All posts by Tory Clinton

About Tory Clinton

Tory has been involved in the electronic music scene for nearly 9 years. He has managed nightclubs, organized nightlife promotions. Currently he DJs at various venues and clubs. In addition to being part of Schulz Army, Tory is also a regular contributor to The Scene is Dead. In his free time, you can find Tory attending electronic music shows and festivals throughout the U.S. Music is his passion!

Event Preview: NYE Extravaganza with Markus Schulz

 

Sooner than we know it 2015 will be coming to an end. With such an amazing year for trance fans all over the world, what better way to ring in the new year than with Markus Schulz. Over the last 10+ years Markus Schulz has crafted the individual musical identities of progressive, trance and house into his own unique hybrid Coldharbour sound. Through his natural audience interaction, flawless, intuitive harmonic mixing, unparalleled tune selection and now famous open-to-close sets, he has wowed crowds in every major metropolis. This will be surely one of the best events in New Orleans for the year.

Markus Schulz NYE

When: December 31, 2015

Where: The Metropolitan Nightclub, 310 Andrew Higgins Drive, New Orleans, LA 70130

Ages: 21+

Price: GA $25 + fee  VIP $75 + fee (VIP Ticket/wristband includes “cut the line” entrance, all-inclusive open Premium Bar, VIP Viewing Balcony, Must be 21+, no refunds if you are under 21 years of age.)

Other details: $1000.00 Balloon drop, champagne toast at midnight and much more to be announced.

To Purchase tickets click here.

For more info and updates please visit Metropolitan Nightclub.

Artist Spotlight: Grube & Hovsepian

As the saying goes two heads are better than one. This is the case in the duo of Tim Grube & Mike Hovsepian. Grube & Hovsepian was formed in 2008 after Tim heard Markus Schulz dropping a few of Mike’s tracks. Soon after Tim contacted him and the story starts there. As A&R for Schulz’s record label,  he proposed a new partnership for the pair. They have been quite successful so far playing in various venues across the globe. These  venues include stateside at LA’s Avalon, Miami’s Mansion, and main stage performances at European arena events including the legendary Transmission.

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Virginia Beach native, Tim Grube started out bringing the sound locally in clubs opening for well-known DJs, solo gigs, as well as producing his own pieces during his spare time in Washington D.C.  Mike created a comparable trail over on the west coast. Now both are based in Miami, their progressive trance and electro-accented sets have brought electronic music fans right to the front of the line. In the studio they are steadily creating amazing tracks and fantastic remixes. Among them have been “City of Angels”, “Venom”, “Memory Lane”, “Invisible”, “Conviction” and “Pressure”. Showing great skill with these simply perfect tracks, the mix of uplifting and progressive comes easy to these two.

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In 2012 they became one of the first signings to the Schulz Music Group. After onboarding them Markus Schulz said,

“When he (Tim) teamed up with Mike Hovsepian, I immediately saw that they’d found a connection that was going to work for them both. For me, they have become the most exciting duo to come along in the last 3 years.”

After being in the scene and doing what they have done this must have been amazing to hear from an artist with such stature as Markus Schulz. Along with show productions, Grube & Hovsepian showcase their radio show, ‘Grube & Hovsepian Radio’, which is broadcasted every Tuesday at 11 am EST on DI.FM‘s DJ Mixes channel. This radio show is heard by thousands and has become a favorite of many trance family members around the world including myself. Along with their successful radio show they have also been supported by numerous top artists including Armin Van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Markus Schulz, Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Gareth Emery, and Sander van Doorn to name a few.

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Aside from their amazing accomplishments so far, I’ve had the pleasure to chat with Mike and Tim. Both of them are amazing guys that make everyone feel as part of the group. I look forward to the next time I can catch one of their shows, until then I’ll keep enjoying their amazing tunes and fantastic broadcasts!

