Track Review: "Afterworld" by Arkham Knights

As you may or may not be aware of, this blog has been showing a lot of love to the label spearheaded by Markus Schulz in the past year or so, yes Coldharbour Recordings. You may call it a bias, but as a trance music fan, you really cannot ignore the production value being released by all involved with the label.

As evident during sets at events throughout the world or even on your favorite radio show or podcast, Arkham Knights have released another gem in "Afterworld". The track has that dark, techno, progressive feel associated with the Coldharbour sound. Then the melodies kick in, and you are in for that trance euphoria that you strive to experience.  It is highly recommended that you support the track, and add it to your collection!

What's Your Favorite Coldplay Album?

After recent reflection on life, the realization of how talented and great the band Coldplay truly are as they have been influential to a current generation. However, they appeal to many generations, and perhaps have been herald as "the world's biggest band" on many occasions over the years. So, the idea to conduct a poll to find out their most popular album out of their seven came to mind.

Let us begin by summarizing each and every one of their albums followed by the results of the poll. 

Song List: 1. Don't Panic 2. Shiver 3. Spies 4. Sparks 5. Yellow 6. Trouble 7. Parachutes 8. High Speed 9. We Never Change 10. Everything's Not Lost (Plus Hidden Track). 

HIT SINGLE(S):"Yellow" & "Parachutes".

Song List: 1. Politik 2. In My Place 3. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face 4. The Scientist 5. Clocks 6. Daylight 7. Green Eyes 8. Warning Sign 9. A Whisper 10. A Rush of Blood To The Head 11. Amsterdam

HIT SINGLE(S): "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face", "The Scientist", & "Clocks".

Song List: 1. Square One 2. What If 3. White Shadows 4. Fix You 5. Talk 6. X&Y 7. Speed Of Sound 8. A Message 9. Low 10. The Hardest Part 11. Swallowed In The Sea 12. Twisted Logic 13. Till Kingdom Come

HIT SINGLE(S): "Fix You", "Talk", & "Speed Of Sound".

Song List: 1. Life In Technicolor 2. Cemeteries Of London 3. Lost! 4. 42 5. Lovers Of Japan 6. Yes 7. Viva La Vida 8. Violet Hill 9. Strawberry Swing 10. Death And All His Friends 

HIT SINGLE(S): "Lost!", "Lovers Of Japan", "Yes", "Viva La Vida".

Song List: 1. Mylo Xyloto 2. Hurts Like Heaven 3. Paradise 4. Charlie Brown 5. Us Against the World 6. M.M.I.X. 7. Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall 8. Major Minus 9. U. F. O. 10. Princess of China (featuring Rihanna) 11. Up In Flames 12. A Hopeful Transmission 13. Don't Let It Break Your Heart 14. Up With The Birds

HIT SINGLE(S): "Paradise", "Charlie Brown", "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall", & "Princess of China".

Song List: 1. Always In My Head 2. Magic 3. Ink 4. True Love 5. Midnight 6. Another's Arms 7. Oceans 8. A Sky Full Of Stars 9. O 

HIT SINGLE(S): "Magic", & "A Sky Full Of Stars".

Song List: 1. A Head Full Of Dreams 2. Birds 3. Hymm For The Weekend 4. Everglow 5. Adventure Of A Lifetime 6. Fun (featuring Tove Lo) 7. Kaleidoscope 8. Army Of One 9. Amazing Day 10. Colour Spectrum 11. Up & Up

Poll Results: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends wins for favorite. However, there were many votes for any or all of the other albums released by the band. Thank you to all who participated, and glad to see others agree about their music. Perhaps take a listen or re-listen to any or all of the albums.  

Track Review: "Running Up That Hill" by Dakota (Markus Schulz) featuring Bev Wild

A few months back during Transmission (all trance music festival) in Prague, during the set of resident Markus Schulz, you heard this vocal on top of a darker yet great trance beat. It fit perfectly in the set as well you are to expect when attending a set by the #UnicornSlayer.  As many trance fans and fans of Schulz do is to wonder what is the ID of the track.

