Monday, August 30, 2010

More free music?

Junodownload is offering a free download of Dash Berlin's "Never Cry Again (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix)" for registered users.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Free Nicolas Jaar EP

Wolf + Lamb has released a free Nicolas Jaar EP, "6 Edits", which contains the following tracks:

Come N' Get It
Mini Calcutta
Nico's Feelin Good
Shakedown
Stay In Love
The Beach

Available for download here.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

It has arrived!

The Enhanced Sessions Volume Two compilation that I ordered last week finally arrived in the mail today, and it's one of my favorite releases of the year already, even though I've only listened to Ferry Tayle's mix.


The compilation is still on sale for £7.99 ($12.81 US) at the Enhanced Recordings store [I'm not sure when the sale ends though].

If you like the songs below, you should check this release out.


7 Skies & Kiholm - Lost & Found (Dan Stone Remix)
Vascotia - Verano 2010 (Sean Tyas Remix)
ReOrder feat. Stine Grove - Biscay Bay (Ferry Tayle E-Motion Intro Edit)

Weekly shows update

- The lineups for the Trance Takeover event at Pacha during the upcoming September 24th weekend have been announced:

Friday: Marco V, Filo & Peri, Zack Roth, DJ Eco, Keryn & Dani Lehman, James Gill, Rory James, Wayde Rafnel, Ali Mahmud

Saturday: Andy Moor, Ronski Speed, Randy Boyer, Mike Saint-Jules, Harji & Watson, DJ Kaeno, Dave Correa, Frank Chiarello, Brendan Bartels.

- Chus & Ceballos will be at Cielo on Sunday night after Electric Zoo.

- Bobina and Danny Tenaglia return to Pacha in two weeks to play shows on Friday and Saturday, September 10 and 11.

- Boris will play a 6pm-midnight show at Water Taxi Beach on September 12.

- Dirty South will play Pacha on November 19.

- Paul Oakenfold will be at the Roseland Ballroom on November 24.

[Thanks to Enigmat on TranceAddict for compiling some of these]

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Saturday, August 21, 2010

EP Review: Lorant - The History Of Love

Music can be repetitive.

No matter what genre I'm listening to, I always hear some of the same elements repeated over and over again. Any song on FM radio follows the verse/chorus formula, dance music producers love to recycle some synth tunings, and rock bands often write lyrics on only a few subjects.

But every once in a while something comes along that is so vastly different and original; something that breaks the cycle and makes you wonder: "how did someone come up with this stuff"?

Lorant's The History of Love EP is that kind of release for me this summer.


When speaking about electronic music, what sets Lorant apart from other producers is his attention to the smaller things: the drum patterns, the basslines, and the musical bells and whistles that give each track its own flair.

And while some producers compose a lead melody and then create a track around that (sometimes reusing the same background effects as others), Lorant's creations yield that "homemade" feel. Every song on the EP sounds built from scratch, and throughout this 31-minute release, there are few moments where you can predict what's about to come next.

1. Hunter

"Hunter" was the first track I heard off this release before it came out, and like I described earlier, it's an incredible array of melodies, effects, and sound patterns mixed into seven minutes. The song is primarily electro, but has some garage-sounding drums thrown in for added variety. 

2. Dracula 2010

As the title implies, "Dracula" has an underlying 'haunting' vibe. The song is carried by a choppy electro synth-melody with a few surprises: most notably some hand-drumming and low-pitched piano notes.

3. Sound X. ft. Emanuel Xavier

This is the mellowest track on The History of Love, and features the voice of Brooklyn poet Emanuel Xavier over relaxing background synth notes and percussion that has the style of a New York City street performance.

Xavier's performance is something different, but gets repetitive near the end of the track. 

4. The History of Love

The EP's title track is built around a techy-synth melody that moves along at the pace of some minimal drum and percussion sounds. As the song progresses, the melody becomes longer in some places and shorter in others, with additional effects thrown in to keep the track from becoming too predictable.

One of my favorite effects is the powerful synth hits that shine in the back half of the song (they sound reminiscent of something you'd hear in an 80's action movie soundtrack). But as things start to really pick up, "The History of Love" ends. Although the track is four and a half minutes long, I feel like an extended version would suit this song concept better. 

5. Movie ft. O-Red

"Movie" is a breaks track with a rock-band feel, supplemented by the vocals of O-Red. The heavy usage of vocals and non-electronic drums are nice departure from the previous songs on the EP, but the track doesn't seem to build to any climax or endpoint. 

6. Jet Black ft. SAMN!

Lorant enlists Royal Advisor Records labelmate SAMN! to help out in the EP's final cut, which is among its best.

SAMN!'s soulful voice adds an interesting dynamic to this electronica-style track, which becomes ridiculously catchy as a xylophone pattern plays a back-and-forth game with a slew of electro-synths and percussion effects.

Final Verdict

The good: Lorant's debut release is nothing short of original, with a wide variety of electronic and percussion sounds that keep you coming back for more. This isn't the kind of EP you do a once-over with: you have to keep listening to it again to uncover everything that's going on in each track.

The bad: The vocal work on this release has a few quirks, and a couple of the tracks left me wanting more, such as "The History of Love" and "Movie".

