Final ASOT 450 show in Poland postponed

The fifth and final installment of A State of Trance 450, which was scheduled to begin now in Wrocraw, Poland, has been postponed in respect to a horrific plane crash this morning that left the country's president and 95 others dead.

Beatsmedia is reporting that the show is going to be rescheduled for April 24, but with a different lineup.

Although there has been no official announcement on whether or not the aforementioned changes are true, I can see them being valid. With the schedule that most DJ's tour with, which requires them to be in several countries across the world on any given week, it would be difficult to have the same group of artists in Poland on a future date.

The show will still be broadcasted in audio and video formats on A State of Trance's web site.

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]

DJNY #2: DJ Eco

An architect by day, a college student by night, and a DJ by even later night; it's never a dull moment for Marcello Pacheco (aka DJ Eco), a New Jersey native and one of electronic dance music's brightest up-and-coming producers.

His career has been rising to new levels in 2010 with his recent hits "And We Flew Away" and "Staring At The Sea" getting countless plays from some of the top DJ's around the globe.

On April 2 at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC, Eco will play alongside such trance legends as Armin Van Buuren and Rank 1 at his biggest show yet- A State Of Trance 450.

But what's the story behind all of his great tunes and club performances? Here's what he had to say...

In The Studio…

Binarysound: When did you get into the production game and what programs were you using when you first started out? 

DJ Eco: I started when I was about 14 using Fruity Loops and I was doing really, really basic stuff. The influences I had at the time were the local Webster Hall trance CD and some of the rave guys like DJ Micro and DJ Mind-X. I actually would make a good 20 or 25 tracks and put them on a CD and sell them for $5 to kids at my high school. I sold about 20-30 CD's that way.  

BSound: What did those tracks on those CD's sound like compared to your recent work? 

Eco: I was finding my way with different sounds on Fruity Loops and I was trying to emulate as much as possible the kind of early Tiesto stuff I was listening to. It was definitely ten steps down from what I'm capable of now, but I can see some resemblance. I was very interested in putting these intricate melodies together and that was the start and aim of my music.

I also was definitely interested in harder trance and hardstyle. A lot of my earlier productions were really intense- like 145bpm, which was similar to guys like Cosmic Gate, DJ Isaac, etc., early on. So my first stepping stones were with that. 

Bsound: With your current productions, how do you sit down and think 'this is the melody I'm going to write for this song'? 

Eco: I'm actually a lot different than most producers because I'm very busy- I have a job and I also go to school, so I have really little time. A lot of my writing is done on my laptop in a bus or subway going somewhere, so the basic barebones melody writing is done in those places.

So whatever happens or influences me at those moments I put it down to sound then I go back home and refine that later in the studio and put it all together in terms of making a coherent song. It's a little bit of everyday inspiration, and kind of cliché, but I write it them in weird places.  

Bsound: So New York City is an inspiration in your songwriting? 

Eco: Yea. You can hear that some songs are sadder and others are really happy depending on something I see that day, some place I'm at, or something I've overheard in a park. The different places where I put it together influence what comes out as far as putting the melodies on the computer. 

Bsound: Your released your latest production- "Staring At The Sea", under a 'Pacheco' moniker. What's the deal with this new name? 

Eco: It's another name I'm currently developing with Flashover Recordings. It's for releasing material on other labels for legal reasons but I'm also trying to do something different and push the boundaries a little bit more compared to some of my other work. 

You can notice, especially in "Staring At The Sea", that it's really weird, or at least that's some of the feedback I get from people who have heard it. Like people's first reactions to hearing it were "oh what are all these little sounds? I can't keep track of what's going on". I'm really trying with that song and another song called "Dancing Under Streetlights" that's coming out under that moniker to do something different, even though that's my general approach to songwriting. But I'm kind of pushing it further with Flashover since they're a label that, in my opinion, encourages that. 

BSound: I saw that you were producing a remix of "The Saltwater Room" by Owl City. It struck me as kind of odd for someone like you to remix this song. What kind of treatment are you giving this track and how did you get the idea to remix it? 

