Interview with Dj Eco about his first solo album 'M(You)sic' out on Armada Music
Straight from the beating heart of entertainment and the city that never sleeps , it’s melodic gold that reaches out to the rest of the globe. It’s the sound of Marcello Pacheco that pours down in golden drops of melody, beats and everything else needed the EDM-loving soul desires. The journey called Eco started in early 2007, as his ‘Light At The End’ and ‘Paradise Now’ burst into the trance scene, praised by the DJ elite and loved by the crowds. Now, four years and a handful of stunning originals and remixes later, Eco presents his debut album: ‘M(you)sic’.
With consistent support from DJ's like Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Markus Schulz and many more, Eco managed to make his name as one of the most promising producers of today. 'Light At The End', 'Tonight Is Forever', 'And We Flew Away', 'Borealis' and 'Lost Angeles', each of his productions are original pieces of whatever dance style inspires him at that very moment. It's time to outgrow that talent tag and take the next step in his musical career: 'M(You)sic'. A genuinely, well-constructed album filled with future classics, representing the signature Eco sound in 17 strong originals. 'M(You)sic' closes the gap between the indie rock movement of today and the electronic music of tomorrow, taking you on an extraordinary musical journey.
From the enchanting warm intro, to the break-beatish 'Architextures', rapidly unfolding piano masterpiece 'Electric Poetry', mesmerizing prog-trancer 'Change The World', energetic two-piece trancer 'Mali', flowing on to the strong finish of 'Over Paper Skies'. Collaborations with talents such as Breakfast, Eller van Buuren, Radmila, Jeza, Einat and Kerry Leva, swirl with solo-pieces of absolute quality. 'M(You)sic' is an album that gets under your skin, like a new found love.
I was always big supporter of his productions and I strongly believed in his abilities to deliver awesome warm, powerful and very emotional melodic trance music. Whenever I had the chance to play any of his tracks or remixes I was always including them in my radio shows without 2nd thought. In a way his name became a seal of approval for me. The news that Armin and his record company offered him the chance to present his musical vision in an album was a pleasant surprise for me and I guess to thousands of his fans all over the globe. The end result of his hard work summed up in his album testifies that my belief in him was well grounded and that he has the talent to impress and compose music that will pass easily the test of time and can be easily labeled as future classics.
So I kindly requested an interview from him and I’m so glad that he accepted it and now I’m ready to present it to you. If you love his music get ready to enjoy this interview including many interesting insights on the way he composes his music and his personal comments on each track of his album. If it happens to get introduced in him through this interview I’m sure that you will feel really happy that you had the chance to read so deep, mature and meaningful answers and you will be more than glad to indulge and buy yourself or your loved one a copy of that album that will become one of the best trance and progressive albums of 2011. Don’t let yourself to be left out cause in everyone’s lips is that name Dj Eco.
Interview is written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias “Flux Bpm On The Move”
Dimitri: It will be nice to start your life journey from the very beginning and let us know when and where you were born and if you are part of a family that has any background in arts such as music or any other form of arts.
Dj Eco: I was born on January 7th 1987 in New Jersey. While neither of my parents were avid musicians, they both believed in the power of music, and at an early age they noticed I had a great ear for playing it. A local piano teacher heard me play by ear and let me take lessons with her. She usually only started teaching 6 or 7 year olds, but she let me start at age 4. I then went on to take lessons with this piano teacher until I was 18 years old!
Dimitri: Do you remember the kind of music that you were listening in your childhood and do you remember when you came across to EDM music and particularly trance and progressive?
Dj Eco: My dad used to drive me to school for more than a decade of my life. Even at the age of 3 or 4, he was playing a lot of interesting music on the ride to school: Pink Floyd, Santana, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix. I was a rock and roll kid, then a ghetto hip hop kid, and then a trance teen once I heard my first CDs from Ferry Corsten and Tiesto.
Dimitri: Can you list for us the Top 5 djs or EDM producers that have vast influence in your decision to start producing and djing trance and also have a great impact upon your style of productions and djing and give us a short comment about each of them?
