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.

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.

Beatport's new podcast series

Podcast series are a double-edged sword in dance music.

On one hand, they're usually always free, and you get to hear some of the latest tunes before they're released as singles. But at the same time, most podcasts are just that- a collection of new songs thrown together in a one to two hour format with no consideration to mixing, pacing, or storytelling. And the result is a glut of "shows" that sound more like a DJ's personal monthly chart rather than a mix.

So to be different, two approaches are becoming more common:

1) Make fewer episodes of a podcast and make each mix more thought-out. Quality over quantity...

2) Add an element to your show that makes each episode different. Quite a few of the locals here have built their podcast series around this characteristic. Brad Miller's "Push The Night" series switches genres each show, DJ Eco's "The Sound of (You)th" episodes are filled with snippets from his upcoming artist album, and Wayde Rafnel's "Uplift" podcasts usually have chunks of his live sets played at various New York clubs.

Beatport has announced their own podcast series today, centered around the first point outlined above...

except it's going to cost you $9.99 a month to listen.

*facepalm*

With a membership, you also get discounts and special offers from Beatport's webstore, and benefits at live evetns. The perks at shows is the most enticing part of the deal, but it's all dependent on your geographic location. If you're a resident of Wyoming for example, or even upstate New York, you're most likely never be able to experience these.

A monthly podcast series is a good idea for an electronic brand like Beatport. But please, don't charge us for something that everyone knows should already be free. Take a page out of Resident Advisor's book and let everyone enjoy the music- that's why we're listening, right?

[Image credit: Beatport.com]

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.

More free music?

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

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.

Free download: Lorant ft. SAMN! - Jet Black

Lorant is offering "Jet Black" from his The History of Love EP as a free download until next Thursday on his SoundCloud page.

  Lorant feat. SAMN! - Jet Black [Free download until Sept. 2] by DJLorant

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]

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]

Eastern Europe being showcased this weekend at AH.fm

Friday:

Saturday:

Once again a bunch of new faces in the uplifting trance scene, but a couple known names like Arctic Moon, Adam Nickey, and Nitrous Oxide. Also be sure to check out NatLife today on the Ukraine In The Mix special- he's a new-school trance producer with an old-school sound.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

Shah music day tomorrow

A good lineup of DJ's for those into uplifting trance.

When I first heard of this, I thought it was going to be some show centered around Roger Shah of Magic Island and Armada fame, but it's actually about the label Shah-Music.

The event will be broadcast tomorrow all day at Afterhours.fm.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

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...

J00F 5-hour set tonight

Afterhours.fm is broadcasting a live, five hour set from John '00' Fleming tonight at Vola in Toronto.

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]

More special events in store at Afterhours.fm

Afterhours.fm is hosting two special events this week, both of which highlight the talents of DJ's from two different labels.

Thursday - Enhanced Recordings Day

Starting at 2:00 with Estiva and ending with Daniel Kandi is a great block of artists that have had no shortage of excellent uplifting, melodic, and progressive releases on Enhanced, Anjunabeats, and other related labels.

Friday - Unearthed Recordings Day

I haven't heard of as many of the artists on this day, but definitely tune into Manuel Le Saux, one of my favorite uplifting DJ's, for a mix with ridiculously catchy tunes.

And for both of these days, if you miss a set, click on the links above for each day to download any show you missed. The sets are usually posted a couple days after an event.

[Flyer credit: Afterhours.fm]

YouTube launches new artist development network

MySpace has been decreasing in popularity ever since Facebook was launched, and the site's once highly-trafficked music section also appears to be on the downfall as well.

YouTube is making an effort to grab some of the deserters by launching a new artist development network, Musicians Wanted.

The program is based mainly off of music videos, but due to the diversity of music, I'm sure they'll accept a few electronically-focused artists.

Live broadcast tomorrow from the WMC

Dip In, one of the opening parties at this year's Winter Music Conference, will be broadcasting live on Afterhours.fm tomorrow from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. EST.

Click here for the event thread, and if you're in Miami or planning to head down there this week, click here for tickets.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

DJNY #3: Lorant Duzgun

Any musician can compose music to release, but without the backing of a record label who can provide professional assistance and marketing, their chances of commercial success are reduced.

Enter Lorant Duzgun, a New York DJ and producer and founder of the newly-launched Royal Advisor Records, an electro-focused label that is a home for an eclectic variety of sounds from local artists. 

RAR, which kicked off their live show schedule with a recent launch party in Manhattan at Home Sweet Home on 131 Chrystie Street, will be showcasing their talents and new releases at the venue on every last Sunday of the month.

Here's the inside story on the beginnings of RAR- a mix of luck, passion, and friendship leading to bigger things.

Around town…

Binarysound: Can you tell us about your background and how you became interested in electronic dance music?
 

Lorant Duzgun: I started DJing in high school and then I got myself a fake ID and started going to all the big New York City clubs like Twilo and Vinyl.  Shortly after that, I was introduced to Danny Tenaglia by my friend Geoff Gains while I was in the beginning stages of my career so that was obviously inspirational.

Later on I began working for Twisted Records which is a pretty significant label as far as the "tribal" genre of dance music goes.  I first got into music production when I was working for Twisted by doing a remix of "The Hook" by Geoff Gains. After that, DJing took a backseat to production for a while because I wanted to learn music composition and get my head around some of the software out there.

