After months of anticipation, Ferry Corsten and Markus Schulz’s new project New World Punx has finally revealed its debut track. Premiered at ASOT 600 Madison Square Garden, “Romper” sets the project’s phasers to stun with a sound more old than new. Featuring a deep bass line with pounding drums and a melody that creeps out of the layers, the track is both a nod to earlier hard trance and a push forward for the genre. While it’s too early to tell if “Romper” will define the power group’s sound, this is one collab we’re happy to watch unfold.
Listen over at RollingStone.com.
Best of Instagram is a feature from Dancing Astronaut that showcases our favorite pictures from our favorite DJs on Instagram each week. This week, we feature gems from Steve Angello, Afrojack, and Diplo.
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At 12:45 Sunday afternoon, a voice cut across an edit of Hard Rock Sofa & Dirty Shade’s “Collapsar,” causing a still-filling Ultra Mega Structure to turn toward the sound.
“Good morning Miami!” the voice rang out. “Are you ready for The Expedition?” Heads started nodding. “Are you ready for 11 hours of A State of Trance?” A yes-shaped roar emerged.
The voice was Armin van Buuren’s, the set was Tritonal‘s, and the effect was pandemonium. Projected on screen from the on-site ASOT studio, the patriarch of the trance family beamed down at the crowd, encouraging them to give it up for their fellow Americans, the trance team from Texas that kicked off the live ASOT 600 experience and played the first of the day’s ten sets.
The episode saw Tritonal, W&W, Cosmic Gate, ATB, Dash Berlin, Markus Schulz, Above & Beyond, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, and Markus Schulz all taking to the decks, hitting the crowd with wave after wave of the sonic sounds of today’s trance. Hop below the break to journey to Miami on The Expedition.
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Two of trance’s most powerful players have decided to merge into a dynamic duo. After successful collaborations and back-to-back sets, Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten have taken their teamwork further, revealing that they will soon be performing together as New World Punx.
The duo (who took their name from Corsten’s “Punk” and Schulz’s “Brave New World”) have so far announced three North American dates. New World Punx will make it’s debut during Miami Music Week at Mansion on March 24th before heading up to ASOT600 NYC on March 30th. Canadian fans will get a taste at Montreal’s Bal en Blanc March 31st before the new act heads to Europe. While no release dates have been announced for NWP tracks, if “Loops & Tings” or “Stella” are any indication, the trance scene may have a new dream team.
While Markus Schulz’s collaboration with Armin van Buuren,”The Expedition,” continues to travel as the ASOT 600 anthem, the German producer has returned this week with another official theme. Created for Prague’s Transmission festival, “The Spiritual Gateway” is both the event’s anthem and its ethos, as trance fans from around the world gathered to get lost in the sounds of some of the genre’s best acts. With a hard-hitting bassline, an echoing melody and celestial chord progressions, the track is pure trance, pure Markus, and pure anthem gold. For those who couldn’t make it to eastern Europe, the track is now available on Beatport.
Purchase: Beatport
As Armin van Buuren continues to bring the official ASOT 600 anthem live to fans around the world, fans at home now have an opportunity to experience “The Expedition” in four new ways. Released this week on Armada’s A State of Trance label is the official remix EP for Armin and Markus Schulz’s modern trance anthem. With remixes from Norway’s Ørjan Nilsen, Poland’s Indecent Noise, Columbia’s KhoMha and Moldovian producer Andrew Rayel, the tracks range from progressive house to instrumental classic trance to unrelenting progressive trance. By featuring the sounds and stylings of the new generation of producers, “The Expedition” remixes serve to celebrate where trance is going as ASOT 600 celebrates where it has been. Click past the break to hear “The Expedition” re-imagined.
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Armin van Buuren won’t be the first DJ to perform at a sold out Madison Square Garden, but he will be the first to perform there while video chatting with his fans. The legendary trance producer has announced that during all live shows on his upcoming A State of Trance 600 ‘The Expedition’ world tour, fans will have the opportunity to attend a virtual Goolge+ hangout. These sessions will allow members of the trance family to interact with, and ask questions of, not only Armin van Buuren but also Markus Schulz, Dash Berlin, and W&W. While only select fans will have the opportunity to actually participate in chat, all will be able to watch.
“Every week, more than 20 million people tune into my show, so for these special live shows I’d like to take it one step further. Via the Google+ Hangouts, I can turn the listeners into viewers and offer them a front row seat.”
Even if you were unable to snag tickets to the show, you now have three ways to participate — radio broadcast, video broadcast, and/or Google+ hangout. Click below the jump to find out how to get involved.
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Today’s Good Morning Mix requires your full and undivided attention. Trance pioneer Markus Schulz has graciously uploaded an outrageous two-hour segment of his twelve-hour marathon set from New Year’s Eve at Avalon in Los Angeles. He dubs this section the “rabbit hole” — and as you make it through the tracklist, you’ll see why.
Be prepared to hear everything from dark, minimal techno from Dubfire to tasteful progressive house from Thomas Gold to a classic house anthem from Mark Knight & Funkagenda. More bewildering tracks include a legendary Deadmau5 original, a thumping Sander van Doorn remix, and plenty of Markus Schulz big-room reconstructions. No matter your taste, there’s a track in this mix for you. Brace yourselves for the rabbit hole. (more…)
With every new ASOT tour comes a new ASOT anthem. It’s customary for Armin van Buuren to recruit one of his many trance peers to produce an official anthem for the tour (last year was W&W‘s “The Invasion”), and this year Armin collaborated with big name American trance producer Markus Schulz to create “The Expedition.” The track is classic Armin & Markus – rapidly building melodies and uplifting breaks perfectly cooked for a big room smörgåsbord. The track will be available on Beatport on January 28th, but click past the break for a nice little preview. As of this week, we’re only four shows away from first stop on Armin’s worldwide celebration of his 600th episode of the A State of Trance radio show so get in the mood with “The Expedition.”
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Earlier this month Armin van Buuren announced that his ASOT 600 celebration would touch down in New York City to take over Madison Square Garden on March 30th. Today, Armin has announced the event’s lineup on his weekly radioshow of the same name. Before van Buuren headlines the world’s most famous arena, Markus Schulz, Ferry Corsten, W&W, and Alex M.O.R.P.H. will play sets of their own.
Pre-sale registration is now open, but closes Saturday, January 19th before tickets go on sale to the general public on January 23rd.
