Armada Music interviews DJ Eco

A new interview with DJ Eco can be read here.

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

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

New DJ Eco Podcast

DJ Eco has a new podcast: "The Sound Of (You)th". The first episode can be listened to here, with new episodes being released bi-weekly.

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.

DJNY #4: Wayde Rafnel

Every local DJ's career story is born from humble beginnings, turning into something that has the potential to become so much more. 

Like many others in New York's emergent scene, Wayde Rafnel is among the wave of homegrown talent bringing fresh ideas and perspectives to electronic dance music.

Wayde has his sights set on an eventful second half of 2010: one which will include revamping the traditional mix podcast format, raising the bar for the quality of demo compilations, and most importantly playing great sets.

While this set of goals may appear lofty, it can be done.  And here's Wayde plans to make it all come together...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From paradise to the country...and maybe back

Binarysound: You were born in Costa Mesa, California. What age did you move over to Pennsylvania and where are you in that state right now? 

Wayde Rafnel: Right now I live in the Poconos which is in the middle of nowhere. I moved here when I was about 6 or 7-years-old, because my Mom lived here when she was my age and then moved out west before she met my Dad. We then decided to move back here to be closer to family. 

BSound: So you were living in the Poconos before you got into DJing and producing? 

WR: Oh yea, by far. 

BSound: What age were you and where did you become exposed to electronic dance music? 

WR: I started playing guitar when I was 15-years-old and I was really influenced by heavy metal and anything that sounded aggressive. I fell into that and did that for a while, but the first ever trance song I heard was on Grand Theft Auto 3 on one of the in-game radio stations. The song was called "Neo (The One)" by Slyder and I just fell in love with it. I thought to myself: "wow this is amazing...what is this?". I'd say I was about 17 or 18 at this point. 

BSound: Costa Mesa is about an hour away from Los Angeles, one of the biggest clubbing cities in the United States. Although your current location is only two and a half hours away from New York City, how difficult was it to get started as a DJ in a rural area like where you live? 

WR: It was really hard. When I first got into this and started producing, I figured that I needed to DJ while I was making tracks. So I thought I'd try to take my talents to a club around here, but I found out pretty fast that they don't play anything EDM-related.

I then started going to shows in New York and started talking to a couple of the locals who are bigger there, like Brad Miller and Marcello (DJ Eco), and they helped me out a lot. They kind of guided me on the right path and were very supportive of what I was doing.

BSound: So there's no local scene for you to play a show or a house party in Pennsylvania? 

WR: When I first started DJing I tried to do house parties, but even before I went to New York to start playing shows I messaged a bunch of fraternities around here and told them "you should do a house night or a progressive night, and I'll DJ for you if you give me some free drinks or whatever". I just wanted to get my name out there, but all of them were like "we just wanna hear rap".

Reinventing the podcast, the demo compilation, and a DJ's fashion choices?

BSound: When you first set out to make your podcast, Uplift, how did you want to market it differently from the hundreds of other trance podcasts out there? 

WR: I had a podcast before Uplift called At Sunset and it was good, but it failed because my hosting service just [shut down?] and I couldn't recover the old shows. At that time I thought to myself why I wasn't getting the listener base that I wanted and how I could make a podcast better. 

So I decided to start a whole new podcast and give it a better title that would draw people in. That's the whole thing I found out about marketing: it's almost like you have to make a brand for yourself and give people a reason to come. What I'm planning to do more of on the show are updates on local events, artist interviews, and showcasing new talent. Whenever someone comes to me and says they just started DJing and need some help I'll ask them if they have a guest mix and try to incorporate that onto the show.

I'm also doing more quality versus quantity episodes. I used to do one episode a week every Wednesday, but now I do one every two weeks since I'm searching for the perfect track selection rather than just playing the top 20 at the moment. 

BSound: How has the reaction been so far for Uplift? 

WR: It's been way better than the other one and I think some of that has to do with the title, since you know what the show is about right away. I've gotten at least double the traffic on it and it's been received well. I'm pretty excited about it. 

BSound: When talking about uplifting trance online, I often read how people think the genre is too generic and people are no longer innovating with their productions. What's your stance on this sentiment? 

WR: I don't think it's generic. A lot of people say it is, but I think the problem is that a lot of people still want something that sounds similar to what it was five years ago. If you go to any musical genre, you'll find that people always say "oh it isn't the same anymore". It's almost like people are holding onto that memory but aren't willing to create something new. 

