“If during the week you need an audio fix, you can download the podcast on iTunes by searching for Matt Darey Nocturnal in the iShop.”
I’ve been hearing that line a lot recently, in my car, via either internet radio, mp3, podcast, or burned CD-RW. Listening to the latest in dance music is hard work. There is so much of it out there, but very few full albums. Sure, if you look hard enough, I suppose you could find a few good singles available on Rhapsody. A full solo album by a dance floor superstar DJ is a rarity; you get maybe 2 or three of these in a year. Mix sets are plentiful, but usually feature the same songs in a different order via different DJs.
That’s why I’ve settled down and decided to listen to the radio and let the professionals do the work for me.
The internet radio scene actually functions they way they tell me radio proper used to be. DJs are able to sift through all kinds of music, picking out what they like, what suits them personally, and also what gets the audience amped-up on the dance floor. They get paid to find good tracks and play them for willing, loyal audiences. In the Clear Channel / Sirius era–where intelligent & interesting music choices are sacrificed for lowest common denominator profits (think: ‘Birthday Sex’)–, this kind of radio model seems almost implausible.
But the tools of the internet allow DJs from around the world to find fans on everywhere. This is the The Long Tail. Being able to find and create a base of loyal fans via the inexpensive media (pronounced media-er for purposes of this post) of audio streaming and archiving allows DJs like Matt Darey to continue to bless our culture with good music. Obviously, you have to have the taste for trance and progressive house, like I do, to appreciate the beauty of this specific example, but stay with me for a few more paragraphs.
I started listening to Matt Darey because I knew of his progressive house taste, which is similar to mine, so I thought I’d give him a listen. It’s an amazing concept isn’t it, listening to a radio show because you like the DJ? I don’t think anyone listens to Ryan Seacrest because they like his taste in music. He just plays what he’s told to play, even he even does that much. He’s a good soldier for the monopolistic oligopolies that make up the music industry (shame we have to slap something as beautiful as ‘music’ with a term as unpleasant as ‘industry’).
I’ve been listening to Nocturnal Sunshine via mp3 for many months now. I’ve been trying to catch up. I don’t even know when the show is broadcast live or what stations to find it on. It isn’t broadcast on as many stations as his sister show, Nocturnal, but he does have the wherewithal to put it online, for free, in an archive where fans like little old rural me can grab it and listen to all the hottest tunes from one of my favorite DJs at my convenience. Which is awesome, and liberating.
Darey and his ilk have been able to establish a respectful rapport with trance electronica fans around the world by reaching out to fans where they already are. The obvious–MySpace. But Darey constantly reminds me in the car “to reach out to us on one of our websites, the forum at MattDarey.com, MySpace.com forward slash MattDarey, and the Matt Darey Facebook page.” This could be superficial. Could be. But I’m convinced it’s not, because a few months ago, after seeing fans at his shows “holding up their iPods filled with Nocturnal tracks” he decided to put both shows online as a podcast, and as an mp3 on his website.
There’s no reason to fight it. The people want their music, and it was clear that they were going to get via pseudo-illegal media-er regardless. Matt Darey and other DJs are realizing that instead of being evil and proprietary, it’s best to respect your fans and allow them to be as much a part of the music experience as possible, unlike the passive consumers of pop-culture who melt their minds listening to the latest Clear Channel favorites about a stupid dance some douche wants you to do at the club with your homies (no offense to all you people out there who like to get crunk; it has a time and a place, even in my life, but not in this post, sorry).
With all that in mind, check out a track he’s been featuring a lot lately on his show that I listened to while finishing this post. And here I meant to kind of review A State of Trance 2009. Ah well. Here’s my review: it’s fabulously uplifting as always. My oh my how 2009 sounds better than 2003. Damn. Also, check out Paul Van Dyk’s Best of 3 CD set, Volume. It’s got some true classics on there.
What you should be listening to
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