One of music's long-lost genres refuses to go away

There's three essential elements to any 80's action movie: a plot that doesn't make sense, ridiculous explosions caused by hand grenades, and majestic instrumental music that repeatedly blares in the background amongst the hysteria of battle.

Michael Cassette has captured that 80's action movie vibe in their debut album, Temporarity, which is now up for pre-order on Anjunadeep's web site. The Finnish production duo's brand of progressive house is a modern take on this classic soundtrack style.

As with every Anjunadeep release, new track samples will be posted up on their SoundCloud every Monday and Friday until the album's drops on November 29. If you can't wait to hear more, play the first video below starting at 5:12. Then turn the sound off for the second video and start play at :31 for some audio/visual fun.





[Image credit: Anjunadeep.com]

EP Review: Lorant - The History Of Love

Music can be repetitive.

No matter what genre I'm listening to, I always hear some of the same elements repeated over and over again. Any song on FM radio follows the verse/chorus formula, dance music producers love to recycle some synth tunings, and rock bands often write lyrics on only a few subjects.

But every once in a while something comes along that is so vastly different and original; something that breaks the cycle and makes you wonder: "how did someone come up with this stuff"?

Lorant's The History of Love EP is that kind of release for me this summer.

When speaking about electronic music, what sets Lorant apart from other producers is his attention to the smaller things: the drum patterns, the basslines, and the musical bells and whistles that give each track its own flair.

And while some producers compose a lead melody and then create a track around that (sometimes reusing the same background effects as others), Lorant's creations yield that "homemade" feel. Every song on the EP sounds built from scratch, and throughout this 31-minute release, there are few moments where you can predict what's about to come next.

1. Hunter

"Hunter" was the first track I heard off this release before it came out, and like I described earlier, it's an incredible array of melodies, effects, and sound patterns mixed into seven minutes. The song is primarily electro, but has some garage-sounding drums thrown in for added variety. 

2. Dracula 2010

As the title implies, "Dracula" has an underlying 'haunting' vibe. The song is carried by a choppy electro synth-melody with a few surprises: most notably some hand-drumming and low-pitched piano notes.

3. Sound X. ft. Emanuel Xavier

This is the mellowest track on The History of Love, and features the voice of Brooklyn poet Emanuel Xavier over relaxing background synth notes and percussion that has the style of a New York City street performance.

Xavier's performance is something different, but gets repetitive near the end of the track. 

4. The History of Love

The EP's title track is built around a techy-synth melody that moves along at the pace of some minimal drum and percussion sounds. As the song progresses, the melody becomes longer in some places and shorter in others, with additional effects thrown in to keep the track from becoming too predictable.

One of my favorite effects is the powerful synth hits that shine in the back half of the song (they sound reminiscent of something you'd hear in an 80's action movie soundtrack). But as things start to really pick up, "The History of Love" ends. Although the track is four and a half minutes long, I feel like an extended version would suit this song concept better. 

5. Movie ft. O-Red

"Movie" is a breaks track with a rock-band feel, supplemented by the vocals of O-Red. The heavy usage of vocals and non-electronic drums are nice departure from the previous songs on the EP, but the track doesn't seem to build to any climax or endpoint. 

6. Jet Black ft. SAMN!

Lorant enlists Royal Advisor Records labelmate SAMN! to help out in the EP's final cut, which is among its best.

SAMN!'s soulful voice adds an interesting dynamic to this electronica-style track, which becomes ridiculously catchy as a xylophone pattern plays a back-and-forth game with a slew of electro-synths and percussion effects.

Final Verdict

The good: Lorant's debut release is nothing short of original, with a wide variety of electronic and percussion sounds that keep you coming back for more. This isn't the kind of EP you do a once-over with: you have to keep listening to it again to uncover everything that's going on in each track.

The bad: The vocal work on this release has a few quirks, and a couple of the tracks left me wanting more, such as "The History of Love" and "Movie".

