantic and energetic series of synth melodies.

14. The Field - Over the Ice (Live mix)
15. Olibusta - La Pazz
16. Cubenx - Mis Dias Y Tus Noches
17. Felix Laband - Whisitling in Tongues (Todd Terje remix)

Tech-house comes through in full force in this section. The most notable is Cubenx's "Mis Dias Y Tus Noches"- an interesting variety of synth notes, drum breaks, and reverb effects.

18. jozif - Back 2 My Roots (jozif's 5o'clock Fabric Shadow edit)
19. Bibio - Jealous of Roses
20. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (Trus'me remix)
21. Boozoo Bajou feat. Rumer - Same Sun (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
22. Hatikvah - Synchronicty (Block Barley & Engin Ozturk Holmby Hills Remix)

Agoria uses this space to build a nu-disco vibe into the back half of Aller Retour, and the results are mostly successful.

The funky guitar and bass melodies "Jealous of Roses" are full of soul, but the song is hampered by terrible sound quality vocal samples. Other standouts include "45:33 (Trus'me remix)" and "Synchronicty (Block Bartley & Enging Ozturk Hombly Hills Remix)", two mellow songs with big-band jazz influences.

23. Rio en Medio - The Last Child's Tear
24. Tipper - Just as the Sun Went Down
25. Gregg Kowalsky - Ashes from Evermore

Agoria brings the Aller Retour to a close with three final tracks- one that seems tacked on, one that doesn't fit, and a reprise of the opener. Tipper's "Just as the Sun Went Down" is a beautiful chillout song, but it feels out of place following a series of nu-disco tracks. 

Disc 2 - Rising Sine

Balance 016 Disc Rising Sine "Soundcloud Edit" by AGORIA

While Agoria uses Aller Retour as an avenue to explore his experimental interests, he uses his time with Rising Sine to create a more upbeat, dance-friendly mix.

Of the two CD's in Balance 016, this is the stronger one, as it contains a nearly endless stream of catchy tracks while replicating some of the variety found in disc 1.

1. Sylvain Chauveau - Hurlements En Faveur De Serge T.
2. Aphrodite's Child- Loud Loud Loud
3. Taron Trekka - Shirol

A slew of piano melodies serve as the opener for Rising Sine, creating a mellow tone for a set of tracks with weird vocal samples.

"Loud Loud Loud" features a female monologue about society unraveling, amidst crowds chanting "No! No! No!", while in "Shirol", a man is speaking in a foreign language. It sounds weird on paper- but it totally works when put together.

4. The Same - Szarpiesz Minerwa
5. Ogris Debris - G-Thong (You and Me remix)

This section is a bit of a downer before going into the middle of the mix. "Szarpiesz Minerwa" sounds like filler, while "G-Thong (You and Me remix) is a decent deep house track, although its ruined by an annoying vocal sample that doesn't do the song any favor.

6. Francesco Tristano - Knee for Thought
7. Different Gear - One Thing More (Dub mix)
8. Michael Forzza - Abstractor 2.0
9. Chris Carrier and Jef K - Morning
10. DVS1 - Running
11. Drama Society & Vladislav Delay - Almodrama

Francesco Tristano's "Knee for Thought", with its improvisational guitar rhythms, kicks off the strongest part of the mix. The song is followed by the variety-filled tech-house track "One More Thing (Dub mix), before heading into the one of catchiest melodies in Balance 016.

"Abstractor 2.0", "Morning", and "Running" blend together to create several minutes of a back-and-forth percussion melody that I found difficult to get out of my head.

12. Agoria - Libellules
13. Avril - French Kiss
14. Gadi Mizrahi- I Know
15. Jonny Greenwood - Tehellet
16. Avril - French Kiss

This section has a strange, haunting vibe, first introduced with a steady keys rhythm in Agoria's "Libellules". The mysterious "I Know" and orchestral "Tehellet" are sandwiched in between two renditions of "French Kiss", an upbeat, drum-filled electronica track.

17. Mark Broom - Twenty Nine (Broom 09 mix)
18. Einmusik - Atlantis
19. Perc & Passarella Death Squad - Temperature's Rising
20. Aufgang - Sonar (Spitzer remix)
21. Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work it Out) (Serge Santiago remix)

Agoria brings the mix back to Rising Sine's house feel with another series of interesting tracks. Highlights include the spacey "Atlantis" and the highly-melodic "Sonar (Spitzer remix)", which contains hints of nu-disco.

My favorite song here is Serge Santiago's remix of "Work it Out", which features electro patterns that spiral in all directions on the note chart.

22. Efdemin - Acid bells (Martyn remix)
23. 3 Chairs - No Drum Machine part 2
24. Kid A - Lonely
25.  Sylvain Chauveau - Hurlements En Faveur De Serge T.

The mix winds down with the piano sounds of "Acid Bells (Martyn remix)", before heading into the indie-rock inspired "Lonely", which is carried by a decent vocal performance.

