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]

Trance Thursdays...and some coffee

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Birch Coffee in lower Manhattan for their "Trance Thursdays" event, where they broadcast Armin Van Buuren's A State Of Trance and M.I.K.E.'s Club Elite Sessions radio shows on their speaker system.

If you haven't checked this place out before, I highly recommend it. Not only do you get to enjoy quality food and drink, but the venue is comfortable, the staff is friendly, and the music is great.

Local DJ Mike Saint-Jules also plays sets there from 4-7pm on Fridays with drink specials throughout the afternoon.

I wish I could turn back the clock and experience this cup of their hot chocolate again:

Birch Coffee is located on 5 East 27th Street.

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]

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]

J00F 5-hour set tonight

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

Afterhours.fm's four year anniversary celebration begins tonight

And boy do they have a lineup put together for this- I don't think I've ever seen a better collection of trance DJ's in one place at the same time.

In addition to live broadcasts of Aly & Fila's Rising Sun album launch party and StreamLined, a show featuring guys like Estiva and Alex M.O.R.P.H., AH.fm has rounded up 72 other DJ's to partake in the celebration that lasts until June 1.

Highlights include:

Manuel Le Saux
Temple One
Kyau & Albert
Mat Zo
Jorn Van Deynhoven
Daniel Kandi
Rank 1
Super8 & Tab
Markus Schulz
Sean Tyas
Nitrous Oxide

Oh...and I'm forgetting a couple dozen other names too. Click the flyers below for the full lineup and head to AH.fm to see when someone is broadcasting over the air.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

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]

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]

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]

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).

The best internet radio station for EDM

Since dance music in its conventional forms is rarely played on FM radio in the USA, you have to look online to get your fix. However, when you get online, where do you go? There are hundreds of streaming stations playing all forms of dance music, but is there one that is better than others?

Although I haven't listened to every stream available on the internet yet (and I probably never will), my favorite place to go to listen to EDM is Afterhours.fm, and for several reasons.


Unlike other sites where an endless playlist of tracks are running over the air, Afterhours schedules their programming in one-hour timeslots with shows from nearly 180 resident DJ's and special guests. The benefit for this format is that all the tracks are properly mixed by professionals during their sets, and if you like a particular DJ's style, you can enjoy it for a full hour rather than just a couple songs.

As for the talent, it's basically a list of who's who in trance and progressive, with names including Aly & Fila, Lange, Sean Tyas, Markus Schulz, Stoneface & Terminal, and my personal favorite- Manuel Le Saux. In addition to resident DJ's, the site also streams special day-long events, with an upcoming one showcasing only Egyptian DJ's and another highlighting Infrasonic's entire roster (DJ Eco, Jorn Van Deynhoven, etc.).

When listening to a set, you can click on the show name to open a forum topic for discussion with others where the DJ or a bot will post all the track ID's for easy downloading and purchasing later. Or you can re-visit the topic two days after the show and find a MegaUpload link to download the entire set.

Last but not least, Afterhours.fm doesn't screw us listeners by offering only low bitrate streams in the absence of a paid monthly subscription (*cough* di.fm *cough*). Streams come in 96k and 192k bitrates for WinAmp, iTunes, Quicktime, Realplayer, and Windows Media Player.

[Ok...I know...this post does sound like an ad, but the site is really that good- check it out]