Producing

Schulz has released four mix compilations and two artist albums under his own name. He has also released productions and an album, Thoughts Become Things, under the alias Dakota. Through his work with remixing tracks, he has had the opportunity to work with such artists as: Depeche Mode, Madonna, Everything But The Girl, Jewel, Oceanlab, Gabriel & Dresden, Telepopmusik, Fat Boy Slim, Miro, Book Of Love, Blue Amazon, and PQM.[1] His remixes of "Intuition" and "Stand" by Jewel both hit #1 on the Billboard club chart.

Performing

When not in the studio working on new mixes, Schulz maintains an extensive international touring schedule. He originally held a seven-year residency at The Works in Phoenix, Arizona, where he developed his style. Since then, he has performed at clubs all over the world and has DJ'ed at several festivals and events, including: Electric Daisy Carnival, Monster Massive, Together As One, Ultra Music Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event, Nature One, Dance Valley, Love Parade, Global Gathering, ETD Pop, Trance Energy 2010, Bang Music Festival, Future Music Festival[1] and at the Episodes 350, 400 and 450 of A State Of Trance.

On October 28, 2009, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, placing Schulz at #8.

Early History

Born in Eschwege, central Germany, Markus emigrated to the United States in the 80s. 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 mirrored that of the 2nd stateside coming of House music and he caught his first production break in 1993 when he remixed Sagat’s ‘Why Is It (F** Dat)’ for Pete Tong’s FFrr label. Markus’ freshman production release followed in 1994 with the 6-track-strong ‘Plastik Trax EP Vol 1’. Throughout the mid to late Nineties he followed up with a range of releases on numerous US luminary labels. In 1998 he recorded ‘You Won’t See Me Cry’ for Plastik Records (his first label), a release which was picked up by Eve Records for the UK. This became Markus’ first international sound-out.

The DJ

Schulz’s DJ career has, to the greater degree, run parallel to that of his productions. In the early Nighties, having focused 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). Now a regular fixture at the world’s biggest clubs, arenas and festivals, he lays down his unique trance-progressive hybrid weekly. In Europe he’s played Trance Energy, Nature One & Dance Valley, Creamfields, Global Gathering and the Love Parade. Stateside Schulz has also played the Electric Daisy & Ultra Festivals and yet further afield still he’s brought the sound to China and Australia (most recently at the Future Music Festival). After several significant showings in the Top 100 DJs chart, he now ranks as one of the top 10 DJs in the world and in 2008 was voted Best American DJ at the International Dance Music Awards.

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 van Buuren 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). They began to make notable impacts on dancefloors and within 12 months Coldharbour Recordings the label was born. Named after Markus’ then-production base in London’s Coldharbour Lane, its output immediately brought a new 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, Probspot, Mark Otten & Niklas Harding. With 2005 in the grip of Coldharbour’s minimal, but still melodic take on the prog-trance sound, Markus struck with the first Coldharbour Sessions mix compilation. 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 has reached the threshold of its 100th release.

M.S. Productions 2005 – 2010

Over the course of the last half-decade tracks 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 vital part in drawing more people to Schulz’s sound. 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’. The impact of all the singles has been cauterized by his studio albums ‘Without You Near’ (2005) & ‘Progression’ (2007). Schulz is currently recording his third long-player, which is scheduled for release between Qs 2&3, 2010.

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 lovers. Broadcast through leading station DI.fm and Sirius XM Radio, the Global DJ Broadcast site and 50+ other FM & internet stations around the planet, it has become every bit required listening for the EDM-savvy. 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, Colombia, St Petersburg, 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 a long running and much respected city-hopping compilation album series. Kicking off in 2005 in Miami, its musical travelogue concept has gone on to spotlight Ibiza in ’06, Amsterdam in ’08 and Toronto in ’09. Notably, the Amsterdam ’08 release was nominated for an IDMA award for Best Full Length DJ Mix (in the same year that Markus won for Best American DJ).

Remixes

Over the course of the Nineties Markus re-tooled the production works of Euro dominators like The Real McCoy & Technotronic, house masters & divas Armand van Helden & Liz Torres, legendary icons of the decade RuPaul, Bette Midler & Sandra Bernhard and fully-fledged A-listers like Madonna. As the Millennium arrived though 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

Schulz makes only rare use of pseudonyms through his career – reportedly 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 focal points for newer fans. In 2009 Schulz resurrected the guise, updated 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. The album has thus far justified 7 single releases that have included particular fan-favourites ‘Chinook’, ‘Johnny the Fox’, 'Sin City', ‘Koolhaus’ & ‘Mr Cappuccino’.