STREAMING AUDIO INTERVIEW

It must be equal parts exciting and intimidating to be labeled as the ‘next big thing’. And so it is for Markus Schulz: rising to the #13 position in last year’s DJ Mag 100 poll, he’s been tipped to shortly join the ranks populated by the likes of Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk and Ferry Corsten, as one of real heavy hitters in trance. This obscures the fact that only a couple of years ago, he was widely known for playing progressive house, rather than trance. But it’s this same musical heritage that’s allowed Markus to stand out from the pack: it’s the deep grooves, layered sounds and forward-thinking musicality that have been wowing the fans, just as much as the euphoric melodies and epic breakdowns.

There’s been a renaissance in trance over the past few years, with new wave of electro, tech and progressive influenced sounds meaning that it’s all sounding fresh again. And this has been what’s brought Markus into the fold. “As far as my tastes and what I look for in music, I almost feel like I’ve stayed pretty much the same. But I’ve noticed that the trance sound has moved closer towards me … There’s a lot more trance out there that’s accessible to me, because the genre itself as a whole has moved a lot closer towards where I’m at as a DJ/producer.”

He had a bunch of huge club hits last year, including I Am and the divine Daydream. He was last Australia in 2006 for the first Future Music Festival tour, warming up the crowd for headliner Armin van Buuren, but now he’s on this way back as the top trance performer at that very same festival. And what’s more, he’s got a genuine passion for what he does. Here he talks to ITM’s Angus Paterson about all the excitement in his life at the moment, his upcoming tour of Australia and how he’s been snuggling up nice and close with trance.

Check Markus Schultz out when he returns for the following shows…

Mar 1 – Future Music Festival, Brisbane
Mar 2 – Future Music Festival, Perth
Mar 7 – Sublime, Sydney
Mar 8 – Future Music Festival, Sydney
Mar 9 – Future Music Festival, Melbourne
Mar 10 – Future Music Festival, Adelaide

And check out this clip of Markus playing live at the Trance Energy party in Europe…