Follow Grube & Hovsepian:   Website Twitter Facebook Soundcloud

Grube & Hovsepian, Recorded Live From Club Space Miami Terrace (November 14, 2015)

Coldharbour Sessions 015: Grube & Hovsepian (March 2015)

Review: Mr. Pit vs. Fisherman & Hawkins “Doppelbanger”

One of the most successful Romanian music producers, Mr. Pit is known for his energetic live DJ set and amazing original productions. He has remixed for some of the biggest talents in the electronic music world and has built a fantastic name for himself. Since signing with Coldharbour, this heavy hitter has taken off. Fisherman & Hawkins have been in the EDM scene for quite a while. Performing, producing and organizing events is what they have done over the past few years. Since late 2011 they decided to combine their forces on the production level and the tracks began to flow. Mr. Pit and Fisherman & Hawkins have shared many nights on stage together in the past year,  both contributing heavily to the Coldharbour Nights worldwide. Their friendship developed further with this collaboration in the studio which accents all the artists perfectly. The deep, dark and devilish, “Doppelbanger” was then born.

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Fisherman&Hawkins

 

Right out of the gate “Doppelbanger” has a nice deep drive that lures you into the track almost immediately. The bass line used is so powerful while being subtle at the same time. About two minutes into this track the original drive softens out to a beautiful melodic creation that resonates through your ears. The notes used blend so well together it is almost indescribable. After this part of the track imprints into your brain you are brought right back into that dark drive that you’ll love. Once you finish riding that out you can’t help yourself other than to replay it again to take another journey through “Doppelbanger”.

Adrian, Isaac and Rob really outdid themselves when creating this track. Recently I incorporated “Doppelbanger” into one of my own sets and the crowd loved every second of this masterpiece as I suspected. Take a listen to the track below.

“Doppelbanger” is available on Beatport: Mr. Pit Vs Fisherman & Hawkins – Doppelbanger

Interview: Nifra Unleashes “Rampage” out on the Dance Floor

Since Nifra kicked off her DJ career back in 2008, she has played alongside and supported such acts as Markus Schulz, Armin van Buuren and Tiesto to name a few, which lead to her becoming quickly recognized as a massive talent. This progressive trance mastermind has really exploded after signing with Coldharbour Recordings. Recently, I had the opportunity to ask the “Queen” of Coldharbour a few questions.

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What has been your most memorable show so far that you’ve played with other artists from Coldharbour and Markus Schulz? What made this show stand out to you more than the others?

Definitely the Coldharbour Night at Club Space in March during the Miami Music Week. You know, all of the Coldharbour guys were there and Markus as well. It was like a family gathering. It was my debut and I remember sitting in a car on my way to the club driving through beautiful Miami at night and it felt a little surreal. At that point I didn’t even know how good the gig was going to be. I was completely surprised by the crowd, really amazing energy and was just really grateful that I got to be part of such an amazing night.

You have reached episode 100 in your ‘Be Progressed’ radio show. How does it feel to hit a milestone like this? Will you miss this project since deciding to end it?

It’s crazy, I started the radio show when I just turned 19 so I felt that after 8 years its time for something new and fresh. Eventually I decided that the 100th episode would be the last one. I will definitely miss it, as it represents a lot of important years in my career but I will be also busy with a new project. 😉

Recently “Rampage” was released, what was the inspiration for this track? Are there any new tracks or collaborations you are working on now?

Danny (from Tucandeo) and I were talking about doing a collaboration for quite some time. We started to work on something 2 years ago but I guess the timing just wasn’t right. They were into more deeper prog trance so now that Danny started a new project called Artisan with a more aggressive sound it was just a matter of time till we make a track together. When Danny sent me a demo of what eventually became Rampage I was like, yeah this is the one. I asked him for parts and immediately started to work on it. I really enjoyed collaborating with him and this is probably not our last one as the feedback on Rampage has been totally overwhelming. I have a lot lined up, some more secret collabs, singles and a remix. Stay tuned 🙂

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Your sound is very unique, can you describe what’s included and what is not included that creates your Coldharbour sound?