Dj Eco: Although I’m only 24 years old now, I’ve been interested in trance music for almost a decade. The earliest pre-fame Tiesto and Ferry Corsten stuff really caught my ear, as a producer. Armin’s DJ sets really captivated me, as a DJ. I also liked a lot of the harder producers like DuMonde and Scot Project. You can mash that all together and kind of see how I’ve become the artist I’ve become.
Dimitri: Did you start first as a dj or as a producer? Is it possible to recall for us how did you felt the 1st time that you performed in front of a large crowd and the 1st time that you had your first ever release on a record label and well known dj played it in his radio show or dj set?
Dj Eco: I first started DJing hip hop music. I think everyone in New York has a phase in their teen years that they listen to and love hip hop and I was no exception. I then picked up some trance vinyls and started playing trance on my turntables. Producing came a short while later. I played in front a fairly large crowd for the first time when I was 17, I think. It was a “teen party” but it was held at a very nice popular New York City club called Club Deep. I was one of the only guys there playing a lot of trance and even some hardstyle. The reaction by the crowd was really surprising and I went on to have a great relationship with this group of promoters, playing a lot of New York’s hot spots in the years to follow. When I was 19, my first EP came out on Martin Roth’s Lunatique Records label, and the b-side titled “Light At The End” was played on Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show. I was listening live and was amazed to hear that it was chosen as tune of the week. I did a jump and dance for joy of course, and I’m sure all my friends around the New York area were doing the same because I must have gotten a few dozen texts shortly after!
Dimitri: Till now you have a fantastic back catalogue of unforgettable originals and remixes. Is it possible to choose your favorites that you believe you gave 100% of your abilities and the result was so impressive that you got fantastic feedback and for some are considered as classics as well?
Dj Eco: Two of my personal favorites are “Tonight Is Forever” and “Staring At The Sea”. The first one was a really emotional effort on my part. The moment it went out on promo was a few days before Armin’s Armin Only Imagine party. He must have JUST received it right before the gig because he debuted it that night! “Staring At The Sea” is one of the songs that took me the longest to write. I recorded a bunch of guitar sounds and then reversed them to make the really ethereal breakdown. The result is this overload of weird sounds that all come together somehow in an epic buildup.
Dimitri: After 4 massive years of high quality productions you manage to have ready the superb and really exquisite first solo album M(You)Sic. First of all please explain to us what this mysterious title stands for and what it means for you to release your first ever album?? Are you excited of releasing it on Armada Music, global leader in the trance scene?
Dj Eco: It’s extremely exciting, I’ve felt like a kid these past two months just waiting for its release, and even more so looking at all the positive feedback it’s receiving. The name “M(you)sic” is born from a more psychological view of trance music than anything else. With electronic music in particular, self-expression plays a huge role. Many times at pop or rock concerts, people are just standing there bobbing their head to the music. But with electronic music, especially trance, it’s all about people’s reaction to the music, which manifests itself in a physical way. Trance music is as much about the producer who made the songs as it is about the people dancing and reacting to it. You can pick out 200 people at a trance festival for example and notice that not one of them is wearing the same thing or doing the same type of dance. It’s very special how much trance music lends itself to progressive thought, ideas, personality, creativity, etc. Many of our history books mark the 1960s and Woodstock era as special for self-expression and creativity and love, but we have a huge similar movement on our hands right now. Maybe the future history books will write about this. Katy Perry and Justin Bieber have only been famous for 2 years and will probably go out of style soon. But raves and electronic music festivals have been going on for decades and play a large role in the sort of counter-culture generation that many non-pop listeners are part of. There’s no music, without “you”. “M(you)sic”.
Dimitri: Do you believe is there room for more trance albums and is trance a genre that sounds good on albums or the better thing for it is the single form that includes remixes as well. To add many commentators see the trance albums being more pop trance rather than underground edgy fast forward EDM music?