Eco: Before the success of Owl City's Fireflies album, Universal wasn't really expecting that to be so popular so they said they wanted to do a second wave of promotion with a remix album. I was one of the artists that were asked to be involved with the project, but the album is actually on hold. 

I finished the remix and they liked it a lot but as far as releasing it it's on hold until further notice. As for the style of the song, it's an ambient/chillout track that oddly enough sounds similar to the style of Kaleidoscope by Tiesto. It has really big pads, a lot of chord progression and treatment on the vocals, but overall it's slower than my usual stuff and more loungy.  

Bsound: Any chance that we'll ever see this track or if the album will come out? 

Eco: The album's not really going anywhere- but I might just release it for free, which is something I like to do every once in a while. 

Bsound: On your MySpace there's a banner ad for a mix album by you called "The Sound Of (You)th". Is that something coming out soon? 

Eco: It's something I put up there but I haven't finished yet. I'm always putting out promotional mixes and mix CD's that usually have some theme to them. So "The Sound Of (You)th" is one that I want to do as three or four part CD mix with the theme of it being the sound of my everyday life. For example, one CD would be a lot of the chillout and lounge stuff I listen to, and another would be heavy headliner trance. I want to make the mix transition like that but I haven't been able to finish it all of it yet. It's nothing official- I wouldn't be selling it, but it would be a free download to let people get an idea of what I'm listening to when I'm not producing or DJing- something a bit different from the norm. 

Bsound: What kind of feeling do you get when you hear someone else playing one of your tracks on a radio show or during a live set?

Eco: It's pretty incredible. I've gotten more and more used to it- at first I would go crazy and dance and my friends would go out of control. But now I kind of just stand there and see the audience's reactions and take in the details of people singing along or whistling to the melodies- whatever happens to be going on at that particular moment whether it's a live broadcast or performance.

Bsound: Out of all the songs you've made, which ones are your favorites? 

Eco: "Tonight Is Forever" and "Staring At The Sea". The melody from "Tonight Is Forever" seems to still surprise me even though I've heard it a few hundred times. For "Staring At The Sea", I put a lot of time and effort into the subtleties and the small sounds, and I'm very happy with how they all come together to make a song.

A State Of Trance 450… 

Bsound: What was your reaction when you first heard that you were going to play on April 2? Was this booking something you were expecting or did it just come out of the blue? 

Eco: I found out about it the day before the lineup was announced. The original email I was supposed to get was lost in the spam folder of my inbox so I never read it. Then Armin's manager contacted me and asked me if I could confirm if I was playing, and I said "of course I can confirm". After that I gave all my closest friends a call to tell them the news, as they have been waiting for that opportunity for a while, even longer than I have [laughs]. 

Bsound: What do you plan to do with the one hour timeslot you have at that show? 

Eco: Here in New York I've been doing a lot of opening sets for other guys and it's been an amazing opportunity where I try to explore different sounds. Opening for Marco V recently is one example and opening for Cosmic Gate is another. 

But as I'm on early that night I don't want people to assume that I'm going to play that way. I'm really going to go all out as far as introducing some new songs and picking out my favorite tracks from my favorite producers. I want to create an overall headliner feel for my set rather than the usual thing that the New York crowd is used to- which is me opening up for other guys. I'm trying to come out of my shell and hopefully give people something to talk about.

---------

Those who want to watch DJ Eco spin, but can't wait for A State Of Trance 450 in April, can catch him at Love on March 12, sponsored by Massive Event. Eco will be joined by locals Harji & Watson, Wayde Rafnel, MadRiverRai, Jay Kinard, Rob Stevens, and Brendan Bartels. 

[Image credit: Tianbek.net and Nightreveler.com]

A State of Trance 450 timeslots announced

The official A State of Trance web site has now been updated with new graphics and timeslots for the upcoming episode 450 shows.

Here are the lineups with times for both NYC dates: 

Friday, April 2

09pm - 10pm - Cerf en Mitiska 
10pm - 11pm - DJ Eco 
11pm - 00am - Rank 1 
00am - 02am - Armin van Buuren 
02am - 03am - Menno de Jong 
03am - 04am - Roger Shah 
04am - 05am - MIKE

Saturday, April 3
 
09pm - 10pm - Breakfast 
10pm - 11pm - Lange 
11pm - 00am - Giuseppe Ottaviani 
00am - 02am - Armin van Buuren 
02am - 03am - John O' Callaghan 
03am - 04am - Filo & Peri 
04am - 05am - Alex M.O.R.P.H.