Final Verdict 

The good: Balance 016 is filled with music from an incredible variety of genres, so if you aren't a straight-up techno fan, don't fret- Agoria more than likely has made a few selections in both mixes that you'll enjoy. His second disc, Rising Sine, is very strong from start to finish, both in mixing and track selection.

The bad: Disc 1, Aller Retour, is commonly hampered by clunker track choices that take a particular theme in the mix and drag it out longer than it needs to be. I felt the track selection for Aller Retour was much weaker melodically compared to Rising Sine. Agoria also has a few track transition hiccups throughout both discs, where the contrasts between songs are highly apparent. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

Balance 016 - Agoria, is available for purchase at CDWow (UK), Play4Me (AU), Amazon (US), FYE (US), and soon on all major EDM download stores.

Agoria will also be playing at WMC on 3/26 at Hotel Victor and on 3/28 at Made Event's Sunday School for Degenerates. In May, he'll be in NYC for an album launch party (location TBA). 

[Image credit: Stomp.au, special thanks to PlexiPR]

Pushing the clock back a few decades

I normally don't talk about podcasts on here, but this one was so cool I had to give it a mention.

Brad Miller, who I had the chance to interview a couple weeks ago, recently released his latest Push The Night podcast. He's covered many genres of music in his previous shows, including trance, house, techno, electro, and their various crossovers and subgenres.

But for his 25th show he's tried something completely new for himself: nu-disco, and the result is a load of upbeat, lively, and retro-inspired fun. This mix is something completely out of left field and a great surprise to start the week.

Download at iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

Glistening waves on a sunset horizon

Uplifting trance is my favorite sub-genre of electronic dance music, but sometimes people poke fun of it online because of its connection to nature and the elements.

I don't see what music made on computers has to do with beaches, rolling waves, and aurora borealis, but I enjoy the whole nature aspect anyway.

So once again today I had some time to kill at a local mall, and I snapped this photo outside of a Gamestop. It's actually an ad for a Nintendo Wii game, but someone could use the title and artwork for an uplifting trance single and I bet few would know the difference:

From the DJ booth to your desktop

Podcasts and live sets are always fun to listen to, but you can never get closer to the full experience of a show without seeing it or being there.

A new live, weekly webcast on UStream.tv- Bars n' Beats, has been bringing the feel of a live show to a computer every Thursday from 9-11 p.m. with the help of local DJ's. The show is broadcasted out of a private, professional-quality studio in Hillsborough, NJ.

Last week I watched Zack Roth play with resident DJ Ralphie Smooth, and they do a nice job of setting up a few different camera angles of the DJ booth to keep you entertained while listening to some great music.

Tonight they will have Billy Mantani playing.

[Image credit: Barsnbeatsrecording.com]

Weekly shows update

Upcoming:

- Brad Miller will be playing with Wobble at Cielo on Thursday, March 25.

- Love resident DJ's Rich Medina and Akalepse are starting up a new party series for every Wednesday evening- "Props", with the first show being held tonight. For more info on weekly guests at these events, you can check out their official web site.

- Axwell of the Swedish House Mafia will be playing Pacha on April 2 with Erick Morillo. 

This weekend:

- Friday: A trio of shows in the local area: DJ Eco & various other locals will be playing at Love, Bobina will make his debut at Pacha, and Dubfire will play Glo on Long Island.

- Saturday: Victor Calderone at M2.

[Image credit: Cieloclub.com]

Summer is coming...

i The recent stretch of warm weather here in New York has got me thinking about summer already.

One of the songs in my current top 5- "Who We Are" by Luigi Lusini, is a great example of capturing that season in the form of music. Although the track was released in February, it has the markings of dance music's first summer anthem with the help of some nice guitar rhythms that give the song a Mediterranean flair:




"Who We Are" can be purchased here.

World's oldest DJ?

This short segment CBS News aired on Thursday is making the rounds of the internet, and for a good reason. What's not strange about a grandma behind the decks banging out house music?



Could you imagine if someone like Armin Van Buuren extended his career for another 50 or so years and was still producing/playing while he was 80-years-old? How many albums would he make? Where would ASOT 2500 be held and what would the lineup look like? Something interesting (and crazy) to think about...

[Video credit: CBS News, thanks to thedevestation on TranceAddict for pointing this video out]

Ferry Corsten to release new album, embark on concept tour

On March 30, Ferry Corsten (who rocked NYC's Nokia Theatre a couple weeks ago) will be releasing his latest compilation, Once Upon A Night, on Ultra Records.