My sound evolved throughout the years just as the Coldharbour sound did and I tend to describe it as progressive trance with balls. I just really like energy in combination with the deeper basses and huge leads and that’s what I always try to achieve in my productions.

What was the dance music scene like in Slovakia when you started compared to how it is today?

Just like everywhere else the dancing music blew up into the mainstream in the recent years but when I started to go to clubs when I was 16, there was already a pretty good underground scene, mainly techno and house events with a couple of thousand of people in attendance. Trance was not popular at all, usually we got side stages at parties, if we were lucky. Nowadays trance and house events are filling up the halls and clubs and techno is nowhere near its peak like it was in the past. I’m glad I have experienced both periods in Slovakia.

You’ve been touring a lot this year, what’s it like to be on the road so much?

Honestly I love it! I’ve always enjoyed travelling anyways so performing, seeing different countries and meeting people from all over the world is really inspiring and I’m really thankful for all those experiences. You know there are jetlags and long hours in the airplanes but you forget it all once you get up on the stage and see all the smiling faces.

What club and festival would you like to play that you have not yet?

There is so many places I haven’t visited yet. I’ve heard a lot about the crazy South American crowd, so this is on my to do list, China would be cool to experience, Japan, Australia. So probably clubs or festivals in those countries.

Have you attended any music schools to learn how to produce, or you are self-taught? What program for production do you prefer to use?

Unfortunately I haven’t attended any music school. Back when I started to dig into music production there were no schools in Slovakia and I think there are still no schools for electronic music production down here. So the only option I had was to just learn it myself. I’ve always been a nerd since i was little when it came to education so I enjoy learning new things and I don’t give up. A couple of years back I attended piano classes for one and a half years, but that’s about it as far as the education goes, everything else is self taught. For production I use Ableton 9, and it is my go to software for basically everything including mixes and edits.

Obviously you have a huge passion for trance, are there any other genres that you enjoy?

I’m a music lover and I try to have open mind because if you don’t you might miss a lot of great music out there. I love electronic music in general (and not just electronic) and the artists that I usually play on my iPod besides trance are Guy J, Kolsch, Com Truise, Nero, etc. So its really a fusion – vast spectrum of different genres from progressive house through synth pop to drum n bass as long as the music expresses some kind of emotion.

What was the reason you began producing music and DJing? Who has been your biggest inspiration so far through out your career?

It all started with ATB when I was 13 years old. You know music channels like Viva and MTV were full of the euro trance videos and ATB stood out because of the emotion in his music, I was totally captivated by it. It eventually developed into obsession with electronic music. Step by step I discovered a lot of artists and got trapped in the progressive trance genre which was obviously ruled by Markus Schulz. It somehow just felt right for me and consequently my production has been inspired by Markus Schulz and the Coldharbour sound ever since.

I know this next question may be difficult considering how many talented artists there are, but who would you say is your favorite artist at the moment?

I really can’t say one favorite artist. If you check my live sets you will know who are my favorites immediately. 😉

Follow Nifra
Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Beatport

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Coldharbour Partners With Black Hole

Directly from www.coldharbourrecordings.com:

Spanning 200 releases over the past decade, IDMA-nominated Coldharbour Recordings has captured the hearts and imagination of many fans within the electronica domain. And its storied tale undertakes a new chapter beginning in 2015 – joining the family at Black Hole distribution.

The label, founded by DJ Times & Pioneer America’s Best DJ for 2014, Markus Schulz, has been heralded for its quality of releases through various genres, combined with the talent contained by its roster depth. Along with being the home of the Miami native’s appraised singles (the latest being the incredible Winter Kills Me featuring Lady V), talents such as KhoMha, Grube & Hovsepian, Nifra, M.I.K.E. Push, Mr. Pit and Rex Mundi continue to prominently feature in the playlists of many top-tiered DJs.

Black Hole Recordings, already housing Markus’ New World Punx Music label alongside Ferry Corsten, boasts a rich history of success and adulation in our scene. Their strategy and efforts will further increase Coldharbour’s continued development, with more label event nights coming than ever before.

