Afterhours.fm's year-ending festival

Afterhours.fm is now broadcasting their "End of the Year Countdown" series of shows.

For set times and dates, click the image below to enlarge (some dates have passed):

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

The Top 1000 Trance songs of all time*

*some trance, that is.

Earlier this spring, Armada Music and Dancefoundation (a dance music-focused multimedia company), launched a web poll asking voters to choose their top 10 favorite trance songs of all time. The results have now been compiled into a top 1000 list, but not all of it is trance music.

Some of the tracks on the list are house and progressive-house releases, including a slew of tracks from deadmau5 such as "Arguru", "Not Exactly", and "Faxing Berlin". There's also a ton of Armin Van Buuren's less-publicized recent work. A coincidence considering the type of modern trance fans who are voting on this poll? Or not?

The top 20 are as follows:

1. Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence (Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise Remix)
2. Rank 1 - Airwave (Original Mix)
3. Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Sweeping Strings Remix)
4. Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (DJ Tiësto Remix)
5. Armin Van Buuren & Jan Vayne - Serenity (Original Mix)
6. Oceanlab - Satellite (Original Above & Beyond Mix)
7. Gaia - Tuvan (Original Mix)
8. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston - No One On Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
9. Gouryella - Gouryella (Original Mix)
10. Sasha - Xpander (Original Mix)
11. Paul van Dyk - For An Angel (Original Mix)
12. Armin van Buuren ft. Sharon Den Adel - In And Out Of Love (Original Mix)
13. System F - Out Of The Blue (Original Mix)
14. Yahel & Eyal Barkan - Voyage (Tiësto's Magikal Remake)
15. William Orbit - Barber's Adagio For Strings (Ferry Corsten Remix)
16. Dash Berlin feat. Emma Hewitt - Waiting (Original Mix)
17. Bedrock - Heaven Scent (Original Mix)
18. Chicane - Saltwater (Original Mix)
19. Above & Beyond feat. Andy Moor - Air for Life (Original Mix)
20. Cass & Slide - Perception (Original Mix

You can check the top 10 that I submitted here, but looking at that list now, I'd change it considering some of the songs I've heard this year.

Electric Zoo 2011 pre-sale tickets now available

Although Electric Zoo 2010 wrapped up only a few months ago, Made Event is already selling tickets for next year's festival, which will now be a three day affair. The event will start earlier on Labor Day weekend on Friday, September 2.

No lineup announcements have been made yet- and it's unclear if Made Event will provide a fix to the dust problem that many attendees were concerned about last year. But for those committed to going, a three day pass costs $129 (with a additional $40 service fee).

Armada Music interviews DJ Eco

A new interview with DJ Eco can be read here.

Armada Music launches iOS App

Armada Music now has a free iOS App, covering all the latest news, releases, and videos from the label.

The app is designed in the typical iOS format with the menu at the bottom, so don't expect any visual thrills here. But Armada is the first dance music label that I know of that's released something like this. Maybe other labels will follow suit?

[Image credit: Apple.com]

RA Top 100 DJ poll, performance poll results

Resident Advisor has released the results of their Top 100 DJ poll, as well as their picks for the top 10 live acts of the year. Richie Hawtin took first place in both.

The cutting-room floor of DJ Eco's studio

DJ Eco posted a link on his Facebook fan page for "The Best Things In Life Are Free (A Walkabout Through The Deserts Of A Musical Mind)", a 16-track collection of his previously unreleased work.

The collection, which contains Trance, House, Ambient, Dubstep, and Trip-Hop tracks, can be downloaded here. Most of these tracks are pretty short as they clock in around three minutes each, but it's rare that we get to hear so much unreleased material in one place.