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

For sale at:
Beatport // Traxsource // JunoDownload // AudioJelly // AmazonMP3

(also available on iTunes)

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]

Album review: Balance 016 - Agoria

Most dance music compilations and radio shows focus on individual tracks, as DJ's spin the week's top hits or flavors of the month. They provide quick gratification, but generate little discussion about the mix as a whole after it ends.

But another series of albums, Balance, is one of the few outlets where a DJ's mixing skills and overall track selection are put under the microscope. The series has featured past mixes by Lee Burridge and Will Saul, and now French techno talent Agoria is behind the decks for its 16th installment.

His two-part set of mixes: Aller Retour and Rising Sine, use the art of mixing to create a true musical journey that seamlessly travels through several genres in the span of a few hours.

Both of these mix tracklists are busy; each containing 25 tracks and samples apiece, with some songs as short as five seconds. But as a whole, each CD has a story to tell.

So rather than doing this album review in my usual track review format, I've decided to break down the tracklists of both mixes into groups of the same or similar genre.

Disc 1 - Aller Retour

Balance 016 Disc Aller Retour "Soundcloud Edit" by AGORIA

Take the genres of ambient, techno, minimal, electro, disco, house, add a variety of vocal and percussion samples, throw it in a blender, and set the timer for 70 minutes. Your result is Aller Retour.

Looking back at this mix, it's surprising to recall that I was hearing a certain genre in one series of tracks, and something completely different a couple tracks later. But Agoria finds a way to make it all happen, mixing an incredible variety of sound into Disc 1, although he hits a few speed bumps along the way.

1. Gregg Kowalsky - Ashes From Evermore
2. Alva Noto - Xerrox Monophaser 2
3. Mark Pritchard - ?

I'll admit it- I've never heard of Agoria before this two-disc album, so I was expecting to hit the ground running with a full techno sound for the opening of this CD. Instead, I got something unexpected- a complete ambient trip, and it's completely awesome.

"Xerrox Monophaser 2" and "?" are a great back-to-back combo. The former contains epic orchestral notes and heavily-distorted electro patterns, while the latter's spacey guitar chords evoke that 'drifting away in deep space' feeling.

4. Manvoy de Saint Sadrill - Soeheniona
5. Tosca - Joe Si Ha
6. Emiliana Torrini - Gun

This trio of tracks is where Aller Retour first reveals its reoccurring flaw: Agoria taking a small idea and running too long with it. In this case it's the vocal samples he chose, which lack strength.

"Gun" has a 'wild west' style guitar melody, "Joe Si Ha" is focused on cymbal patterns, and all three tracks are mixed together nicely, with new sounds coming in minutes before the next track starts. But I felt the vocal feel of this section dragged on a bit too long, delaying the heart of the mix.

7. Agoria - Parasite 2
8. Arandel - In D#5
9. Justin - Columpnam
10. 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 – When I Think Of
11. Pom Pom - 10

After a short interlude, Agoria goes into a series of minimal tracks that contain hints of techno, house, and electro.

"In D#5" has a variety of downtempo percussion patterns and electro bass undertones, making it one of the better tracks in the set. "Columpnam" is minimal electro, while "When I Think Of" is backed by some simple, yet effective, drum melodies.

12. Agoria - Altre Voci
13. Glimpse - Train in Austria part 2

The connection between these two tracks is the best in the mix, as the tribal drum and hand-clapping rhythms of "Altre Voci" build up nicely to the powerful "Train in Austria part 2", which is a frantic and energetic series of synth melodies.

14. The Field - Over the Ice (Live mix)
15. Olibusta - La Pazz
16. Cubenx - Mis Dias Y Tus Noches
17. Felix Laband - Whisitling in Tongues (Todd Terje remix)

Tech-house comes through in full force in this section. The most notable is Cubenx's "Mis Dias Y Tus Noches"- an interesting variety of synth notes, drum breaks, and reverb effects.

18. jozif - Back 2 My Roots (jozif's 5o'clock Fabric Shadow edit)
19. Bibio - Jealous of Roses
20. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (Trus'me remix)
21. Boozoo Bajou feat. Rumer - Same Sun (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
22. Hatikvah - Synchronicty (Block Barley & Engin Ozturk Holmby Hills Remix)

Agoria uses this space to build a nu-disco vibe into the back half of Aller Retour, and the results are mostly successful.

