MARKUS SCHULZ BIO:

Introduction: Over the last 10 years Markus Schulz has fused the individual musical identities of progressive, house & trance into his own creative, now inimitable hybrid sound. Through the unique alignment of headlining DJ sets, Armada and Coldharbour label output and his highly prominent Global DJ Broadcast radio show, he’s spearheaded a sea change revolution in the US trance scene. This success has been reflected in weekly sets played in front of many tens of thousands, a GDJB listenership up in the millions & one Beatport chart-topper after another. Following several highly ranked positions, in 2008 Schulz punched his way into the Top 10 of DJ Magazine’s Top 100 chart, landing at no.8. In repeating the exact same achievement in both 2009 & 2010 he now stands as the busiest DJ playing out of the United States.

Early History: Born in Eschwege, central Germany, Markus emigrated to the United States. Age 13, his dance music awakening came during the grip of the country’s then-exploding breakdance scene. His early production and DJ career roughly tracked that of the second stateside House explosion and he caught his first production break in 1993 when he remixed Sagat’s ‘Why Is It? (F** Dat)_ for FFrr. Markus_ freshman production release followed in 1994 with the 6-track ‘Plastik Trax EP Vol 1’. Throughout the mid to late Nineties he continued to accrue acclaim with a range of releases on numerous luminary U.S. labels. In 1998 he recorded ‘You Won’t See Me Cry_ for Plastik Records (his first label), which was picked up by the UK’s Eve Records and marked his first international release.

Markus Schulz _ The DJ: Through his natural audience affinity, flawless (and seemingly effortless) key-mixing and innate tune selection, he has wowed crowds in pretty much every major district, principality and metropolis. Schulz’s DJ career has run largely parallel to that of his productions. In the early noughties, having concentrated on the hinterland between trance & progressive, he began to reach audiences further and further afield. In 2004 he was signed to the David Lewis Productions agency (also home of the World’s No.1 DJ Armin van Buuren) and his career took another big step forward. Now a regular fixture at the world’s biggest & most famous clubs, arenas and festivals, he lays down his unique trance-progressive vision on a weekly basis. In Europe, he’s smashed Trance Energy, Nature One, Dance Valley, Sunrise, Tomorrowland & Pleasure Island; worked tent-pegs loose at Creamfields; gridlocked Global Gatherings all around the world and twice played all-night 8hr solo sets at Armada @ Amnesia in Ibiza. Stateside the colossal Ultra, Electric Daisy & Nocturnal Festivals have all felt Schulz pressure and yet further afield still he’s engineered floor uproar in China and Australia (most recently at the Future Music Festival). He has polled 3 consecutive years inside DJ Mag’s world’s top 10, ranked as world’s #2 in the Trance Addict, FTB & Trance Podium 2010 charts and won Best American DJ at the IDMAs in 2008.

Coldharbour Recordings: Schulz’s sound notably came quickest to the ears of continental European DJs. Following the formation of the Armada group in 2005, Armin sought Markus out and asked him to start compiling tracks for a new vinyl series. The Coldharbour Sessions EPs launched in 2004 (with the first 3 releases coming out on the already established Electronic Elements label). In quick succession they began to leave crater-like impacts on dancefloors and within 12 months Coldharbour the label was born. Named after Markus_ then-production base in London’s Coldharbour Lane, its output immediately brought a new angle sound to Armada. It also became a lightning rod for a new generation of prog-inclined producers _ setting in motion the careers of (amongst others) Santiago Nino, Rex Mundi, Mark Otten & Niklas Harding. With 2005 under the spell of Coldharbour’s more sophisticated, minimal, but still melodic take on the prog-trance sound, Markus struck again with the first Coldharbour Sessions mix compilation. Such has been the success of the imprint that in 2007 it was joined by a sub-label, Coldharbour Red. This, in turn, was a launch pad for Marcus Schössow, tyDi, Glenn Morrison & Evol Waves and was the point of re-entry for early Schulz side-project, Dakota (*see Dakota section below). Six years after its birth, in 2010, Coldharbour stands at the top tier of the world’s trance & progressive labels and in August 2010 celebrated it 100^th release with Markus_ cover of Cass & Slide’s ‘Perception’.

Productions 2005 _ 2009: Perfectly intersecting the quality/quantity axis, Markus_ own productions have been the most fundamental of components in marshalling clubbers and music lovers to his sound. Over the course of the last half-decade singles like ‘First Time_ & ‘Without You Near_ (2005), ‘Fly To Colours’, ‘Never Be The Same_ & ‘I Am_ (2007) ‘Perfect_ & ‘Cause You Know_ (2008) & most recently ‘The New World_ & ‘Do You Dream?_ have each played their vital part. Markus is also a keen production collaborator. In 2005 he famously teamed up with likeminded producers Gabriel & Dresden and Departure for ‘Without You Near_ and in mid-2008 did the same with Andy Moor on ‘Daydream_ and most recently on ‘Goodbye_ with Max Graham. The impact of all the singles has been cauterized by his studio albums ‘Without You Near_ (2005), ‘Progression_ (2007).