Dj Eco: There’s so much room for more albums. I hope that maybe I’ve inspired people in this direction. An album is like an empty canvas, I hope producers realize that more and more. Just like a good DJ set, an album should be a journey. It shouldn’t be just a collection of songs made in the past two years put to a random playlist. It should “make sense”, not sure if people will understand what I mean though! I think many critics are right about the direction trance has taken, but there’s this really cool generation of producers out there that are changing the game. Trance may be “dying” or “going pop” to the close-minded fans who haven’t opened their eyes or ears to discover new artists. But I think it’s very much alive.
Dimitri: How long it took you to complete the album and was this continuous process that you work on it for certain hours a date or rather you work for the tracks whenever you had the inspiration for them???
Dj Eco: It took about a year to finish the album. I squeezed it into my crazy schedule, while finishing college this year and working several days a week. Writing this album was a constant escape for me. After a long day, or on a stressful week with exams and deadlines, I’d shut myself from the world and write music.
Dimitri: It will be great to share with us any funny moments or serious incidents that you will never forget and happened to you while you record this album?
Dj Eco: Well, there’s nothing too crazy that sticks out, but of course there was the exciting monumental event that was ASOT 500. It’s fun hanging out alongside so many of trance’s exciting artists. Many of them have a drinking problem (just kidding haha), so it’s always a blast to have such a lively group in one building meeting and mingling. At one point in the night, Arnej and I, both clearly tipsy and exhausted, stumbled our way backstage into the ASOT studio after Armin’s set. We then proceeded to have a 2-on-1 chat with Armin about his future, congratulating him about the baby on the way. It all seemed very fine and normal at the time, but looking back, it’s so funny. There’s thousands of people in the building who would have cut their hand off to meet Armin, and we just stumbled in like we were at the local pub. We were in no position at 5 in the morning to be giving him life lessons and advice haha.. But we’re all just people at the end of the day, and Armin’s a very nice one of those.
Dimitri: In the album you include some great collaborations with talented vocalists like Kerry Leva and my favorite Jeza. How did you work usually the vocal trance tracks? Do you get first the vocal and you compose the track upon it or the vocalist listens to the original instrumental and writes their vocals especially for them?
Dj Eco: Every vocal collaboration was done completely differently. For the collaboration with Kerry Leva, I had this incredibly long intro and the melody was more or less decided on. I sent it to her and lucky for me, we have an extremely similar taste in music. What would end up happening is a long series of 2-page long emails of us just DESCRIBING in words what we imagined the song to be. There were a lot of adjectives used and comparisons to other bands and artists. Finally, she sung her part and the rest of the song took shape nicely. It was an absolute delight working with Kerry, she’s the most thorough and professional vocalists I’ve worked with. Jeza was also so much fun to work with. In her case, I had a song I wrote already, with vocals I’d done myself as a basis to work with. I wrote and sang “We stare at the earth; it is upside down; it asks us to return; we don’t want to be found.” She liked it and a few weeks later she sent me her vocals and they were so on-point, there were almost no changes that needed to be made. I then made a second version, and then made a third version of the instrumental, which ended up being the main version (the second version is now the “summer mix”).
Dimitri: Do you have professional training in music or are you self-taught? Do you think is very important for a young producer to attend music composition classes or you feel as many people that formal training kills creativity and innovation and nowadays it’s easier to learn to produce with amateur video tutorials from you tube?
Dj Eco: I’ve only had classical piano training but for 14 years, I did it mostly by ear. After all that playing piano, I still can’t read musical notes! You may be able to hear that in the style of music I produce, the songs lack a sort of strict composition that maybe some other producers maintain. However, many other producers rely too much on notation and midi files and stuff like that which ends up comprising music that some of the critics call “cookie-cutter trance”. I don’t think producers need formal training and I always caution young kids just starting that they SHOULDN’T quit their school and go to music school, it’s a waste of time and money. Music should start out as a hobby and if you’re good, then you make the jump. You should never throw all your eggs into that basket, as we say in America.
Dimitri: Please take on a virtual tour in your home studio and let us know the kind of hardware that you use. Do you have favorite music composition software that you love to use and you can recommend to other artists as well as reliable and with vast creative possibilities?