Tracklisting:

1. Eco - The First Time
2. Eco - People (Unreleased Version)
3. Eco - The Sky Moved Sideways
4. Eco - ??? (Thomas Sagstad's Unreleased Remix)
5. Deadrat6 - Somewhat Exactly
6. Eco - A Little Help From My Friends (A Day Before Electric Zoo)
7. Eco - Boston
8. Eco - Vodka Tonic (A Song For When The Weather Is Hot)
9. Eco - The River Is A Mirror Of The City Night Sky
10. The XX - Intro (Eco Bootleg Remix)
11. Eco - This Song Is Too Short But So Is Life, So Smile
12. Modest Mouse - Little Motel (Eco Bootleg Remix)
13. Eco - Things'll Get Better, I Promise
14. Moshic - Am I Stand On The Right Side (Eco Flew Away Bootleg)
15. White Rose Movement - Alsatian (Eco Bootleg Intro Remix)
16. Eco - End Of The World

AmazonMP3 Thanksgiving promotional offer

Enter the code GET3MP3S at this link to earn $3.00 in AmazonMP3 song credits.

District 36 finally opens its doors

After months of delays from permit registrations and building clearances, District 36 finally opened its doors for business last night. The new nightclub is known for its four huge speaker stacks and an elevated DJ booth that places an emphasis on the dancefloor; not watching a DJ spin.

The midtown techno/house spot, located on 36th street, is being booked with the help of Blk|Market Membership, a New York underground promoting group known for its Brooklyn-based warehouse events.

[Image credit: Resident Advisor]

An insight into the next iTunes?

Absolutepunk, an alternative music news web site, recently posted an interview with Bandcamp founder Ethan Diamond.

Bandcamp is an emerging digital music distribution service that offers several features that iTunes and AmazonMP3 do not, most notably:

- Full track previews for all songs.
- The ability for a consumer to set their own price for music downloads.
- The option to download files in MP3, FLAC, OGG, ACC, or Apple Lossless formats.

I bought my first album from Bandcamp two weeks ago; Benn Jordan's Pale Blue Dot, and the payment experience was seamless through PayPal.

Not many electronic artists have embraced Bandcamp for their digital sales, but it's definitely a service to keep an eye out for in the future.

Weekly shows update

New shows have been added to the calendar on the right, including a couple dates for 2011.

Enhanced Music announces 'Best of 2010' contest

Enhanced Recordings and Enhanced Progressive, two leading electronic music labels, are asking fans to vote for their five favorite songs of the year from each label. The results will form the tracklists of two 'Best of 2010' compilations, which will be released in December.

According to their web site, 10 fans who enter the contest with a valid email address will be chosen to receive Enhanced "goodie bags" with CD singles, compilations, and T-Shirts.

Here are my top five picks in ascending order (click the track names if you wish to purchase any of these tracks for 89 cents at AmazonMP3):

5. Vascotia - Verano (Sean Tyas 2010 Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]



4. 7 Skies & Kiholm - Lost And Found (Dan Stone Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]



3. After Meridian & Dave Costa ft. Cat Martin - Empty Spaces (Andrew Bennett's Lost Time Remix) [Enhanced Progressive]



2. Arty - Twilight Tonight (Arty Remode) [Enhanced Progressive]



1. Oliver P - Lost Without You (Karybde & Scylla Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]

DJ Eco among first 25 names selected for ASOT 500 shows

Armin Van Buuren has announced the first 25 DJ's that will play alongside him at the A State Of Trance 500 shows next spring.

The bad news: the United States show won't be happening anywhere near New York.

The good news: New York's own DJ Eco will be representing the city at one of the five events.

The list so far:

Armin van Buuren
Alex M.O.R.P.H.
Aly & Fila
Andy Moor
Arnej
Arty
Ashley Wallbridge
Ben Gold
Cosmic Gate
Daniel Kandi
Eco
Gareth Emery
John O'Callaghan
Markus Schulz
Mat Zo
Menno de Jong
Myon & Shane 54
Ørjan Nilsen
Paul Oakenfold
Roger Shah
Sean Tyas
Sied van Riel
Signum
Tenishia
Ummet Ozcan
W&W

Well, at least the hard drives are ok

On Tuesday, a Los Angeles home owned by dubstep producer Rusko caught fire. According to his Twitter, the fire damaged his car and some of the house's exterior.