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

For sale at:
Beatport // Traxsource // JunoDownload // AudioJelly // AmazonMP3

(also available on iTunes)

Friday, August 20, 2010

Trance Thursdays...and some coffee

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Birch Coffee in lower Manhattan for their "Trance Thursdays" event, where they broadcast Armin Van Buuren's A State Of Trance and M.I.K.E.'s Club Elite Sessions radio shows on their speaker system.

If you haven't checked this place out before, I highly recommend it. Not only do you get to enjoy quality food and drink, but the venue is comfortable, the staff is friendly, and the music is great.

Local DJ Mike Saint-Jules also plays sets there from 4-7pm on Fridays with drink specials throughout the afternoon.

I wish I could turn back the clock and experience this cup of their hot chocolate again:


Birch Coffee is located on 5 East 27th Street.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Weekly shows update

A couple things popped up over the weekend that I didn't list last week:

- DJ Eco is going to Toronto on the 20th and Edmonton on the 27th.

- Love is presenting their annual Classics Night this Saturday put on by Massive Event, where the theme of the show is old-school tunes. Zack Roth, Tom Colontonio, DJ Eco, and Frank Chiarello will be playing that night.

- Sleepy & Boo will be at Cielo this Friday, with free admission on the guestlist before midnight

- deadmau5 is playing a trio of shows at the end of October at the Roseland Ballroom.

Check the sidebar to the right for more info/tickets.

Electric Zoo 2010 set times, scheduling tool, and afterparty info announced

When announcing new info on this year's Electric Zoo Festival, usually Made Event will send out small updates, such as a ticket price increase or a couple new names added to the schedule.

But today they sent out a huge update with some decent surprises.

First off, New York's Zack Roth has been added to the Hilltop Arena schedule for an 11am-noon set on Sunday. I've seen Zack play his house and progressive sets before on Bars N' Beats, and he's always fun to watch.

The official set times for the festival can be found here. This year the schedule is a new format where you can create your own printable list of who you want to see and listen to tracks from each artist. Artist bios are also built into the schedule, and can be viewed when you mouse over their names. An iPhone scheduler app is also in the works (no Android or Blackberry love though?).


Some of the bigger names like Markus Schulz are playing sets earlier in the day since they have separate gigs that night, but I'm glad that Made Event didn't run into some possible scheduling snafus (Above & Beyond and Armin Van Buuren are the headliners for their respective stages on Sunday, but they're not playing at the same time).

You can also get to the festival this year through the local ferry, and tickets for that can be purchased here.

Finally, Dresden & Johnson, Italoboyz, Heartthrob, and Taimur & Fahad have been announced to round out the lineup for Saturday's official afterparty at Pacha. Guy Gerber is the only name right now for the Sunday afterparty, but more details will be coming soon.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Enhanced Recordings albums, clothing on sale

It was a pleasant surprise when I opened up one of my email accounts this afternoon and found this in my inbox:


Enhanced Recordings has been one of the hottest trance and progressive labels this year so far, and  they have a bunch of great two-disc compilations now on sale for $12.81 (US) each. There's also a few bundle deals there too, where you can get two compilations (four discs total) for $20.32 or a compilation/shirt for $28.14.

And the icing on the cake is free shipping no matter where you live and no tax for US customers.

Click here to visit their web store.

If you're looking for something new to listen to and can't decide, check out Enhanced Sessions Vol. 2 (Mixed by Tritonal and Ferry Tayle):




Over on TranceFix, Jorn Van Deynhoven called it the best compilation of the year so far and the previews sound awesome. After I'm done sifting through some of the stuff I haven't listened to yet, I can't wait to give this one a spin when it arrives in my mailbox.

[Image/video credit: Enhanced Recordings]

Want to learn how to DJ or produce?

No matter what music store you visit in New York, you'll always seem to notice this trend: they sell guitars, keyboards, and band instruments in abundance, and offer lessons for each. For us electronic music fans, they might have a corner where you can buy a cheap turntable or a mixer, but as for lessons on how to use this stuff, you'll have to go "elsewhere".

That "elsewhere" is Dubspot, which looks nicer than any lesson room of a Guitar Center or Sam Ash that I've ever seen:


If you're heading back to school somewhere in the New York area over the next couple weeks (and a lot of us are), Dubspot is offering discounts for courses that begin this month and in September.

You can get a 20% discount for signing up for a course that starts in August, and a 10% discount for those that begin in September.

Their staff also runs a blog where they post podcasts and free instructional videos. Wouldn't it be cool if they let their students make some guest mixes for the blog as a final exam? (just an idea...)

Call 212-242-2100 or email info@dubspot.com for more information.

[Image credit: Dubspot, info credit: PlexiPR]

Friday, August 13, 2010

Beatbot: Is it good?

Yesterday Beatport unveiled a new service for their website: Beatbot, which matches tracks that you like to similar ones based on sound, genre, style, and other aspects. It's a bit similar to the way Pandora works, but the goal is to get you to buy more music from the store.

Here's a quick demo of how it works (the track in this video, Gorge's "Xaxax", is pretty decent):



So how is it?