Dj Eco: My home studio’s very basic, almost too basic that no one believes me when they hear what I use. I have an iMac from 2005, two Mackie speakers from about 2006, a really old midi keyboard that I’ve used maybe for 2 or 3 productions, and that’s it. I only use the program Reason 4.0 and I find it extremely reliable. It gets a lot of bad reviews and most producers hate it, but I love it! It doesn’t allow for any external plugins or VSTs, but I don’t really mind. It’s mostly about the creative mind and very little about the program one uses. If you give me a tape recorder, a violin, baby’s piano, and coconut, maybe I can make something interesting haha…
Dimitri: I would love to get from you a short comment about each track of the album. What it means to you, from where did you get the inspiration to produce it and if you feel satisfied with the final result
Dj Eco:
1 Intro
This was just a quick experiment, I pitched it up and it seemed to go nicely with the beginning of the next tune. It’s a cool way of bringing the listener deep into the magical world that the album will soon take them.
2 After All... (feat. Kerry Leva)
The lyrics were all written by Kerry Leva, but the instrumental, for me, was based on the music of Sigur Ros. I really wanted to do this crazy long intro using interesting sounds and noises. It sounds like a lot of electric guitars and electric violins and choirs of angels all coming together right before the climax.
3 Wide Open (with Breakfast)
This started as an idea I shot over to W&W for a potential collaboration. We were all excited to make a song together but unfortunately our schedule’s didn’t align so it never happened. So I thought to myself, well, I was going to approach Casey (Breakfast) anyway, why don’t I just send him this? He liked it and throughout the course of a month, he did so much work on it and it came together nicely. He gave it a lot of its dancefloor appeal and my main role was the melody and breakdown.
4 Architextures (Part 1)
This started as a 4-part song I later went on to call “Architextures”. I then trimmed it to 3 parts, and then 2 parts the way you hear now. I took a melody and established it as a theme, and then the original 4-part song would be 4 different takes or variations of that theme and melody.
5 Architextures (Part 2) (feat. Informant)
I was put in touch with a young Australian producer called Informant and he loved it, and loved the idea! He totally led the way to the crazy beat and transformative song you hear now, he’s really talented.
6 The Stream Turned Into Ocean
The melody for this was something I wrote almost two years ago. The pianos were put in place as the original backing for my earlier production “Love” featuring vocalist Lira Yin. I scrapped it and remade the song, and when I revisited the song last year, I said, wow, what was I thinking? It took a few tries but eventually I came up with what you hear now and I’m very very happy with it.
7 Breaking The Habit (feat. Einat)
This vocal came about as I was sent an acapella from Einat’s management. Her voice was incredible! I had a song that I was almost finished with that almost exactly suited the vocal, and lo and behold, it was a perfect fit. It was simple as that, the stars aligned.
8 Electric Poetry
I heard this really mysterious live jam session by a band called Mogwai (not to be confused with the electro-house producer Moguai). I immediately got the inspiration to write this melody, which is very loosely based on that Mogwai song. This song maybe took a day or two to finish, but the result is a really exciting mix of a funky beat and an unforgettable emotional melody.
9 Under Paper Skies
This was one of the earliest songs from the album. If I remember correctly, it was probably the first one I completed. I sent it to Ruben from Armada right away, he loved it! I then went on to test it out live last summer at a gig in Toronto and it went down awesome. It takes maybe second place for my favorite song on the album.
10 Hellovators (Part 1 Going In)
This started as a quick spur of the moment production session. I just kind of went with the flow; sometimes that’s how a song goes down. You just stare at the screen and write anything that comes to mind. Sometimes you make a mistake in placing the wrong series of notes and it ends up sounding amazing. This song all happened that way, and then went on to be probably my favorite song on the album.
11 Hellovators (Part 2 Going Up)
“Hellovators” as a whole went on to be like 11 minutes long, it was a REAL epic journey of a long song. I had to shorten it otherwise the album would have been called “Hellovators” haha..