But guys like Simon Patterson- to me that's a new sound, like that techy drive with some uplifting elements in the middle. When I first heard his style I was floored. Guys like DJ Eco, Jaytech, Breakfast, Oliver P, Marcus Schossow, and Jorn van Deynhoven are also making unique sounds where you know it's them when you hear it. It's a very wide range of sound in the genre, and I think the people who say it's generic are listening to more of the top 20 stuff and aren't diversifying themselves enough. 

BSound: What upcoming tracks do you have coming out? 

WR: I have a two song EP coming out on Couture, but I'm not sure of the exact release date yet. It's a more tech-trance label and the main track on the EP is called "Struggle", and it's really odd how that track came together. I've written so many tracks and sent them to different labels, but I usually get the response of "oh well it's really good, but whatever". 

The idea behind "Struggle" originated when I watched The Pursuit of Happyness, and that movie was so inspiring to me because producing trance music is what I love to do. I wrote the song and gave it that name because the sound feels like you want something more. I was totally inspired by the fact that I feel like I struggle and I'm never going to get anywhere with a song, but it's weird because now it got signed to a label. It's a really dark track with three parts to it and people who have heard the track already have said that it's interesting. 

The other song is called "Costa Mesa". I've always wanted to write a track with that title but they were never good enough. When I finished the first song on the EP, Couture asked me for another track and I was working on this one and decided to finish it up. It's more of an uplifting track, similar to Sean Tyas' "Melbourne": a song that has pads and piano. 

BSound: How long have you been working on both of these songs? 

WR: "Struggle" came out pretty quick because the ideas really flowed together and I had the basis of the song together within a couple weeks. "Costa Mesa" was a lot faster than that because I felt I was on a deadline and I wanted to have something good so I finished that one in about a week. The total process for "Struggle" took me about a solid month. 

BSound: On your last episode of Uplift, you played a half hour mix of an upcoming demo compilation that you are putting out called "Costa Mesa". What's the story behind this release? 

WR: A lot of people ask me when I'm playing a gig if I have a demo mix, and I feel like every artist in the scene will take a one hour mix and burn it to a CD, write on it on sharpie, and then hand it to people. But the problem is those people are getting a million other CD's like that with sharpie on them. So I felt that I really wanted to make a demo mix that is almost like my own version of A State of Trance or In Search of Sunrise, which contained tracks that I really identify with and something that really showcases what I want to sound like in my feelings. 

But I wanted to do it professionally by getting nice CD labels and artwork. I'm not going to sell it because of course that's illegal, but I'm planning to give it away when I have a gig. It'll be a great demo and it's something people can enjoy and remember more since they have more of a package rather than just a blank-labeled CDR.

The compilation is called "Costa Mesa" because that is where I want to move back to and be, and every single track on there has something to do with that location. About half the tracks on both CD's (it's a two disc thing), are edited or original. On my latest podcast I did a 30 minute preview of the first disc and it's way laid back and definitely like a summer beach mix. Disc two is solid trance but it definitely has its summery sounds and uplifting elements.

Some tracks off of the Costa Mesa compilation are:

Luigi Lusini - Who We Are (Wayde Rafnel Costa Mesa Intro Edit)

Answer 42 - Pink Houses (Wayde Rafnel Dub/Vocal Piano Edit)

Oceania Pres Corndonnier - Squares in Boxes (Suncatcher Remix)

Velvetine - Safe (Wherever You Are) (Rank 1 Remix)

Greg Downey - Global Code (Original Mix)

Oliver P - Philadelphia (Wayde Rafnel Southern California Edit) 

BSound: In most of the photos I've seen of you DJing, you wear plain clothes like a solid black or white T-shirt. How would you describe your fashion choice? I though it looked a lot different than what everyone else wears when they're behind the decks… 

WR: [Laughs] I have 20 white t-shirts and that's pretty much all I wear. It's just my style: jeans and a white t-shirt. I guess it's just how I like to look- something laid back because the button downs and flamboyant shirts are cool and stuff, but it's something that sets me apart and may make me look more approachable. When I think about it I don't like to put a front on or a fake image- if you wear a white t-shirt and jeans I feel people are more accepting of you way more than if you try to look like something you're not. 

BSound: Can you tell us what people can expect from you this Friday with Brad Miller and Mike Saint-Jules at Santos Party House? 

WR: I'm really excited for this show. I'm going to be playing more laid back stuff to give people another taste of what I can do. A lot of people right now know me for playing 140 bpm straight driving trance, but I'm on opening duties and I want to show people that I can play the progressive trance stuff without it sounding the same. I want to show people that you can play summer themed music in a club and people will love it.  

[Image credit: Nickki Figurski, Santiago Maiza]

Last album-related post of the week...I promise

Over the past week on here I've plugged upcoming albums from Aly & Fila and Solarstone, and if you've just started reading the site during this time span you might think it's just a place where I ramble on about my favorite artists and what CD's they're releasing.