The partnership begins in January, and among the first releases is the anthemic Skypunch by Dutch duo Fisherman & Hawkins. This will be complimented with EPs from Danilo Ercole and Solid Stone, and the centrepiece of the label will focus on Markus’ exciting project spanning the entire year – dedicating a new production each and every month to a particular city of inspiration.

This is bound to be nothing short of amazing.

Upcoming releases:

January 19: Markus Schulz – Bayfront (Miami)
January 26: Fisherman & Hawkins – Skypunch
February 09: Markus Schulz Pres. Coldharbour Selections: Part 38

Review: Markus Schulz featuring Lady V – Winter Kills Me

“Winter Kills Me” highlights Markus Schulz’s second collaboration with Grammy Award-winning songwriter and vocalist Victoria Horn, who descended into the hearts of many Coldharbour followers thanks to her emotional emission on the ‘Scream 2’ stalker anthem sequel, “Erase You”.

From the get go this track lures you in with a driving but melodic beat. Once that amazing sound ends, Lady V’s voices literally resonates and reverberates through every orphisis in your body. Her vocals can on be described as bone chilling  mixed with a calming wave. You can’t help to feel anything other that happiness and joy. Markus perfectly matches Lady V’s amazing voice with his uplifting beat. This track truly showcases how fantastic of an artist he is. While listening to this I could help but to close my eyes and just hear this resonating through out Transmission in Prague. What an amazing moment it must have been.

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A year in the making, ‘Winter Kills Me’ was carefully crafted and held in reserve for the most tender of moments in Markus’ tour schedule. The final track of his 2014 residency at Amnesia in Ibiza, the final track of his last ever appearance at Toronto’s iconic Guvernment, and the final track at his ambassadorial home of Transmission in Prague; all defined by this soul-inducing melody and vocal. Moments which will be remembered for life.

Markus Schulz feat. Lady V “Winter Kills Me” was released on December 1st and has been quickly moving up the Beatport Trance 100 chart. Currently the original track  is at #34, the Fisherman & Hawkins’ remix is at #15 and  Paul Oakenfold’s remix just entered the chart at #99.

You can purchase the track on Beatport or iTunes and it’s also available to listen to on Spotify:

Beatport: bit.ly/clhr200bp
iTunes: bit.ly/clhr200it
Spotify: bit.ly/clhr200sp

 

New Music Review: Mike EFEX – Machine City

 

California native Mike EFEX is no stranger to regular Coldharbour followers, and he makes a welcome return to the label with a track primed for those dark and dirty moments late into the night, entitled “Machine City”.

Let me start this music review by saying wow! From the beginning this track really had my jaw on the floor. The mesmerizing percussion reverberates through every orifice of your body! Mike’s signature sound is made evident from the beginning. This track can be played in a festival, club show or just sitting at home. “Machine City” takes you on a ride that not many tracks have taken me on and it’s so different in every way. “Machine City” circumferences you in a cloud that will take you higher and higher, then dump you into the realm unknown called pure bliss! The combination of sounds is one of the best that I’ve heard recently and I’m sure will be blasted across stages everywhere.

I personally had a chance to incorporate Mike’s amazing sound into one of my recent sets and the crowd reacted just as I thought. It left them wanting more and more until it finally fell right into that sweet spot that we all desire at any show. All I can say after listen to this track is bravo! The originality is clear and I can’t wait to hear many more from this amazing producer.

“Machine City” is available on Beatport at beatport.com-machine-city

New Music Review: Markus Schulz – Seven Sins (Transmission 2014 Theme)

Just wrapping up the eleventh home edition, Transmission has grown to become the flagship indoor arena event for trance music; and Markus has contributed enormously to its ascension, not just through his repeated annual appearances, but assembling a palette of anthems dedicated specifically for these magical nights.

And for 2014, he is back on anthem duty yet again, with the devilishly titled “Seven Sins”.