The funky guitar and bass melodies "Jealous of Roses" are full of soul, but the song is hampered by terrible sound quality vocal samples. Other standouts include "45:33 (Trus'me remix)" and "Synchronicty (Block Bartley & Enging Ozturk Hombly Hills Remix)", two mellow songs with big-band jazz influences.

23. Rio en Medio - The Last Child's Tear
24. Tipper - Just as the Sun Went Down
25. Gregg Kowalsky - Ashes from Evermore

Agoria brings the Aller Retour to a close with three final tracks- one that seems tacked on, one that doesn't fit, and a reprise of the opener. Tipper's "Just as the Sun Went Down" is a beautiful chillout song, but it feels out of place following a series of nu-disco tracks. 

Disc 2 - Rising Sine

Balance 016 Disc Rising Sine "Soundcloud Edit" by AGORIA

While Agoria uses Aller Retour as an avenue to explore his experimental interests, he uses his time with Rising Sine to create a more upbeat, dance-friendly mix.

Of the two CD's in Balance 016, this is the stronger one, as it contains a nearly endless stream of catchy tracks while replicating some of the variety found in disc 1.

1. Sylvain Chauveau - Hurlements En Faveur De Serge T.
2. Aphrodite's Child- Loud Loud Loud
3. Taron Trekka - Shirol

A slew of piano melodies serve as the opener for Rising Sine, creating a mellow tone for a set of tracks with weird vocal samples.

"Loud Loud Loud" features a female monologue about society unraveling, amidst crowds chanting "No! No! No!", while in "Shirol", a man is speaking in a foreign language. It sounds weird on paper- but it totally works when put together.

4. The Same - Szarpiesz Minerwa
5. Ogris Debris - G-Thong (You and Me remix)

This section is a bit of a downer before going into the middle of the mix. "Szarpiesz Minerwa" sounds like filler, while "G-Thong (You and Me remix) is a decent deep house track, although its ruined by an annoying vocal sample that doesn't do the song any favor.

6. Francesco Tristano - Knee for Thought
7. Different Gear - One Thing More (Dub mix)
8. Michael Forzza - Abstractor 2.0
9. Chris Carrier and Jef K - Morning
10. DVS1 - Running
11. Drama Society & Vladislav Delay - Almodrama

Francesco Tristano's "Knee for Thought", with its improvisational guitar rhythms, kicks off the strongest part of the mix. The song is followed by the variety-filled tech-house track "One More Thing (Dub mix), before heading into the one of catchiest melodies in Balance 016.

"Abstractor 2.0", "Morning", and "Running" blend together to create several minutes of a back-and-forth percussion melody that I found difficult to get out of my head.

12. Agoria - Libellules
13. Avril - French Kiss
14. Gadi Mizrahi- I Know
15. Jonny Greenwood - Tehellet
16. Avril - French Kiss

This section has a strange, haunting vibe, first introduced with a steady keys rhythm in Agoria's "Libellules". The mysterious "I Know" and orchestral "Tehellet" are sandwiched in between two renditions of "French Kiss", an upbeat, drum-filled electronica track.

17. Mark Broom - Twenty Nine (Broom 09 mix)
18. Einmusik - Atlantis
19. Perc & Passarella Death Squad - Temperature's Rising
20. Aufgang - Sonar (Spitzer remix)
21. Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work it Out) (Serge Santiago remix)

Agoria brings the mix back to Rising Sine's house feel with another series of interesting tracks. Highlights include the spacey "Atlantis" and the highly-melodic "Sonar (Spitzer remix)", which contains hints of nu-disco.

My favorite song here is Serge Santiago's remix of "Work it Out", which features electro patterns that spiral in all directions on the note chart.

22. Efdemin - Acid bells (Martyn remix)
23. 3 Chairs - No Drum Machine part 2
24. Kid A - Lonely
25.  Sylvain Chauveau - Hurlements En Faveur De Serge T.