12 My Name Is You(th) (feat. Eller van Buuren)
This was an exciting project. I wrote an initial melody with some guitar sounds I made in Reason. It was a really simple but effective arrangement and the vibe of the song was really inspired by some stuff by the band Arcade Fire. I thought to myself, hey, let me see if Armada can hook me up with Eller van Buuren? It was a random passing thought but I acted on it and sent them an email about it. A week or two later, Ruben de Ronde replies, “He’s gonna do it!!!!” and within a couple weeks, Eller replied with a brilliant package of many guitar ideas. I was like a kid in a candy shop producing this track and, after a few tries, I came up with something we were both extremely happy with.
13 Change The World (feat. Radmila)
This was the last song finished for the album. I sent a sample to Radmila many months back, and to make a long story short, some months had passed without any progress. She contacts me a few days before the album’s deadline with a nice zip file of vocal ideas, and I fell in love! I scrapped the earlier sample and started the new version and finished it in just several hours.
14 The Light In Your Eyes Went Out
This is another song with a melody I had written a couple years ago. I revisited it and just went crazy making a huge mess (in a good way hopefully) of a crossover tune. There’s trance, there’s a hard electro beat and bassline, there’s breakbeats, there’s rock, there’s chillout. It’s got everything, but vocals..
15 Mali (Part 1 Going In)
This song was a quick experiment I did with some new sounds I had made, mostly background pads and atmospheres. You notice in this song a constantly but slowly rising series of background atmosphere sounds. Eventually, the album’s deadline came and I was like, wow, this is actually pretty good, let me keep working on this!
16 Mali (Part 2 Going Up)
I finished the part 1 of the song and eventually decided to make a part 2 variation of the melody into a banging version of the melody. These two songs are fairly short, so it’s something I may revisit at a later date, possible release as an EP with all versions being extended and more developed.
17 Over Paper Skies (feat. Jeza)
This production was so much fun and Jeza was really excited throughout the whole project. Her voice is so smooth and she has a great taste in music, so the final product of my song and her voice is really dynamic and go together nicely.
Dimitri: Are you preparing any tour to promote this great album around the world?? Can you recall for us your best ever dj performance? Do you remember in which place that happened?
Dj Eco: My official album release party is July 31st in New York City. We’re throwing the party on a rooftop and I will be playing a 3 hour set to accompany the sunset, I’m really excited about it. Typically, I’ve been producing way more than I’ve been DJing; I’m always excited and open to taking bookings, especially to promote the album. We’ll see where this album takes me!
Dimitri: One of my favorite questions to all the djs is that one about self-reflection and self-criticism. Out of 10 with what score do you rate the various elements of your dj performances and why?
Dj Eco: a) your mixing skills: 7; I like to do really long and drawn-out transitions which some DJs and critical fans don’t like. My DJ roots are in New York and the equipment most of these clubs gave me to use for years were these awesome custom-made rotary mixers. You only see them in the United States in old clubs in cities like New York, Miami, Detroit, etc. It’s a really old-school house and techno thing and I think it’s better for really long transitions. When I play on the standard equipment like Pioneer mixers, maybe it doesn’t sounds as smooth as some of those rotary mixers because I’m still kind of used to them!
b) your ability to choose the right track for the right occasion: 9; This is something I really pride about myself. I’ve never ever carried a “cheat sheat” even when starting out. All of my live sets are really spur of the moment. I have my huge collection of CDs in front of me and I just go with the flow. This maybe means I interact a bit less with the crowd than, say, Tiesto or Steve Aoki, but on a purely artistic level, I think it’s important to make each live journey different. DJing isn’t exactly a back-breaking job, the least artists can do is not manufacture the same pre-programmed set and play it for 2 months.
c) your friendly attitude towards the fans that are coming to shake your hand when you perform and after that? 10; I’ve learned this from watching Armin. If Armin can calmly handle 100 people bum-rushing him, I think I should be able to too!
Dimitri: Do you consider yourself as a hard core user of the internet and the so much hyped social networks such as facebook and twitter? Do you remember the longest hours that you spend in the internet surfing and chatting with others?
Dj Eco: Not at all. My social networks are very lacking compared to most artists. I don’t have a newsletter, I’ve just launched a website, and only started a Twitter earlier this year. All these means of promoting oneself works for so many DJs, both skilled and unskilled. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I hope word of mouth is what gets my name out. This works for good films, maybe it can work for musical artists as well? One thing I do often is give out free unreleased tracks. On a yearly basis, I think I give out a good 20 or 30 unreleased productions. That’s my social networking: musical Christmas!
