Over many recent conversations about classic trance, techno, and the O.G. underground New York scene I grew up in, I've been reminiscing a lot about my roots and beginnings as a DJ.
I got my first gig playing a teen night at Club Deep in New York at the age of 15 around 2002, produced over the next several years and was signed by a German label in 2006. I've been deeply involved in rave and dance music culture for almost 25 years, something I'm very proud of and has given a lot of meaning and color to my life.
While searching through an old hard drive, I found this unlabeled .mp3 recording of mine from the summer of 2006. Having immersed myself entirely in the New York rave and trance communities at the time, I played a lot of different underground gigs that year and remember playing 3 warehouse raves that summer: two in Queens (in Flushing and Hunter's Point), and one in the South Bronx. This live set recording is from one of those nights, but I can't remember which.
I was playing a lot of progressive trance and house in the CLUBS I was booked at those years, but you can hear a different darker side of me here at the RAVE: hard driving techno, hard trance, hard house. This was a side I felt more comfortable unleashing in the rave scene, where other DJs were playing hardcore, drum n' bass, and hard house.
The New York club and rave scenes were pretty separate at the time. The people who went to see trance and techno DJs in Manhattan were not the kids who went to raves every week in The Bronx, Brooklyn, or Queens. Both scenes were pretty diverse but the raves I played at were a primarily Latino and Black crowd.
The worlds were pretty different, and fewer people in the rave scene knew who I was than at the clubs in Manhattan. I feel lucky to have grown up in this era and experienced the New York underground in its totality, a world I exist in and am passionate about still to this day.
I hope you enjoy this really deep cut recording from 19 year old "DJ Eco" during the summer of 2006. Some of you have been following me for a lot of that time, and I hope you guys especially enjoy this one. I do it for y'all - and I do it for the underground; always have...