Fast forward to now as we get closer to release of 'The Nine Skies' project by Markus Schulz under the Dakota alias, Global DJ Broadcast premiered the track "Running Up That Hill" as part of the new #InBloom edition. At first, the thought of a vocal track under the Dakota alias seemed weird. However, after about 5 different listens, the darker theme of the song from the intro with the great vocals from Bev Wild started to take place well along with the build up of beat drops and accompanying melodies.

Take a listen and expect to go on a journey with Dakota!

Track Review: "Breathing Again" by Dave Neven featuring NuttaLyA

In the genre of trance, many revere the sub-genre of vocal trance to be at the forefront. Thus, when vocalists collaborate with producers/DJs for a great track, the trance community embraces it well. In this case, the track "Breathing Again" by Dave Neven featuring NuttaLyA is one of those tracks. Dave Neven has been producing and remixing great tracks under the Coldharbour Recordings label in the past year or so, and is proving to be one of the sought after artists.

"Breathing Again" features the vocals from NuttaLyA. Her voice is obviously great, and is designed for this track under the theme Mr. Neven has created. The alignment with the Coldharbour sound mixed the familiar trance sound just works. As this has been featured in sets and radio shows/podcasts in recent weeks, look for this track to continue to be featured as a well embraced vocal trance track for time to come. In fact, it could be the beginning of great like productions in the future.

Please support this track on Beatport as well as other platforms!

 

Event Preview: Dreamstate San Francisco

Have you heard of Dreamstate? Chances are that if you are trance music fan, you have. The infant, yet popular division of Insomniac was introduced in 2015, and has been gaining momentum ever since! From the popularity of the festival in Southern California, to the stage at EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) 2016, to the upcoming couple of days during Memorial Day weekend. All 3 days of EDC 2017 are even slated to include a dedicated stage.

Dreamstate has become a symbolic yet necessary event for the trance scene.  The claims that trance has been making a comeback or returning or any other related semantics has fueled this. However, for all of the fans and artists that have never abandoned the scene to begin with, these events show the power of trance as a music genre.

The best part about the line-up of artists is the diversity of sub-genres and skill levels by all involved. For instance, Markus Schulz is bringing back his alias Dakota, Paul Oakenfold is bringing back Generations, PureNRG (Giseppe Ottaviani & Solarstone) will be bringing a back-to-back set, and many are anticipating Liquid Ace (Liquid Soul & Ace Ventura back-to-back).

Please enjoy this Spotify playlist curated by the team of Dreamstate Ambassadors!

Track Review: "Lucid" by Dan Thompson

As a trance music fan or part of the #TranceFamily, times are really exciting right now from "the comeback" or "resurgence" of the genre to the new popularity and bigger events to even the quality of trance music being produced.  As many who have or will read this blog will know that the fine folks of Coldharbour Recordings (spearheaded by Markus Schulz) are releasing some great tracks consistently.

Thus, the latest release from DJ/Producer Dan Thompson on the label has been well received. Armin Van Buuren featured this release on A State of Trance 800.  The track has also been featured in sets an other well respected radio shows/podcasts.  The introduction of the track leaves you to figure out where the track is going to go, then the melodies kick in followed by the beats.  This track really does embody the dark, but still trance that the Coldharbour family continues to produce.

Please support this track on Beatport and any other platforms!
 

Artist Highlight: Dan Jeffries

A Plymouth based up and coming musician and I’d like to let you know about my debut single and video "I Hope There’s Room For You" that is released April 7th on Sound-Hub Records.  Download the single here! 

Artist - Dan Jeffries

Single - I Hope There’s Room For You

Released -  7.4.17.

Label - Sound-Hub Records

Contact - Dan Jeffries 07568196828

Email - djeffries1993@gmail.com