In any fire, it's best to evacuate the building as quick as possible. But we all know that it doesn't always happen that way; people grab their most prized belongings, then decide to escape. Rusko's most valuable item? His hard drives. The dedication of some musicians...

[Image credit: Resident Advisor]

Intros no more!

A good bit of news for those who enjoy purchasing dance music on iTunes: song previews will now be increased to 90 seconds.

I'm not an iTunes user (AmazonMP3 is my choice). But it's a pain to browse new dance music tracks under the current 30-second format. Rather than taking the 30 seconds out of the mainlead or breakdown of a song- its two most melodic parts, I usually find the samples to be the beginning of songs. Hearing the start of a dance music song is barely an indication of what it actually sounds like, since most introductions are just cues for DJ's to mix the track into their set.

With these new sample sizes, listeners should be able to get a better indication of what a track sounds like without having to search for the full version on YouTube.

[Image credit: 9to5Mac]

Weekly shows update

New shows have been added to the calendar on the right.

Free music on AmazonMP3

If you enter the promotional code "STUDENT3" on AmazonMP3, you'll get three dollars worth of download credits. They expire on Monday.

One last bit about the DJ Mag Top 100 poll

You can now search any DJ name and find their placement in the poll results. I'm not sure how deep this list goes, but I found guys ranked in the 7,000's.

Some thoughts on this year's DJ Mag Top 100 poll

Those DJ Mag Top 100 poll results that were leaked over the weekend were actually the real deal, as the magazine posted the exact same list on their web site today.

So what's interesting about this list?

- Dash Berlin makes his first appearance on the DJ Mag Top 100 list, debuting at the #15 slot. Again, this poll is essentially a popularity contest, but his ranking proves that he's already more popular than longtime "poppy" trance DJ's like Sean Tyas, Aly & Fila, and Daniel Kandi.

- The Swedish House Mafia's three members appear four times in the top 100. Axwell at #10, Steve Angello at #14, Sebastian Ingrosso at #16, and as the Swedish House Mafia at #23. Some people wrote the name 'Swedish House Mafia' as one entry, while I think others weren't sure if they could do that, so they listed all three members instead. If you added all these votes together, the Swedish House Mafia as a group could be in the top 10, or maybe even the #1 slot.

- Markus Schulz said that Electric Zoo was his favorite new place to play this year:

I haven't really been to a lot of new clubs this year, so can I say the Electric Zoo festival in New York? It was about time the East Coast had a proper festival. That was the most important new event in clubland.

- Arty (#78) is the guy this year who makes it onto the list for his production ability; not his mixing or DJ abilities. It happens every poll, and you can count the number of nights Arty has played this year with one hand. He was mentioned by Above & Beyond, Kyau & Albert, Super8 & Tab, Mat Zo, The Thrillseekers, and Aly & Fila as their breakout producer of the year. [What's with all those &'s? Weird.]

- Wolf + Lamb didn't make this list. The audience they cater to aren't the ones that would read a publication like DJ Mag, but their popularity is undeniable.

One of music's long-lost genres refuses to go away

There's three essential elements to any 80's action movie: a plot that doesn't make sense, ridiculous explosions caused by hand grenades, and majestic instrumental music that repeatedly blares in the background amongst the hysteria of battle.

Michael Cassette has captured that 80's action movie vibe in their debut album, Temporarity, which is now up for pre-order on Anjunadeep's web site. The Finnish production duo's brand of progressive house is a modern take on this classic soundtrack style.

As with every Anjunadeep release, new track samples will be posted up on their SoundCloud every Monday and Friday until the album's drops on November 29. If you can't wait to hear more, play the first video below starting at 5:12. Then turn the sound off for the second video and start play at :31 for some audio/visual fun.





[Image credit: Anjunadeep.com]