Both of these lineups are interesting as Armin will be playing during the middle of the show and not later on during the night.

On a side note- ticket prices for Friday night have also risen $10 to make them $60 total.

A State Of Trance 450 Final Lineups

As announced today on Armin Van Buuren's A State Of Trance radio show.

[Thanks to di.fm posters and Euphoria on TranceAddict for compiling these]

Thursday, April 1 - The Guvernment @ Toronto, Canada

Armin van Buuren
Signum
Arnej
Blake Jarrell
Aly & Fila
Sean Tyas
Simon Patterson

Friday, April 2 - Roseland Ballroom @ New York, New York

Armin van Buuren
Menno de Jong
M.I.K.E. Push
Rank 1
Dj Eco
Roger Shah
Cerf & Mitiska

Saturday, April 3 - Roseland Ballroom @ New York, New York

Armin van Buuren
Breakfast
Lange
Giuseppe Ottaviani
John O'Callaghan
Alex M.O.R.P.H.
Filo And Peri

Friday, April 9 - EXPO Arena @ Bratislava, Slovakia

Armin van Buuren
Myon & Shane 54
W&W
Ashley Wallbridge
Dash Berlin
Gareth Emery
Marcus Schossow
Daniel Kandi

Saturday, April 10 - The Centennial Hall @ Wroclaw, Poland

Armin van Buuren
Markus Schulz
Cosmic Gate
Jorn van Deynhoven
Super8 & Tab
Sied van Riel
Mat Zo
Andy Moor
Nitrous Oxide

I think it goes without discussion that Poland has by far the best lineup, followed by Slovakia. As for the three North American dates, Toronto is the best, and Friday night's New York lineup is better than Saturday's in my opinion.

But either way, all of the shows are going to be streamed for free on the internet, and the two European shows will end up being during the daytime over here in the US. Therefore, you won't have to stay up late at night five times over a two week period to watch all the good stuff.

Unofficial list for ASOT 450 shows

Armin Van Buuren is hosting three North American shows and two European shows for A State Of Trance 450 this coming April.

4/1 - Toronto
4/2 - NYC
4/3 - NYC
4/9 - Bratislava, Slovakia
4/10 - Wroclaw, Poland

During his ASOT 439 show today, he announced a list of special guest DJ's slated to perform at the upcoming shows.

Here's the unofficial list of who he mentioned that will be playing with him for those five nights, but not the location of each:

Alex M.O.R.P.H
Aly & Fila
Arnej
Ashely Wallbridge
Blake Jarell
Cosmic Gate
DJ Eco
Filo & Peri
Gareth Emery
Giuseppe Ottaviani
Markus Schulz
Myon & Shane 54
M.I.K.E
Nitrous Oxide
Sean Tyas
Sied Van Riel
Signum
Simon Patterson
Super8 & Tab
W&W
JOC

We do know however that the following names can't play the 4/3 NYC show since they're booked for Trance Energy in the Netherlands on the same night:

Markus Schulz
W&W
Super8 & Tab
Arnej
Gareth Emery
Sean Tyas
Cosmic Gate

Stay tuned for updates.

Armin Van Buuren coming to NYC in early April

To celebrate the upcoming 450th episode of A State Of Trance, his popular weekly radio show, Armin Van Buuren is coming to New York City on April 2 and 3 for a pair of shows at the Roseland Ballroom.




Tickets cost $30 for the Friday night show and $37.50 for Saturday night.

Next week on ASOT, Armin will announce the "special guests" at both events. Since Trance Energy is going on over in the Netherlands the same weekend, you can already make a list of the people that won't be there- Gareth Emery, Markus Schulz, Daniel Kandi, Super8 & Tab, etc.

Personally, I think DJ Eco will be one of the special guests, as he is one of the biggest rising stars in EDM coming out of NYC and his tracks are well liked by Armin.