So this will be my last plug of the week, but it's a good one: DJ Eco has announced on his Facebook page that he's begun work on his first artist album, which will be released in the future through Armada Music.

Four new DJ Eco tunes unveiled

DJ Eco has posted four new songs on his MySpace: two remixes, and two original productions:

DJ Eco pres. Pacheco - Dancing Under Streetlights
DJ Eco - People (Original Mix)
DJ Eco - People (Rafael Frost Remix)
Dereck Recay - Nebula (Eco Remix)

"People", which has been storming the Beatport Top 100 charts, carries Eco's signature sound: progressive trance with 8bit-sounding synth pitches.

My favorite of the four songs is his remix of Dereck Recay's "Nebula"- a catchy slab of melodic trance laced with subtle piano elements.

Check them out and support a local producer.

M.I.K.E. to release NYC-themed compilation

M.I.K.E. will be releasing a new compilation album on June 7, entitled New York City Nights.

The track list for the album has not come out yet, but it will be interesting to see if any local producers are featured in the mix.

Five days after New York City Nights comes out, M.I.K.E. will be playing alongside DJ Eco and The Thrillseekers at Webster Hall.


[Image credit: Trance.nu]

Weekly shows update

Upcoming:

- Contorto, The Midnight Society, and Lorant Duzgun will play Home Sweet Home on April 26.

- Brad Miller's Push The Night party series, which he hinted about in his interview not too long ago, are beginning May 1 at Stay with him, Frank Chiarello, and Harji & Watson. The theme of the show will be techno.

The second event, a trance theme, will be at Santos Party House on May 5, with support from Wayde Rafnel and Mike Saint-Jules.

- Sean Tyas and Simon Patterson will be at Webster Hall on May 15.

- DJ Eco, The Thrillseekers, and M.I.K.E. will play Webster Hall on June 12.

This week:

Friday: Gareth Emery, Glenn Morrison, and Zack Roth @ Pacha.

Saturday: Gui Boratto and Brad Miller @ Love, Victor Calderone @ Pacha

[Flyer credit: Massive Event]

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]

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]

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.

Huge weekend in store at Afterhours.fm

A couple weeks ago I wrote about why Afterhours.fm is the best online radio station for electronic music, and if you haven't checked it out already, this weekend is a good time to.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the site is hosting three special day-long events for listeners featuring some bright young talent in trance and progressive. Here's the rundown...

Friday: Egypt In The Mix

Who: Various DJ's from Egypt, a current hotbed of trance and uplifting trance.

When: Central European Time. For those on the east coast, subtract six hours from whatever set on the schedule to get the EST (ex. 9:00-10:00am on there is 3:00-4:00am here).

Notables:
Joe Shadows (11am-1pm EST)

Whenever I've heard Joe spin, he tends to pick trance and progressive songs that are 'off the beaten path'. It's not to say his selections aren't good, but it's stuff you might not have heard anywhere else (and always makes for an interesting show).

Aly & Fila (3pm-6pm EST)

Anyone who likes the Anjunabeats label or uplifting trance should check out powerhouse duo Aly & Fila, who always deliver and have three hours to showcase their talents in an exclusive mix.


Saturday: Infrasonic Day

Who: Infrasonic Recordings roster, including members from their brilliant Infraprogressive (prog-house) sublabel, such as Acute, Pulstate, Andrelli & Blue, DJ Eco, and Mike Sonar.

When: UK time (subtract five hours from set time- first show starts at 3am EST).

Notables:
DJ Eco (8-9am EST)

If you haven't heard of this NYC-based DJ/producer by now in EDM-land you're probably living under a rock. A good mix of trance and progressive house.

Jorn Van Deynhoven (Noon-1pm EST)

A new star in the arena-style sound of uplifting trance. He's churned out several quality remixes lately.


Sunday: Luminosity BTE Contest

Who: A 'battle of the DJ's' to see who gets a live spot at a pre-party for Trance Energy 2010 in the Netherlands, one of the biggest EDM events in the world.

When: Central European Time (subtract six hours from the set time- first show begins at 3am EST).

Notables:

I'll be honest- I haven't heard of or listened to any of the names on this list. But since one of these 23 DJ's will be getting a live spot at an upcoming event, you know they will go all out. And judging by some of the set tracklists posted up already on the show host's forum, things are looking pretty good.

Be sure to visit Afterhours.fm's forum to vote on who you thought was the best and to show these guys some support.

And if you're busy this weekend and can't catch someone's set, Afterhours will post up download links a couple days after the shows (just click those day name links).

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.