Dimitri: Is it very important for an artist to be visible in the internet? Do you really care about how many followers you have in your twitter account or how many likes you have in your facebook?
Dj Eco: I’ve started to care more recently. One thing I pride myself, especially on Facebook, is talking with fans. I react to the comments I have time to react to, I answer questions, I joke around, etc. I’m not quite worldwide famous just yet, but even artists on my level fail to talk to a lot of their fans. It’s an important aspect of what we do, I think. Our job isn’t THAT hard that we can’t enjoy a chat on our Facebook every once in a while.
Dimitri: What is more music videos and you tube is becoming a great promo tool for record labels as well. Do you discuss with Armada to prepare a glossy music video for any tracks from the album?
Dj Eco: Absolutely! For the first single, “The Light In Your Eyes Went Out”, a friend and fan of mine Evan Larimore shot some ideas to me. We worked together (mostly him of course) and proposed something to Armada that I think they liked, and many of the fans liked. I’m EXTREMELY hands on during this type of process. I’m in New York; I know dozens of artists, photographers, cinematographers, and great minds, some of the best in their field. I’d be dumb not to work with them! My upcoming video for “Over Paper Skies” features me and Jeza as the starring roles. It was all filmed in New York City and once again, I played a big role in putting it together. There’s a certain indie and progressive vibe I try to give off with my music, and the same goes for the videos and artwork and visual stuff I put out there. I like to have a lot of creative control, which sometimes lands me in trouble; it’s a lot of work to handle for me.
Dimitri: Lets finish off with other activities and hobbies that you may like doing except producing, listening or djing music?
Dj Eco: Well, my other passion is architecture and design. I love movies of all kinds, especially independents. My favorite sports are hockey and soccer, and I don’t watch much TV!
Dimitri: Please can you give us your message to the people who will read this and why they should buy your album?
Dj Eco: Many critics around the electronic music world have been saying “trance is dead” for years now. It’s most definitely not. If you’re one of those critics, it’s very important for you to support those artists you do think are keeping it alive. You can’t “love trance” and then download your favorite artists on torrent sites.
I hope you enjoy the music I’m putting forth to you, I worked on it and released it to you with so much love, passion, and care, all in the off-chance and small hope that it’ll put a smile on your face!
Many thanks to dj Eco for taking some time out of his busy schedule to reply in my questions with those fantastic answers.
Many thanks to Marije at Armada offices for her fantastic support to organize this interview and have it ready for you to enjoy
Tracklisting for M(you)sic
1 Intro
2 After All... (feat. Kerry Leva)
3 Wide Open (with Breakfast)
4 Architextures (Part 1)
5 Architextures (Part 2) (feat. Informant)
6 The Stream Turned Into Ocean
7 Breaking The Habit (feat. Einat)
8 Electric Poetry
9 Under Paper Skies
10 Hellovators (Part 1 Going In)
11 Hellovators (Part 2 Going Up)
12 My Name Is You(th) (feat. Eller van Buuren)
13 Change The World (feat. Radmila)
14 The Light In Your Eyes Went Out
15 Mali (Part 1 Going In)
16 Mali (Part 2 Going Up)
17 Over Paper Skies (feat. Jeza)
1 Intro
2 After All... (feat. Kerry Leva)
3 Wide Open (with Breakfast)
4 Architextures (Part 1)
5 Architextures (Part 2) (feat. Informant)
6 The Stream Turned Into Ocean
7 Breaking The Habit (feat. Einat)
8 Electric Poetry
9 Under Paper Skies
10 Hellovators (Part 1 Going In)
11 Hellovators (Part 2 Going Up)
12 My Name Is You(th) (feat. Eller van Buuren)
13 Change The World (feat. Radmila)
14 The Light In Your Eyes Went Out
15 Mali (Part 1 Going In)
16 Mali (Part 2 Going Up)
17 Over Paper Skies (feat. Jeza)