A record label was something I always wanted to do but there needs to be a right time to start something like that. I met SAMN two years ago and we started working on some demos and I from there on in the label became a work in progress. I then started working with Monique-Renee (Sappho's Journey) and given that these are two very talented people, I thought I might as well start putting out the stuff we were working on.

BSound: So that's where the idea for the label come from- trying to find an outlet to release these demos?
 

LD: Yea it was actually about 5-6 years ago that I wanted to launch a record label but I wasn't experienced enough. After meeting SAMN and Sappho's Journey it just seemed like the right timing to get it off the ground.  

BSound: Where did you meet them?
 

LD: SAMN I met through a mutual friend of mine. With Sappho's Journey, we knew each other back at the time when we worked at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. Then we lost touch and I ran into her on the street a little over a year ago and I told her "we used to talk about making music so lets finally do it". So then she came over one day to see if we could work on something together and it was an instant musical bond [laughs].

A label is born…

BSound: Where did you come up with the name 'Royal Advisor' for your label?

LD: There are two answers to that. One of them is that it just came to me and the other answer is that I'm a big Queen fan. Freddy Mercury is my idol, but I didn't want name it something like it 'Queen Records'. I just liked the whole concept that Queen had to their stuff like "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races". They were kind of like an indirect inspiration. 

BSound: In today's music industry, record sales seem to be shifting away from physical formats to digital stores like Beatport and iTunes. How did that transition affect you in your experiences of starting up RAR?

LD: It's much easier as far as costs go because you don't have to print vinyl and CD's. The upside is that you save a lot of money by not having to do that. But the downside of it is that many, many others are doing the same thing at the same time. There are a lot of independent labels going up at once, so there's a lot of competition. But in terms of getting a label off the ground it's a lot easier because you only need a web site, distributor, and some talented artists.

BSound: Can you describe the styles of the artists on RAR?

LD: Both of them are very good songwriters. They have their own styles and that's not something that comes by every day. They both have definite but separate visions, like Samn is really into the early R&B nu-jack swing stuff, and he wants to reinvent that genre and bring it into 2010. With his voice especially, it's working out and it makes sense for him to do that and I think he's doing a good job at it. He comes to me with what he wants and shows me his inspirations and we take it from there. 

As far as Sappho's Journey goes, she's very into Depeche Mode and Radiohead and the darker electronic sounds. She also has a very definite vision- she wants each of her EP's or albums to be a concept from beginning to end. And with her EP that recently came out, Venerate, I think we've succeeded in that sense as far a concept from the first song to the last. 

The concept behind the EP is the process of discovering oneself whether it's through love, struggle, or loneliness.  Sappho's Journey found the perfect word for her EP- Venerate, which means to have the utmost respect for something or to adore it a Godly fashion. I think she means to say we owe it to ourselves to feel that way about who we are after all the things we have to put up with in life.

Bsound: On RAR's web site, there's a fourth artist- Forest Families, which looks interesting based on the concept artwork you have posted for them. What's the deal with this artist?

LD: Forest Families is a new artist from New Zealand. We have never met in person and that's one of the good things about the digital age, where you can reach out to people like that. Their tracks are not ready to be released but hopefully by the end of the summer.

BSound: Where do you draw your influences from in your songs?

LD: I think it's kind of a gut feeling. When I sat down to create "Hunter" I wanted to make it be like a roller-coaster ride. It's like 'stuff all you can in there and see where it goes'. As I was finishing it I thought about it and thought 'maybe this has a lot going on in it', but that is what I wanted. 

With my next single, "The History of Love", I wanted that to be very emotional while keeping in sync with a minimal tech-house vibe. It has a lot of strings that come in near the end. It's a very minimal track that's not like "Hunter" at all, in the sense that it builds up and then fades out. 

              [Sappho's Journey performing at RAR's launch party on Feb. 23]

BSound: Are there any upcoming shows or releases that RAR is going to be putting out?

LD: At the end of this month on the 28^th we're back at Home Sweet Home in Manhattan, where we had our launch party. This show is going to be Sappho's Journey Venerate EP release show where she's going to be performing all the songs from that record. 

I'm also going to release my own EP in May- The History of Love,  which contains six original songs including collaborations with famed Nuyorican poet Emanuel Xavier, French pop artist O-Red, and SAMN in addition to my current tracks "Hunter" and "The History of Love".
--------

Tracks from Royal Advisor Records artists can be purchased at iTunes, Beatport, Traxsource, Junodownload, TrackItDown, and other digital music stores.

[Image credit: Jason Whitehead, Ron Porto]

New NYC electro label launching next week

Royal Advisor Records, a new local electro-based label, will be launching next week with a free party at Home Sweet Home on 131 Chrystie Street in Manhattan.

The show will feature live performances from Samn, Sappho's Journey, label-founder Lorant Duzgan, and others. There will also be free CD giveaways throughout the night and an open vodka bar from 10:30-11:30pm.

You can hear individual songs from each of the performing artists at RAR's web site, and judging by the samples, this is going to be a pretty decent live event.

I really like the voice of Monique Renee, the soul singer that makes up Sappho's Journey. Their song "Venerate" is an interesting mix of drum patterns and electro tinges. It'll be interesting to see what other sounds she's paired up with in the coming months.

Lorant's single "Hunter" is also good- he manages to pack a ton of drum, electro, and synth effects/rhythms into a variety-filled six minutes.

[Image credit: Creative PR]