‘I need to tell the story of The Nine Skies’ – Interview with Markus Schulz

Having rocked the Transmission stage for years, Markus Schulz is no stranger to this spectacular event, with a very special edition this year performing for the first time in Transmission under his alias “DAKOTA”.

The first thing that comes to our mind is Markus’s thoughts about bringing back Dakota to full force this year. Markus clearly stated: ‘I just felt that it was something I needed to do, it was therapeutic for me with everything going on in this world. I like to express myself through music and Dakota is the perfect opportunity to express those feelings’.

You might wonder, what’s the difference between Markus Schulz and Dakota music wise? Well, the man himself got an answer to that, ‘Markus Schulz is experiences, what I see, music about the fans, while Dakota, I’m writing what I’m feeling and creating music from inside of me’.

Playing Transmission as Dakota marks a milestone for Markus with the release of “The Nine Skies” closing in early December 2017. ‘I need to tell the story of “The Nine Skies” and Transmission is the perfect setting for it, so to do this it’s an honor and I feel really good about it, because Transmission has the best production, the most spectacular Trance event in the world, and to do “The Nine Skies” show on the transmission production for me it will be a great look.’, Markus explained to us.

Markus considers that if there’s one thing enlightenment does take, it’s time. ‘Rarely, if ever, in life does something happen overnight’, he says. The release of the album’s first four singles was designed to reflect one of the possible journey arcs from darkness to enlightenment. That started with the early-in-the-album track, ‘Mota Mota’ and ended with its penultimate one, ‘Spirit of the Warrior’. ‘It arches from one of the most ominous darkly-minded, night-black numbers I’ve written to possibly Dakota’s most uplifting, emancipating moment ever’, says Markus.

As for the current Trance Scene, Markus mentioned that it’s a bit fragmented with people going left and right and talks about the missing drive in Trance. ‘I don’t want to be nostalgic and go “Oh Trance wasn’t as it used to be”, I miss the days when there was a drive in Trance. I feel like the PSY stuff are almost EDM all over again where it’s the same formula, same sound .. You can’t really explore scapes within that sound but right now I’m really into those techno grooves with melodies, melodies that have the momentum. I’ve always been into that drive and I miss that drive’.

To wrap things up, let’s take a look into Markus’s 2018 plans where he revealed to us the release of a new Markus Schulz album with collaborations including but not limited to, Emma Hewitt, JES, Nadia Ali and more. ‘I think the main thing I’m looking forward to do on this next album is to have an organic Trance sound.’, says Markus.

We definitely can’t wait for 2018, Markus .. You left us eagerly waiting for some quality Trance!

photo credits: Transmission Festival.

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