The double-disc album will feature 25 all-new productions, including DJ Eco's "Dancing Under Streetlights", which Eco talked about a little bit in an interview I did with him last week.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1
1. Yuri Kane - Right Back
2. Yuri Kane - Around You
3. Alpha 9 - Come Home
4. Progressiver pres. FineSky - Fine Sky
5. Fred Baker pres. Saona - Saono (Andy Duguid Remix)
6. Tritonal feat. Soto - Forgive Me, Forget You (Ashley Wallbridge Remix)
7. JPL - We Move in Symmetry
8. Salt Tank pres. Meet Me At The Burning Man - Leaving Town (Allende Remix)
9. Phynn - Hello Love
10. Amurai feat. Melissa Loretta - Unconditional LOve
11. Arty - Hope
12. Fender Woods - Ain't She Pretty (Amurai's Yerevan Remix)
13. Cramp pres. Sliders - Meteor


Disc 2
1. Mark Sixma - Forsaken
2. The Airstatic - Worldwide (Anton Firtich Remix)
3. Tempo Giusto - Metropolitan (Alex O'Rion Remix)
4. Breakfast - Slow Motion
5. Bert Claessen - Hartseer
6. Rafael Frost - If Only
7. Mike Danis - Sweet Dynamite
8. Anton Firtich pres. AF Project - Something Wrong
9. Akira Kayosa - State Of Origin
10. Ferry Corsten pres. Pulse - Once
11. DJ Eco pres. Pacheco - Dancing Under Streetlights
12. BT - The Unbreakable (Breakfast Remix)

One of the cooler aspects of this album is the tour that Ferry will be doing to support it, which will feature a "living backdrop" with visuals of a day progressing from sunset, through the night, and then sunrise.

It seems like the industry is starting go beyond the traditional stage show lighting visuals by creating these elaborate sets. Deadmau5 mentioned recently on TranceAddict that his new tour will feature a large, LED mouse head. It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out too.

Click here for Ferry tour dates and more information on Once Upon A Night.

[Info/image credit: PlexiPR]

Weekly shows update

Upcoming:

- Made Event has a few interesting shows coming up at Cielo over the next month: DJ Hell on March 20, Sander Van Doorn [confirmed] on April 8, and Dave Dresden (formerly of the duo Gabriel & Dresden) on April 23.

- Cielo also has announced their weekly events schedule of residents for March.

This weekend:

Friday: Marcus Schossow @ Cielo

Saturday: Danny Howells & Lee Burridge @ Santos Party House

New Oliver Smith compilation out now

Anjunabeats released today a 12-track compilation by one of my favorite producers of dance music- Oliver Smith.

The album costs $8.95 on iTunes, and will be on other download stores in two weeks, according to Anjunabeats' Facebook page.

Here's the tracklisting:

1. Restless
2. Tomahawk
3. Boom Jinx feat. Key - Eternal Reminisence (Oliver Smith Remix)
4. Pacific
5. Horizons
6. Maor Levi - Shapes (Oliver Smith Remix)
7. Cadence
8. Signalrunners - Meet Me In Montauk (Oliver Smith Remix)
9. Cirrus
10. Boom Jinx & Oliver Smith - Sunrise
11. Signalrunners & Julie Thompson - These Shoulders (Oliver Smith Remix)
12. Nimbus

And if you've never heard any of these, here are my three favorite Oliver Smith productions:

1) Nimbus
2) Meet Me In Montauk Remix
3) Horizons

Great music from a great producer. Check it out.

Track reviews: The best of February

Over the past month, these two tracks have stayed in my top 5 for a decent amount of time, and for a good reason. I haven't gotten around to reviewing them until now, but if you're a trance fan and haven't checked them out already, now is a good time to do so.

1. Running Man - Fading Memories (RedSound Remix) [Only One]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @JunoDownload

When I first heard this song on Afterhours.fm's excellent Spain Trance Connection radio show, one of my thoughts was how much this song sounds like a track built in the early 2000's, but re-outfitted for 2010.

The song opens with your standard intro fare, but things get started quickly with a series of reverberated high-pitched descending scales that sound like the musical equivalent of stars falling out of the sky.

After some chopped samples of female vocalizations and a driving bassline get thrown into the mix, a soft melody emerges going into the breakdown, but it's not what's about to be featured in the closing minutes of the song.

Right at the end of the breakdown comes the main melody- a catchy rhythm that's played out by a synth with an old-school tuning- something that's not commonly heard in trance today.

This song also has a decent lasting value- on each listen I discover another subtle element of the track that I didn't hear before.

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

2. Hodel & JP Bates - Mirrors (Sunny Lax Remix) [Perceptive]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @JunoDownload

One of my soft spots in electronic music are songs have have melodies that are reminiscent of those old 8-bit sounds you would hear on a Game Boy, and "Mirrors" features one of these in a big way.

Everything in this song in neatly constructed- there isn't one effect or rhythm that sounds out of place, and there's also never a point where it sounds like too much is going on at once.

Throw in some powerful piano notes and a few interesting pad sounds- all with a progressive, yet uplifting tint- and you have one of the best songs of 2010 so far.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 [Choon]

[Image credit: Junodownload]