While I give Beatport effort for trying, it's nothing more than a glorified label tracking service.

For each song you want Beatport to do a scan on, it chooses 20 similar ones. But the problem is that only one or two of these 20 songs are not from the label of the song you picked. So you're essentially just getting an in-browser update of "what's new" from your favorite labels.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Weekly shows update

- Sean Tyas, Ryan Tyas, MadRiverRai, James Costas, and Jay Kinard will be playing another boat cruise through Manhattan's harbor on August 20.

- Deadmau5's unhooked show with 22 other acts, which was originally scheduled for July 5  (but got canceled) at the pool at Harrah's Resort and Casino, has been rescheduled for October 3.

- TranceAddict and Massive Event are putting on a "Trance Takeover" event at Pacha on the weekend of September 24th. The only two names confirmed so far are Andy Moor and Marco V, but many more are going to be announced in the coming weeks.

- Sappho's Journey of Royal Advisor Records will be at The Bitter End this Sunday.

- Lastly, if you haven't bought tickets yet for this upcoming Labor Day weekend's Electric Zoo Festival, prices will increase again at midnight tonight.

Monday, August 9, 2010

DJ Hero was too simple

Gregory Kaufman has designed an interesting-looking digital turntable setup, with mixer controls being incorporated through touchscreen hand gestures.


[Image credit: Engadget]

Saturday, August 7, 2010

New York Times article on Arabian EDM festival

The New York Times ran an article today on Distant Heat, a Middle-Eastern dance music festival.

Stephen Farrell of the NYT did a great job at capturing the feel of an electronic event and includes quotes from Ferry Corsten and Alex M.O.R.P.H.

You can read the article and watch a video here.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Exchange of Sound Festival to be broadcast tomorrow on AH.fm

Afterhours.fm will be broadcasting another live event tomorrow: the Exchange of Sound Festival in Poland.

 The music starts at 3pm (CET) and 9am (EST).

[Flyer credit: Afterhours.fm]

Thursday, August 5, 2010

1,000 albums for $5 each

Every month, Amazon.com sells 100 of their MP3 albums for a reduced price of $5 each. But for the month of August, they've listed 1,000 choices in this category, including some decent selections for those of us that like electronic dance music.

You can view a full list of the EDM albums on sale here. Among the trance deals:










[Image credit: Amazon.com]

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

ReOrder releases free track in memory of Love Parade victims

Following the news of last month's tragedy at the Love Parade festival in Germany, ReOrder has teamed up with Silent Shore Records to release a free track in memory of those who died: "A World of Trance". Right click the link on their website and choose "save as" to download.

Now I'm not sure if he cranked out this track in two weeks after the event happened, or if this was something he recently finished and decided to label it "in memorandum".

But either way, this is a fantastic uplifting tune with a huge breakdown and an emotional melody. Highly recommended.

[Image credit: Silent Shore Records]

Axwell added as Electric Zoo headliner

A couple weeks ago Paul Van Dyk was taken off the lineup for this year's Electric Zoo Festival.

So what does Made Event do? They announce today that Axwell (one-third of the Swedish House Mafia) has been added to the roster of performing artists. Not a bad choice for a replacement...

Also in that announcement is the details of one of the official afterparties, where Robbie Rivera, Sharam, and others will be playing Pacha on Saturday, September 4.

In my opinion, Axwell is the most unique-sounding member of the Swedish House Mafia when compared to Steve Angello, who played Electric Zoo last year, and Sebastian Ingrosso. He still carries that signature SHM sound, but at the same time produces some quality stuff outside the normal parameters, like his new single "Nothing But Love". The "Remode" version of the track is the one faring better on Beatport charts, but I like the "Classic Mix" more.

[Info credit: PlexiPR]

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

DJ Mag Top 100 spoof + some irony?

Two things that I thought were pretty funny today...

This guy wants you to vote in DJ Mag's Top 100 poll for a few of his favorite names. But in the meantime, he explains why some guys always make it into the top 10 each year:



Also today during my commute home from NYC, I was listening to Andy Blueman and I turned and looked out the window and snapped this picture. A coincidence considering the kind of music Andy produces? Or not?

Monday, August 2, 2010

Weekly shows update

- If you're reading this blog and happen to live in the northwest, Brad Miller is returning home to play a show at Trinity in Seattle on August 14.

- Ferry Corsten is returning to New York, this time at Pacha, on October 1.

- I made an error on a previous post saying that Aly & Fila would be at Pacha this Friday. Instead, it will be John O'Callaghan and Matt Darey performing that night, with Mike Saint-Jules, Wayde Rafnel, and others playing some of the other rooms in the club. Danny Tenaglia will be at Pacha the following night.

- Hot Natured, the duo of Lee Foss (Culprit, Wolf + Lamb) and Jamie Jones (Culprit, Hot Creations) will be playing a daytime show from 2pm-Midnight at the Rivington Hotel on September 18. If you haven't heard their new track "Wintertime", it's worth checking out.

And lastly, the reason why I haven't been doing so many of these lately is because most of the shows for July were announced at the beginning of the summer, leaving substantial updates few and far between.
 
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