Immersed, January 22: Duran & Aytek
Posted by plamenk | Filed under News
Duran Genc: Producer, Writer, Engineer and DJ
Aytekin Kurt: Producer, Writer, Singer and DJ
Duran Genc and Aytekin Kurt joined forces back in 2000 and started releasing dance music records as “Duran & Aytek” on various labels in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
The first release from the duo was “Monsoon/Housebreaking” on 3 Beat Records (UK). “Monsoon” got recognition from many top DJs in the industry, especially Armin Van Buuren, and gave them a good head start. Then a deal with Baroque Records, one of the UK’s leading progressive house labels, followed. First single was “Come” featuring Aytek’s vocals with two versions on Baroque’s imprint Method Records. Pretty soon “Searching”, another vocal track with Aytek’s vocals, was released on Baroque along with remixes from Evolution and Wrecked Angle.
The two also worked together on the B-Side track “Electribe” of Duran’s solo release on Sadie Records, namely “Face”. With this release came the huge support from the leading DJs of the time in both sides of the Atlantic.
In 2004, Duran & Aytek signed a deal with Deep Records/Extrema Music. The D&A’s first release on Deep was “Futurehope EP” including “Futurehope” and “Elysium”, a progressive and breaks mixture, on the flip side. For the first time, they included a non-4/4 track on this release. Secondly on Deep, “The Insight EP” was released. Featuring the highly anticipated “First Sight” on the A side and two more breaks pieces “The Second Sight” & “Catalepsy” on the B side, the EP became their most successful release making it to the Grammy nominated Creamfields CD of Paul Oakenfold. The same year, they were invited to play a set at the Extrema Outdoor Festival in the Netherlands, which was Duran & Aytek’s first international gig.
Giving priority to quality rather than quantity, Duran & Aytek acted quite picky when it comes to releasing tracks and gave a break concentrating more on the local Pop music productions and worked with many leading artists of Turkey and the Middle East producing/remixing a number of tracks.
In June 2009, the duo released a 9-track album titled “F.S.D.M.” on Baroque Records including “In My Pocket”. F.S.D.M. stands for Free Style Dance Music pointing to the duo’s approach to dance music since they avoided being labeled with any genre of music and kept an open mind instead. The album consisted of tracks in various genres from House to Progressive to Tech House to Techno. In September 2009, “Bombai/Shots” was released on Rococo/Baroque Records.
The two worked with Akon producing the R&B version and the house remix of the song “Yalli Nassini”, a song Akon performed with the Middle Eastern sensation Melissa. The song is supposed to be released in the first half of 2010 in the Middle Eastern and European markets.
2010 will see more releases from Duran & Aytek on Baroque Records and Plusquam Records (Germany). Starting things off with “Back To Shibaba EP” (‘Back To Alcohol’ & ‘Shibaba’) on Baroque and “Street Buttons EP” (‘Street Buttons’, ‘Circus’ & ‘If You Were A Drink, What Would You Be?’) on Plusquam. Then remixes for Re-Zone and Duca on Future Lovers.
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