From the first listen I thoroughly enjoyed this track. The beginning build have a very tense feel to it. This leaves you wanting more and more and “Seven Sins” delivers! After that first build the amazing sounds drop out to progress into a phenomenal up swoop that you can visualize reverberating through out an arena. What comes after this is pure perfection and has that Markus Schulz stamp all over it. This is truly some hands up music.

I can only imagine this track being blasted through out the O2 Arena in Prague or any other festival show.  With a track like this the loyal soldiers of Schulz Army will help spread the love Markus gave us yet again through this track.

Interview: A Night With Markus Schulz in Atlanta

On Friday, September 12th, I had the pleasure of going to Atlanta to work with Liquified during the Markus Schulz show at Opera Nightclub. I have been to this venue and worked with Liquified numerous times for TheSceneisDead.com and each time I return the production and talent seems to get better and better. Liquified is truly a staple in the EDM industry and has top-notch production and amazing hospitality.

Before Markus took the stage to perform I had the chance to sit down with him for an interview.

We started off by discussing his residency at Amnesia in Ibiza. Markus stated,

“After three years it feels great being back in Ibiza. When I was at the club doing my solo night one of the guys came up and said it looks like you are having so much fun. It was almost like a homecoming to me and felt so great to be there.”

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We then moved on to Atlanta itself. The unicorn slayer shared what he enjoyed about the city.

“The people here are amazing! I also love that is so close to where I live in Miami and so many people come to my shows at Space and Mansion. The trip is so easy and every year I see more and more people I have met from Atlanta showing up at my shows in Miami. Especially here at Opera, such a great crowd.”

Our next topic of discussion was some of Markus’ Dakota work. The obvious question arose, are there any new Dakota tracks in the making? Markus said,

“All summer long I’ve been working on some deeper, more club tracks and I’ve been really inspired by Amnesia. The new Dakota tracks came out a little more edgy compared to the normal Dakota tracks that are super deep. I am not really sure yet if I’m going to release as a Dakota track or mellow and chill it out a little bit. There is also the option of releasing second mixes that are more chill and leave the original. I have been working on new stuff and playing it here and there but the big thing is the last song I played at Amnesia was my next track and I debuted it there. The name of the track is “Winter Kills Me”, and it was really what I wanted to be the final track of a great summer. That’s the next big thing and I am very excited.”

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We then talked about his EDC Week pool party at Tao Beach. Since Markus played by himself this year and not with Ferry Corsten, I was curious to get his thoughts on the show. Markus stated,

“I know Ferry had to go to another gig but I really enjoyed myself. I love playing Vegas pool parties they get pretty scandalous and always turn out to be a great time. It was great we got to play together at EDC Las Vegas though, it was a great night.”

Since we were in Atlanta it was fitting to talk about TomorrowWorld. Since Markus destroys the stage at Tomorrowland I was curious to see if he had any plans on playing an upcoming TomorrowWorld and also find out about his experience at Tomorrowland. The slayer dove right into this question by saying,

“TomorrowWorld is definitely something I am interested in playing but for this year it unfortunately didn’t work out. Tomrrowland this year was two weekends and I did two, eight-hour sets. This was a little different from my normal solo sets. Normal solo sets start deep and build their way up, the you get into the chaos followed by traveling down the rabbit hole. This set when I started it was right after Cosmic Gate, it was already packed so I had to get right into it.  I really learned a lot from that set, especially how to take people on a journey through out the peak hour and build that story. It was a lot of fun and definitely a big challenge.”

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We then touched on some of his solo sets in Canada. Markus’ face lit up as he said,

“Those sets are special and a completely different animal. You cannot do sets like that at a festival. That’s what makes clubs like Stereo so special. There really aren’t many clubs like that left in the world.”

Toward the end of our conversation we started to chat about some of his highlights for the year. Markus said,

“Definitely Tomorrowland, Amnesia and especially my open to close solo set at Amnesia. Just a fantastic time. Some of my other favorites are actually some of the shows I have coming up in the next few weeks. The Guvernment in Toronto, which is going to be bittersweet and also Stereo. Some of the open to close sets I’ve done at the Guvernment though were some of the most memorable sets of my career!”