The mix winds down with the piano sounds of "Acid Bells (Martyn remix)", before heading into the indie-rock inspired "Lonely", which is carried by a decent vocal performance.

Final Verdict 

The good: Balance 016 is filled with music from an incredible variety of genres, so if you aren't a straight-up techno fan, don't fret- Agoria more than likely has made a few selections in both mixes that you'll enjoy. His second disc, Rising Sine, is very strong from start to finish, both in mixing and track selection.

The bad: Disc 1, Aller Retour, is commonly hampered by clunker track choices that take a particular theme in the mix and drag it out longer than it needs to be. I felt the track selection for Aller Retour was much weaker melodically compared to Rising Sine. Agoria also has a few track transition hiccups throughout both discs, where the contrasts between songs are highly apparent. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

Balance 016 - Agoria, is available for purchase at CDWow (UK), Play4Me (AU), Amazon (US), FYE (US), and soon on all major EDM download stores.

Agoria will also be playing at WMC on 3/26 at Hotel Victor and on 3/28 at Made Event's Sunday School for Degenerates. In May, he'll be in NYC for an album launch party (location TBA). 

[Image credit: Stomp.au, special thanks to PlexiPR]

Summer is coming...

i The recent stretch of warm weather here in New York has got me thinking about summer already.

One of the songs in my current top 5- "Who We Are" by Luigi Lusini, is a great example of capturing that season in the form of music. Although the track was released in February, it has the markings of dance music's first summer anthem with the help of some nice guitar rhythms that give the song a Mediterranean flair:




"Who We Are" can be purchased here.

Track reviews: The spaced-out emo edition

Over the past week I've picked up a variety of songs- some vocal trance, a trance tune, and a prog-house tune which now shares the honor of being my highest rated track on this blog. And if you get emotional, grab a tissue for this one (or skip #2).

1. Talla 2XLC feat. Skysurfer - Terra Australis (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix) [Addicted To Trance]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


This song gets its name from a mythical European continent that supposedly enclosed the Indian Ocean, according to Aristotle (and Wikipedia). What it has to do with this song...I don't know.

Jorn Van Deynhoven builds his remix of "Terra Australis" around a melancholy-sounding pattern of scales descending in pitch, but it fails to lead anywhere. The ending of this song doesn't mix up the main melody enough, leaving you with a track that sounds like the same thing over and over for a good three minutes.

Jorn has a knack for making catchy trance remixes, but this song is his weakest one I've heard yet.

Rating: 6 out of 10 [Average]

2. Dash Berlin - Never Cry Again (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix) [Aropa]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


"When you come home, I'll stop this..."

[Stop what?]

"When you come home, I'll hide it good"

[Uh-oh. What are you hiding?]

"I'll never cry again, when you...come home...to me"



Ok. If you can get past the ridiculously emo and cheesy lyrics in "Never Cry Again", you'll find yet another decently remixed tune with an uplifting vibe by Jorn Van Deynhoven.

JVD's remix is better than the original for two reasons- it has less vocals, and the instrumentals-only part in the middle of the song is extended to two and a half minutes.

The synth melody in this track is an alternating pattern of middle and low pitches, accented with a few nicely-placed high notes.

Jorn loses a few marks though for recycling the same distortion lead-in effect heard in his remix of RAM's "Ramsterdam".

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 [Good]

3. Gabriel Lukosz - All The Usual Things (Niklas Grosswald Remix) [Infraprogressive]

@Beatport


No one has uploaded this track yet to YouTube, so if you decide to take the $1.99 plunge on Beatport and pick it up based on the sample alone, don't worry- it's worth every penny.

Niklas Grosswald's prog-house remix of this tune has one of my favorite melodies of the year so far. As the song progresses, Grosswald teases this spacey synth pattern with a reverb effect that sends its pitch all over the place.

Then later on in the song, an upbeat bassline joins the fray as the reverb pattern alternates between two octaves.

Grosswald's melody here varies it up enough to where it doesn't feel like you're hearing the same thing twice, something uncommon in EDM.