Productions 2010 _ 2011 -‘Do You Dream’: In February 2010, Schulz completed principle recording on his third long-player, ‘Do You Dream?_ The 16-track album was released on June the 15^th in many key territories. Its release prompted Tilllate Magazine to say its “sonic explorations went into every conceivable angle_ & that the album was “energetic_ & “exhilarating”. DJ Mag said “it guides (the listener) through dreamy ambient, downbeat chords, fist-pumping prog, house and trance, as well as the odd skipping breakbeat_ and went on to say “it’s hard to see why you won’t completely adore this”. On April the 1^st, 2011 the album’s remix edition was released. It included track remakes from heavyweights including Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate & Super8 & Tab as well as core Coldharbour artists like Tucandeo, Mr Pit and Mike Foyle. The remix edition will be joined by Schulz’s first DVD release in May, which documents the ‘Do You Dream?_ world tour.

The Global DJ Broadcast show: Now in its fifth year Schulz’s GDJB has continued to be a beacon for an always-growing throng of trance & progressive dance fans. Having begun life on Miami’s Party 93.1 station, it is now broadcast through DI.fm and Sirius/XM satellite, the Global DJ Broadcast site and over 50 other FM stations around the planet. Based on a regular format, the first show of each month is a two hour long mix from one of Schulz’s rolling World Tour gigs -ones that have of late included Medellin, Columbia, St Petersberg, Russia & Amnesia in Ibiza. Subsequent shows in the month feature Markus mixing his broad-span pick of the current electronic dance music best for an hour (which includes the forum-voted Global Selection track of the week) followed by guest mixes from both established and up-and-coming DJs.

Markus Schulz _ The City Albums: Markus is also responsible for one of the longest running and most respected compilation album series in trance history. Kicking off in 2005 in Miami, its city-hopping concept has gone on to spotlight Ibiza in ’06, Amsterdam in ’08 & Toronto in ’09. In 2010 it homed in on Las Vegas (for an album that Mixmag said: “managed the rarity of living up to the hype_ and “ranked as his best yet”) and in February 2011 it returned to Europe to focus on Prague. Providing a microcosmic view of his sound, the albums have become cornerstones for fans CD & mp3 collections, with each new travelogue edition bringing in a fresh wave of supporters. Notably, the Amsterdam ’08 release was nominated for an IDMA award for Best Full Length DJ Mix (in the same year that Markus took home the trophy for Best American DJ).

Remixes: Markus powered into remix action in the early 90s with a 30-strong volley of high-profile reworks. Over the course of the decade he re-tooled the production works of Euro dominators like The Real McCoy & Technotronic, house masters & divas including Armand van Helden & Liz Torres, legendary Nineties icons RuPaul, Bette Midler & Sandra Bernhard and fully-fledged A-listers like Madonna. As the Millennium arrived he began to work on deeper, more intrinsically electronic dance fare... In 2000 he remixed trance innovator Pablo Gargano’s ‘Absolution’, PQM’s Renaissance classic ‘The Flying Song_ and Fatboy Slim’s ‘Sunset (Bird of Prey). Satisfied that he’d found the right dance strata to focus on Markus has gone on to rewire tracks by Oceanlab, Motorcycle, Dance 2 Trance, Cosmic Gate, Nalin & Kane, Kyau & Albert, John O’Callaghan, & Space Manoeuvres amongst many, many others.

Markus Schulz aka: Dakota: Markus has only made rare use of pseudonyms through his career -seeing them as being only valuable if they represent an outlet for something other than his ‘regular_ output. At the turn of the last decade Schulz released 3 tracks (‘Swirl’, ‘Frozen_ & ‘Lost in Brixton’) under the moniker Dakota. Over time these became entry points for many new fans. In 2009 Schulz paid dues to this by resurrecting the guise, updating its sound and directed his attentions on a whole album of new Dakota material. ‘Thoughts Become Things_ was the end product and with it came a route diversion that went into a new valley-deep sound _ one that expanded to embrace the fringes of techno, house and other sub-genres. It expanded that both Schulz’s fanbase and the range of DJ support for his music. The album has thus far justified 7 single releases that have included particular fan-favourites ‘Chinook’, ‘Johnny the Fox’, ‘Koolhaus_ & ‘Mr Cappuccino’. Such was its success that Schulz announced that in July of 2011 the follow up would arrive in stores.