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After our conversation I had just enough time to head upstairs and get ready for the show. Markus came out of the box blazing! The song choices right off the bat were pounding and you could really see him settle in. He played a little bit of something for everyone throughout his set. I heard Scream 2 album remixes, classics, new sounds and a few twists that make you realize how talented Markus really is. From start to finish I was having a hard time taking good photos because I was dancing so much. When you combine an amazing DJ and a visually stunning club it is really hard not to just have a smile on your face all night.

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Opera is a truly a beautiful venue. A lowered bowl style dance floor is surrounded by a second level horseshoe VIP area. Whether you are on the dance floor or in VIP, the club is beautiful from every angle. For this show Liquified and Opera introduced a series of amazing lasers and installed more C02 cannons to the already impressive arsenal. The lasers honestly surprised me with how vivid and responsive they were. From large waving fan movements to individual beams, this laser system rivals some of the best clubs I’ve ever visited. The C02 canons are ultra impressive on their own, packing enough punch to fill the entire club with a 6 second cloud that’s dense enough to make your closest friends disappear for a moment. After adding these extra canons the cloud is even more powerful and gives you a quite refreshing coolness while you dance the night away. Opera also has a super bright double panel LED screen that produces anything from mesmerizing patterns to crystal clear words. In between the lower and upper panels is the DJ booth. This really provides a quite spectacular ambiance for the night, sometimes seeing the DJ and the at times a glowing silhouette. Liquified has really outdone themselves with the new production aspects. I worked closely with Kevin Wu and Devin Walkley throughout this event and the weeks leading up to it. All I can say is that overall it’s a been a great experience working with Liquified.

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This night was an amazing experience for me. While sitting down with Markus, he was so personable. Instead of an interview he made it feel like two friends have a conversation. Markus an amazing person, a fantastic DJ/Producer and he truly is a world-class act. I cannot wait until the next Markus Schulz set that I attend.

Markus Schulz at Opera Nighclub

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Coldharbour Night – The Gallery Club

Ahead of Coldharbour Recordings night next Friday, in this video Markus Schulz gives the lowdown on its history – plus why he chose each act for this special occasion! Tickets going fast: http://bit.ly/Fri-Jun-20th

The lineup for that night will include KhoMha, M.I.K.E. Push, Beat Service, Mr.Pit and Venom One.

The Gallery Club stated

Promising the dark and devilish sound on which our international resident has become famed, but executed by these future heroes of the scene.

Mentored by Markus since the fledgling stages of his career, KhoMha returns after last July’s critically acclaimed Gallery debut. Impressing that night with a tumultuous blend of trance, progressive and tech, his inimitable sound is one which cannot be pigeonholed. Hence why the KhoMha experience is so engaging, combining the driving aspects of all genres into one soul shaking package.

Whether under Push, Plastic Boy or tonight’s pseudonym of M.I.K.E., The Belgian superstar’s anthemic tracks have been responsible for The Gallery’s most defining moments. “The Legacy,” “Twixt” and “Sunrise At Palamos” amongst others, M.I.K.E. is not one to rest on his laurels. A recent acquisition to the Coldharbour crew, sees his new label productions represent the darker side of tech-trance.

After a critically acclaimed Gallery debut last August, Beat Service has gone from strength to strength. This year saw the launch of new show “Beat Service Radio”, which is fast building a devoted fan base – and the perfect platform to spread his chunky trance worldwide.

Finally two debuts, affirming The Gallery’s resolve to blood hot new talent. Mr.Pit will impress with his inimitable style, which featured on a recent flagship mix for the Coldharbour Sessions  Podcast. The Venom One duo is sure to air new track “Revolution” a collaboration with Markus which has been a regular request in all recent sets.

The Gallery and Coldharbour Recordings. It’s going to be hot…

Be sure to check out the video below and for those of you attending this epic night, enjoy!