Rating: 9 out of 10 [Choon]

4. Vast Vision feat. Fisher - Everything (Aly & Fila Remix) [FSOE Recordings]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


"I only want to be your everything,
If you let me,
Will you let me?
I want to be your every fantasy
Could you love me?
Like I love you?"

Yes, this song is just as bad lyrically in the cheese department as "Never Cry Again", but I'll give credit to Vast Vision for enlisting Fisher as his vocalist on this one. Out of all the female singers in dance music, Fisher has one of the only two voices (the other being Justine Suissa) that you can distinctly recognize when you're hearing a song with them. The rest just sound like generic female singer #568.

For this song, Fisher's low-key voice is a good fit for Aly & Fila's uplifting sounds, as it prevents the song from becoming too flowery.

This remix of "Everything" also contains a few piano touches and some orchestral elements in the breakdown. As a whole, it's a pretty decent vocal trance song, but nothing unforgettable.

Rating: 7 out of 10 [Good]

House and cherries

Some notable names have been announced to play New York City venues in the upcoming months.

Last week I skipped out on mentioning that Chris Lake is playing Cielo on Valentine's Day. Luciano Pardini, a popular name for Beatport downloaders, is scheduled to play at the same venue four days later.

Pacha has also booked the biggest name in house- David Guetta, for another show at the venue on Wednesday, February 24. The house vibes will continue at Pacha when Benny Benassi enters the booth on Friday, March 19.

Finally on Saturday, April 3, electro house DJ and producer Boyz Noize will pair up with Major Lazer for a show at Terminal 5.

Ticket ordering and event details can be accessed by clicking the links above.

Track Reviews: Anjunabeats Grab Bag Edition

It took two days, a couple gigabytes of software updates, and installations of McAfee's security suite and some petty Windows anti-virus program for me to get back on the internet. My bane- a silly application wanting to scan my laptop to access to my campus internet (they think I might have a virus...right). Anyway, on to the good stuff:

1. Boom Jinx & Jaytech - Milano [Anjunadeep]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


Boom Jinx & Jaytech's latest progressive house hit sounds like it fell through a time warp- it oozes this 70's disco vibe that makes you want to put on an afro wig and bob your head to the music.

Finger-snaps, bass distortion effects, and odd female vocalizations accompany the main melody, which is a tremendous amount of fun.

However, the song loses quite a bit of steam during a short breakdown where the duo can't seem to figure out what to do.

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

2. Evbointh - One Wish (Daniel Kandi & Mark Andrez Remix) [Anjunabeats]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


Polish 17-year-old Evbointh wrote "One Wish" in 2007, a pair of remixes in 2008, and another song in 2009 before vanishing off the radar. He isn't releasing material on another alias and I don't know why he's fallen out of the production game, but I wish he didn't.

Daniel Kandi and Mark Andrez's remake of his trance classic is nothing short of spectacular. The song gets off to a slow start (my pet peeve- boring, beatmatch-friendly intros), but once that epic melody comes out of the breakdown, Kandi and Andrez hold nothing back.

A warm-pitched, soft-edged synth blares through the back half of the song for an awesome few minutes of uplifting trance.

The end of the song is just as dull as the beginning, but the breakdown and minutes following it warrant the high score.

Rating: 9 out of 10 [Choon]

3. OceanLab - Sirens Of The Sea (Above & Beyond Club Mix) [Anjunabeats]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


Everything you need to know about this song is in the title- it's a club mix of a song with lyrics containing imagery of the world's seas and oceans. Only in trance, folks:

"Out beyond the water's edge,
far out past the coral ledge,
underneath the diamond and sunlight.

Chase the world from far below,
silent, sleeping indigo,
drifting down into the endless light"

sings Justine Suissa, the vocalist of this Above & Beyond collaboration. Her voice floats effortlessly (no pun intended) over an atmospheric sound accented by subtle piano notes.

Outside of Solarstone's "Seven Cities", this is one of the better underwater-themed trance songs, and another OceanLab remix that sounds better than the original version.

Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]

[Image credit: Junodownload.com]

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]