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]

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.

The Winter 100 at Audiojelly

Audiojelly is running another promotion where if you buy $5 worth of tracks from them, you get 100 free downloads.

The site has also lowered their per track price to $1.45.

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)

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]

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.

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:

Anjunabeats Vol. 7

Tiesto - In Search of Sunrise 2

Tiesto - In Search of Sunrise 5 - Los Angeles

Aly & Fila - Rising Sun

[Image credit: Amazon.com]

Weekly shows update

The biggest news this week is that the 2010 Electric Zoo lineup has been finalized with schedules released for each day (minus set times):

And at Pacha last weekend during the Oakenfold and Laidback Luke shows, flyers were being handed out to advertise a bunch of new events, including Aly & Fila's first-ever visit to NYC.

Lastly, Royal Advisor Records and their artists have a couple shows lined up for the next two weeks.

[Image credit: PlexiPR, Brad Miller @ TranceAddict]

Google to launch music service this fall

If you follow technology, chances are you might have heard already about how Google plans to create a cloud-based music store and open it to the public this fall.

The cloud, which is where computer software seems to be going, is when a program can be accessed and used through an internet browser. With current software like iTunes, you must be on your computer to open the store and buy music. Google wants to make something similar here, but accessible on any phone, TV, or device with an internet connection.

What's interesting though is that there might be some sort of streaming music service also offered.

What if you're DJing and you wanted any track to play in your set? You could stream it off a catalog of millions of songs on a service like this...

Weekly shows update

One thing to mention this week: Made Event is posting up single-day ticket sale options for their Electric Zoo Festival on July 8.

This probably means they'll also announce the remaining names on the same date. On the Sunday lineup, there are two headliners yet to be revealed, so some big names could be coming down the pipe.

New Electric Zoo lineup additions announced

Made Event has added six new names to their Electric Zoo 2010 lineup:

Pretty Lights (headliner)
Avicii
Fake Blood
Joachim Garraud
Popof
Reboot

The days of their sets are in the image below (look for the glowing names):

[Image credit: MadeEvent]

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...

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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]

Solarstone's new album, release date announced

Rich Mowatt (aka Solarstone) has announced the tracklisting and release date of his third artist album, Touch Stone, scheduled for a June 28 release.

Tracklisting:

1. Is There Anyone Out There
2. Ultraviolet
3. Night Signals
4. Touchstone
5. Electric Love
6. Intravenous
7. Twisted Wing
8. Slowmotion
9. The Best Way To Make Your Dreams Come True Is To Wake Up
10. Zeitgeist
11. The Last Defeat (Part Two)
12. There's A Universe

To help promote the album, Solaris Recordings has developed several social-media related widgets that fans can use to earn "points" for getting the word out about Touch Stone on the internet. In exchange for their participation, fans can earn special prizes related to the CD (I'm assuming autographed albums and posters).

The web site also has an embedded audio player for the album that contains six tracks: the original mix of the single "Electric Love", 00.db's and Rafael Frost's remixes of the track, and remixes of the song "Slowmotion" by French Renaissance, Lowland, and Ilya Malyeuv. Music videos are also available for "Electric Love" and the original mix of "Slowmotion".

I'll admit it: "Electric Love" is one of Rich's weaker productions, but he's my favorite producer and has put out a slew of classic tracks over the years. His last album, Rain Stars Eternal was solid from start to finish, and I'm sure this one will be the same.


[Image credit: Trance.nu]

Aly & Fila's Rising Sun now available on iTunes

Aly & Fila's debut album, Rising Sun, is now available a week before it's official release date on iTunes for $7.99.

Armada has posted track previews of the album's 15 songs on their official YouTube page, and the release has also scored a positive review from the folks over at TranceFix.

On a side note, according to Billboard, iTunes now accounts for 26% of all US music sales. With this statistic and increasing sales on iTunes in the future, it'll be interesting to see if more electronic dance music artists market their music more on iTunes over places like Beatport and TrackItDown.

Does it get any better than this?

Chillbase.org, who made Lauge & Baba Gnohm's Monolith EP available free for download, is now offering a free full-length compilation album: Carving Mirages.

The album features 14 ambient and chillout tracks from independent artists of the genre, all in 320 kbit MP3 and FLAC glory:
 
01. Mythematica - Nam Bandara
02. Field Rotation - Zeitreise
03. Ambientium - The Balance
04. Reii - Bleep
05. Note - Everyday Basis
06. Fat Cat - AliensPlay
07. Atombased - Perplexed
08. AstroPilot - Tree Of The Perception
09. Alkor - One Day Above the Clouds
10. ZKA4T - History For Sale
11. bOb tracKer - UIS 555
12. Oddi - Rebirth
13. Xerxes - One-Oh-Three (Timeless Edit)
14. Hybrid Leisureland - Space Light

Although you probably have never heard of these artists before, don't let the anonymity turn you away from an absolutely fantastic album.

Standout tracks include Alkor's "One Day Above the Clouds", a dreamy chill tune carried by some low-pitched bass synths, and Hybrid Leisureland's "Space Light", an ambient journey through space with distorted transmission signals.

Click here to download, and click the player below to listen. Tracks are queued in their order of appearance on the album.



[Tracklisting/image credit: Chillbase.org, embedded player courtesy of Archive.org]

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.

38 more names announced for Electric Zoo 2010

Made Event has announced 38 new DJ's to perform at this year's Electric Zoo Festival, with single day tickets going for sale starting tomorrow. Click the image to enlarge.

Electric Zoo pre-sale tickets end Monday

Made Event has once again updated the information page for Labor Day's upcoming Electric Zoo festival, this time with a notification that early bird tickets will no longer be available after Monday. However, the steep $26 in service fees charge still applies to these tickets.

On Monday at midnight, regular priced tickets for each day will be up for sale, and Made Event has hinted on the event's Facebook page that more artists will be announced as well.

Aly & Fila's album set for May 28 release

Armada Music has announced today that Aly & Fila's debut album, Rising Sun, will be out in stores at the end of this month.

Tracklisting:

1. Medellin (vs. Activa)
2. Crowe It Will Be Ok (feat. Katherine)
3. My Mind Is With You (feat. Denise Rivera)
4. Rosaires
5. Listening (feat. Josie)
6. Menes
7. Still (feat. Sue McLaren)
8. Perfect Red (vs. Bjorn Akesson)
9. I Can Hear You (feat. Sue McLaren)
10. Without You (The Never Knowing) (vs. Philippe El Sisi feat. Senadee)
11. Paradise (feat. Tiff Lacey)
12. Khepera
13. Sandgroper
14. Breeze (feat. Jass)
15. Rising Sun

Some users on Trancefix have already compiled a list of YouTube links for some of the tracks on the disc, and things are sounding good.

But I can't get over the ridiculous album art that they decided to go with for Rising Sun. Are they trying to pull off the gangsta rap tough guy look?


[Image credit: ArmadaMusic.com]